School inset days

I’m a big fan of teachers. I think, in the main, they do a great job under sometimes difficult circumstances.  Keeping the children engaged throughout the school day takes hard work and a kind of patience that the average parents simply does not have – or should I say, I don’t have.

Notwithstanding, there is one thing that drives me to distracting. It is the school inset day.

There is nothing quite like a school inset day to throw working parents into a panic. And worse still the school inset day that hasn’t quite made it into your calendar.

The trick in surviving this impromotpu day off is to keep everyone engaged happy and busy. This will allow the busy parents to check emails, return phone calls and deal with the usual work commitments.

Creative Crafts

My kids love all things craft – even my little boy. An opportunity to glue, paint, stick, scrunch, flatten, fold, loop, sew or colour-in really keeps the children engaged.

The trick is to have the materials to hand. So I keep a oversized plastic box full with bit’s & pieces of cloth and glue and brushes.

Activity #1 This first activity can be either hit or miss. I throw the contents of the box on the floor and let them choose the materials and let their creative juice run wild. I try and not control matters too much, for e it’s all about them designing or creating something out of nothing. Don’t forget to reward your child. Here are some free reward charts on the Super Nanny website.

Activity #2 I’m a big fan of colouring in. You’ll be surprised by how much is on the web. Think of any Cartoon character and you will be able to find a colouring-in poster,simply type. “[character] colouring in” into Google and click on “images”. Hey presto, Instant child entertainment.

Activity #3 My daughter just loves baking.  She loves, mixing all the ingredient; sticky fingers; being all gooy and licking the bowl. I’m not saying that boys don’t love it. I just think my daughter likes it just a bit more. As you would expect the BBC has lots of receipts for Baking with Children. Gingerbread men biscuits always wins the day in our house.

Activity #4 Getting outdoors is a must. If you need to juggle work and the children might be cooped up indoors for most of the day, I always try and get them out early. Swimming Pools always open early, Bike rides can start as early as you like and playgrounds can be visited at first light. If you do this your little one will burn off lots of energy and will be more content to stay in and be more manageable.

Activity #5 Our Scratch Maps have come into their own recently. I have used them to help improve the children’s geography. Whilst I cook dinners I will shout out….”Can you find Paris…Germany…America…Australia. And so on it goes.

Activity #6 Board games. These are another firm favourite. You can easily pass away 30 mins on a good board game.

Activity #7 More children.  I appreciate at first sight that this does’t seem like a wise idea.  But with the right children you can find that they will entertain themselves.  There is a word of warning here.  It is very easy for this method to fail miserably and end of in bedlam.  But if you get the right children round and the right activities the can amuse themselves for hours.

I hope this helps you get through the day.  Let me know what happens.

Social Bookmarks