Summer vacation is here! You will need a lot of activities in your arsenal for every time your child whines, “Mom I’m Bored!” Find Boredom Busters for each day of the week here! These will keep your kids gainfully occupied and entertained for a few hours every day when it’s too hot to step out and when you just want a little peace and quiet... In this articleMondayTuesdayWednesdayThursdayFridaySaturdaySundayMonday MarblingFill a flat pan big enough to dip a sheet of paper in, with water. Mix oil paints with a little kerosene, and help your child pour a few drops of different colours into the water. Swirl the water around. Dip a sheet of thick paper in it, and remove. You will get a lovely pattern on the paper. This technique is known as marbling, as the finished product resembles a slab of marble. These papers make beautiful gift wrapping paper. Tuesday Bottle Painting Wash an old bottle well, and let it dry. Once dried, help your child paint any design on it. You could also fill it up a few large blobs of different coloured oil paints mixed with kerosene. Add some water and shake it around, to produce the marble-like effect. Pour out the water, and leave it to dry overnight. The next day, call your electrician and ask him to have it fitted with a bulb. Get it fitted with a little lampshade, and you have an excellent lamp for the kids room! Wednesday Paper CuttingTake a coloured sheet of paper. If you want, you could even use a sheet of marbled paper. Fold it in quarter. Cut out fine lines, circles and triangles in them. You could get wonderful lace-like designs. You can even make paper cut table runners and table mats for your guests. Experiment! You and your child will get the hang of it pretty soon. Thursday Wax Painting Give your little Picasso a candle or oil crayon and ask him to rub it over a sheet of paper to make designs. He can even make figures like a house, flower, birds, mountain, etc. Using light strokes with different colour pencils or with watercolours, ask him to shade the entire sheet of paper. Watch the candle-sketch emerge! Alternatively, light a candle and let the wax drip onto your paper, forming dots, lines or any other design. When the wax has hardened, ask your child to paint over the sheet with water paints. After the paint dries, peel out the wax. Wax, as you know, is waterproof. Thus, the area that had been covered with wax will still be white (or the colour of the paper). Friday Spray Painting Heres an alternative to the traditional spray painting method. Flip through an old magazine or colouring book, and cut out shapes of animals or flowers. Place these shapes on a sheet of paper. Dip a toothbrush in a watercolour or poster paint, and get your child to spray it over the sheet. They do not need to use their hands on the bristles. They can use an old comb to create the sprays instead. After they are done spraying, remove the cut-outs. You will get beautiful shapes in white, highlighted by the colourful spray painting. Saturday Block Printing Block printing involves designs made from stamps, which are used repeatedly in regular patterns. You can make your own vegetable stamps by using potatoes or ladyfingers. Cut a potato in half. And carve it to make it a flower or any other shape you want. Let your child dip the potato stamp in paint and stamp it neatly on a clean sheet of paper. Make them do this all over the page either in a random design or in straight lines. They can also use different colours and different blocks as is their creative inclination. Sunday Ice Cube PaintingPour water in ice trays and stir different water colours in the different cubes. Add ice-cream sticks or tooth picks to the cubes and then leave them in the freezer to set. They should look like colourful ice-cream sticks once frozen. In the heat, the ice cubes will melt faster, so give your child a big sheet of paper or fabric and let them go wild using the ice cubes as paintbrushes. You could also draw a figure with a waterproof marker and ask them to colour around it. They should hold the sticks and not the cubes to prevent messy hands.
Summer vacation is here! You will need a lot of activities in your arsenal for every time your child whines, “Mom I’m Bored!” Find Boredom Busters for each day of the week here! These will keep your kids gainfully occupied and entertained for a few hours every day when it’s too hot to step out and when you just want a little peace and quiet...
MarblingFill a flat pan big enough to dip a sheet of paper in, with water. Mix oil paints with a little kerosene, and help your child pour a few drops of different colours into the water. Swirl the water around. Dip a sheet of thick paper in it, and remove. You will get a lovely pattern on the paper. This technique is known as marbling, as the finished product resembles a slab of marble. These papers make beautiful gift wrapping paper.
Tuesday
Bottle Painting
Wash an old bottle well, and let it dry. Once dried, help your child paint any design on it. You could also fill it up a few large blobs of different coloured oil paints mixed with kerosene. Add some water and shake it around, to produce the marble-like effect. Pour out the water, and leave it to dry overnight. The next day, call your electrician and ask him to have it fitted with a bulb. Get it fitted with a little lampshade, and you have an excellent lamp for the kids' room!
Wednesday
Paper CuttingTake a coloured sheet of paper. If you want, you could even use a sheet of marbled paper. Fold it in quarter. Cut out fine lines, circles and triangles in them. You could get wonderful lace-like designs. You can even make paper cut table runners and table mats for your guests. Experiment! You and your child will get the hang of it pretty soon.
Thursday
Wax Painting
Give your little Picasso a candle or oil crayon and ask him to rub it over a sheet of paper to make designs. He can even make figures like a house, flower, birds, mountain, etc. Using light strokes with different colour pencils or with watercolours, ask him to shade the entire sheet of paper. Watch the candle-sketch emerge! Alternatively, light a candle and let the wax drip onto your paper, forming dots, lines or any other design. When the wax has hardened, ask your child to paint over the sheet with water paints. After the paint dries, peel out the wax. Wax, as you know, is waterproof. Thus, the area that had been covered with wax will still be white (or the colour of the paper).
Friday
Spray Painting
Here's an alternative to the traditional spray painting method. Flip through an old magazine or colouring book, and cut out shapes of animals or flowers. Place these shapes on a sheet of paper. Dip a toothbrush in a watercolour or poster paint, and get your child to spray it over the sheet. They do not need to use their hands on the bristles. They can use an old comb to create the sprays instead. After they are done spraying, remove the cut-outs. You will get beautiful shapes in white, highlighted by the colourful spray painting.
Saturday
Block Printing
Block printing involves designs made from stamps, which are used repeatedly in regular patterns. You can make your own vegetable stamps by using potatoes or ladyfingers. Cut a potato in half. And carve it to make it a flower or any other shape you want. Let your child dip the potato stamp in paint and stamp it neatly on a clean sheet of paper. Make them do this all over the page either in a random design or in straight lines. They can also use different colours and different blocks as is their creative inclination.
Sunday
Ice Cube Painting
Pour water in ice trays and stir different water colours in the different cubes. Add ice-cream sticks or tooth picks to the cubes and then leave them in the freezer to set. They should look like colourful ice-cream sticks once frozen. In the heat, the ice cubes will melt faster, so give your child a big sheet of paper or fabric and let them go wild using the ice cubes as paintbrushes. You could also draw a figure with a waterproof marker and ask them to colour around it. They should hold the sticks and not the cubes to prevent messy hands.
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- The Indiaparenting Team
Wonderful tips! Been searching for ways to engage my child - esp since summer holidays started. Should share the same with my kid's teacher and other parents at Orchids International school.
How can you keep kids entertained and occupied in the vacations? What kind of activities do children enjoy the most? How can you boost your child’s creativity?
Sarita
Hi you can put your kids in summer camps or swimming classes which will keep them busy at the same time engage them in some or the other activity. So check out the best thing for your kid and enroll...
NA
Boys usually enjoy things like cricket and football and basically all the things related to sport where as girls enjoy dance, drawing and such things but there is no compulsion sometimes girls like sp...
Alex
You can always put your kids in summer camps or classes which they would love to spend their time. Most of the kids these days like to go for swimming classes which keep them happy and also stays bene...