1. Check out if there are any free activities at your local library. Sometimes they have story time, or special events during the school holidays.
2. Check out if there are any events happening at your local mall.
3. Bake some easy recipes with the kids like pikelets, rainbow cupcakes, pita bread/toast pizza etc.
4. Make traffic light jelly.
5. Arrange a playdate at a friend’s place or arrange to meet at a park.
6. Go park hopping to your favourite parks or go on an adventure to a park that you have never been to before. You can usually find lists of playgrounds on your local council websites or take a look in your map.
7. Have the kids help you make a picnic and go to the local airport and watch the planes take off.
8. Time to get messy! Make your own playdough, gloop or fingerpaint and have fun!
9. Go to your local kid friendly museum that doesn’t charge for parking!
10. Get the children to help you make a family newsletter to email out to family and friends. Have them summarise what they have been doing lately (if they are old enough they can type it themselves, or you could ask prompting questions to your younger children.)
11. Pack some water, a warm top and a snack and go on a nature walk. You could even bring some paper and crayons to do some bark rubbings and collect materials for a nature collage.
12. Go bike riding/scootering/roller blading at the local school.
13. Fill a sink up with soapy water and let them go for it.
14. Get a paintbrush and bucket and let the kids “paint” the fence with water.
15. Potions making. Provide a bowl, spoon and a selection of items from your pantry (flour, herbs, cocoa, essences) and items collected from the outdoors (flowers, grass, bark). Pretend to be magicians and make up silly spells.

Last updated: Monday, 28 Sept 2009

I will keep adding to this as I think of things.

Please share what fun things you like to do with your child/ren!