Make some activity jars for busy kids this summer! No more “I’m bored!” or “what can I do now?”, these activity jars are packed full of simple, easy to prepare ideas to help kids make their own choices, direct their own play and keep busy throughout the school break. Yay!
Before I write about this simple activity idea I will just say that I am a BIG believer in giving kids lots of free time in which it’s ok to be bored and find their own ideas for things to do. Too often we feel pressure to schedule every minute of their free time and in so doing we take away the opportunity for them to learn how to plan and direct their own time and use their imaginations. It’s usually during the most “boring” of days that my children will, eventually, come up with amazingly creative games, elaborate Lego models or write stories and paint pictures.
However, the summer holidays are a particularly looooong period of time to fill and everyone can feel under each other’s feet at times! I can’t stand hearing the kids whining about what we are doing next or ideas for games to play, so together we sit down and make a HUGE list of all of the things they generally love to make, play and do and then use those to create these Activity Jars.
We actually made these last year but as usual with my time on this blog, I hadn’t managed to share them here yet! We have added more ideas to them over that period and I love how it’s as much their ideas that have been inputted into this as mine.
In general these activities are a good fit for approximately 3-11 year olds (I currently have a 3, 6, 8 and 9 year old in the house!) If you have only toddlers or only older kids,obviously you’d adapt these ideas to suit your own family situation.
How to make Activity Jars for Busy Kids
You need:
wide lolly sticks (craft sticks)
5 clean, empty jam jars
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Write the following onto 5 jam jars:
Cooking
Messy Play
Things to Make
Things to Do
Acts of Kindness
Next, spilt up the lolly sticks into piles (around 10-15 per jar is plenty), then brainstorm ideas of the simple things you love to do with the kids in each category. It’s really important to have their input here as you want them to use these activity jars as an independent play prompt, so they must be engaged in the process if possible!
Then write on to each stick using a Sharpie marker and drop it into the appropriate jar. DONE!!
To get you started with ideas, here’s what is on our activity sticks!
Cooking:
Make pizzas
Bake cookies
Bake cupcakes
Make fruit smoothies
Make fruit kebabs
Have a cake decorating contest
Make fruit ice lollies
Chop veggies to make a snack platter
Make a fruit salad
Help prepare dinner
Read a cook book
Make your own cook book
Plan a day of meals to make
Make a shopping list
Set up a pretend play pizza restaurant
Set up a pretend play coffee shop
We have a LOT of these sensory play materials already made and stored in zip-loc bags or tubs in a drawer, ready to play. They also know how to make slime and play dough independently. Perhaps prepare some of these things in advance to make this jar easier to go! Also, click the bold links to go straight to all my recipes. Start here with my SENSORY PLAY ARCHIVES for ideas and links too!
Messy Play:
Play with oobleck
Draw with chalk outside
Play with kinetic sand
Paint with water outside
Make a new batch of play dough
Things to Do:
Listen to an audiobook
Play accordion pictures
Write in your summer scrap book
Play with Sylvanian Families
Put on a talent show or play
Play outside
Complete the library summer challenge
Do a sticker book
Colour a picture
Play with dolls
Set up an art gallery
Play schools
Play a board game
Read a book
Make a blanket fort
Do a science experiment
Play hide and seek
Build with Lego
Things to Make:
Do junk modelling
Decorate a jam jar
Do a painting
Do a self-portrait
Draw around your body
Make a puzzle book
Make an activity book
Make a magazine
Make an egg carton small world
Write a book review
Make a clay sculpture
Make a fortune teller (cootie catcher)
Make a Hama bead picture
Make a musical instrument
Draw a flower or animal
Make a rainbow
Make jewellery
Try Sharpie and watercolour art
Make folded picture paintings
Make a friendship bracelet with embroidery silks
As you know, I also have my own book and small business promoting Acts of Kindness in children called The Kindness Elves! I am a huge believer in acts of kindness being as important as maths, literacy and science and that we should be actively teaching and guiding our kids to show kindness to others in daily life. I have written a huge eBook called Camp Kindness which is jam-packed full of activities and acts of kindness ideas for kids to keep them busy throughout the summer holidays, with things to print and use alongside the Kindness Elves as a sweet and playful prompt for the whole family.
You’ll find LOADS of acts of kindness ideas in that and I hope you’ll be inspired to join us!
Here are a few of those kindness ideas that we use in our Acts of kindness jar, but this is just a little taste of what you’ll find as part of our Kindness Elves tradition!
Acts of Kindness:
Smile at everyone
Make someone else’s bed
Forgive someone
Give someone a hug
Do a chore for a sibling
Paint someone a picture
Carry someone’s bag
Do a surprise kindness
Say hello when out and about
Hold the door for someone
With all the jars made we simply keep them out on the side in the dinging room and any time they start to ask what to do next I remind them of the jars we made and they go and have a look through for an idea that appeals.
These Activity Jars for busy kids have TRULY been a great help to me whenever we have a rainy day or school break, mostly as they remind us of all the fun things we can and have done in the past and are just a great memory prompt for activity starters.
Often times they choose one of these and then the play or creativity leads on to something else, which is brilliant! We sometimes then add that new idea onto a new lolly stick and add it to the jar too!
If you loved this Activity Jars for Busy Kids idea PLEASE share it on social media and also comment to let me know how you got on with making it for your own family!
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