Summer Holiday Madness: Day 1

I always used to hate the summer holidays before DS2 reached 5 years of age.  Having two boys constantly running off & a husband who works shifts meant I often ended up stuck at home, sleep deprived with two very energetic & bored children.  So for the first time I intend to be super organised (those that know me will know this doesn't come easily).  Over the next 6 weeks I'll be posting & sharing the activities and adventures that we've been getting up to and hopefully this will give you some inspiration of what to do with your little ones.  My boys are 4 & 6 but most of our activities could be modified so they suit younger or older children - just use it as a starting point for your own ideas.

As mentioned before on my blog we now have a Black Labrador Puppy called "Beulah" who is absolutely gorgeous but also provides a bit of a challenge over the summer break.  At the moment she chews everything in sight and when excited she jumps up (mostly strangers & already she has improved with my boys).  I am in the process of training her but I'm not totally comfortable having other people's children round and I don't want to set her up to fail.

Day 1:

-  Hide & Seek outside - My eldest & me took the puppy for a short walk to the village green (North Elmham, Norfolk).  It's a great open space with a path running across it.  I distracted Beulah whilst Bubba hid behind a tree & then with great enthusiasm she set off sniffing him out with a reward on finding him (if she didn't jump up!).  We did this a few times & they both loved it.

- Planning - The after school club were selling off some of their items on the last day of term which is where I snapped up a whiteboard with the days of the week on & we started to plan the next week ahead.  Bubba did the writing (handwriting practise) & we summarised what to write in the small spaces together. We've also got a list of activities that everyone would like to do in the holidays so we can keep track & tick them off.

Inside toys  - Disney Fairies Playmat, Lego Duplo, Disney Characters & Moshi Monsters. A city built from bricks and the mat was the countryside.

Kitchen Table - we had a handwriting whiteboard out with some different coloured pens (Poundland).  We also had colouring books.

Movie & Popcorn - I had puppy class in the evening so I got the boys ready for bed before the babysitter arrived and settled them down with a new (secondhand) DVD & some popcorn.

It's probably worth mentioning that the boys were reading & going in the garden intermittently allday aswell which is normal for us.

Day 1 survived!