The Summer holidays have been here for a couple of weeks now and are a welcome break from the routine.  With the beautiful UK weather, we’ve been indulging in lots of outdoor time.  But since I work from home, I can’t take Anya out morning to evening every day as I need to find time to work.  If you work from home, you’ll know that the constant questions, demands for food and expressions of boredom make working nearly impossible or at least means you take three times as long to do anything!  While the TV and ipad are good at keeping her distracted, I like to use these in moderation.  So instead I’ve been stocking up on a few creative little activities which I’ve started giving her when she needs something to do.  Nothing complicated, just the very simplest little things I’ve bought which she can create with by herself.  I thought I would share the three that have been the biggest hits so far:

Let’s Make Some Great Fingerprint Art is such a fun book.  The book is packed with loads and loads of ideas for making art with your fingers.  All you need is a colourful inkpad and a pencil to complete the pictures you create.  Anya loved this book and takes it out nearly everyday since I gave it to her.

I spotted this massive jar of beads in Ikea a while ago.  They’re not exactly beads but mini tube shaped bits that Anya has used for all sorts of creations.  From making jewellery to sticking them on paper to make pictures, this jar has so many uses.  Anya has also used these beads to make up counting by colours kind of games.  But be warned, every time they come out, you’ll be treading on little bits of plastic for days to come!

This last one was a bit of an impromptu made-up thing but Anya loved it so I thought it was worth sharing.  I needed to get on with some urgent work so needed her occupied.  I just made a huge sheet of paper, pulled put some poster paints and told her to have fun.  She ended up painting with her fingers and had a ball.

How do you keep your kids occupied?  I’d love to hear your ideas.