What we did during the 1-week September school holidays

I want to max out the opportunities for my 7-year-old and 6-year-old to play before their school starts piling them with endless school holiday homework. Not sure how bad it will turn out, but I am not taking chances here. Let’s just focus on playing this short September school holidays!

Outdoor Fun

We went to Gardens by the Bay for two days consecutively, not because we loved the place so much, but because I made a mistake. The Children’s Playground does not open on Monday, but yes we went on a Monday! Nonetheless, time is never wasted when we get to immerse ourselves in the greenery around us. Fantastic for our eyes and our bodies.

So on Tuesday after watching Cars 3, we went again!  And by the way, I recommend you to watch the movie if you haven’t. The dialogues are humorous; the storyline is also very meaningful.

See my post here on Children’s Playground in Gardens by the Bay in case you haven’t.

We also checked in the RSAF Museum to expose the children to the Air Force and get themselves blown away by the aviation displays there.

See my post here on the RSAF Museum in case you haven’t.

Indoor Fun

For the days we stay at home, I struggled with minimising their contact with electronic devices such as the TV, computer and handheld devices. While these devices conveniently help with babysitting my four children, I am acutely aware of the negative impacts these gadgets will have on them. There is endless literature on this topic. So, I tried to include more non-electronic items to keep them occupied.

Fashion Design Studio Kit

This is from Galt Toys, a UK company established in 1836. I found it from a bookshop in Forum Shopping Centre.

The kit includes a stylish folder with 40-page fashion design sketch pad, 15 double-sided patterned sheets, two plastic stencils and five sticker sheets.

I can think of at least two ways to play this. We can either cut out various outfits from the patterned sheets provided to paste of the paper dolls or draw the outfits directly on the paper dolls with the help of the stencils.

Order this from Amazon. I can’t find it anywhere else in a Singapore-based online store.

Rush Hour

This is by ThinkFun. There are similar electronic versions too, but I prefer the physical ones for the kids.

This is a sliding block logic game that requires brainpower. You have to battle the gridlock as you slide the blocking vehicles out of the way for the red car to exit. There are varying difficulty levels for all ages. A great brain workout for me and my parents too!  Order here.

Art Lessons

I am never good at artistic stuff, and my children are not keen to attend art classes. While we do spend time drawing and painting at home, I am grossly inadequate to teach them any decent art skill. The Crafty Academic recently recommended a pretty good channel on Youtube that teaches children art, and so we spent a few morning messing around with paints under the channel’s guidance.

Go to their website Arts for Kids Hub for more details.

These are some of my children’s works. Nothing to brag about, we are not artistic people. What I value here is the exposure given to them, the opportunity to play around with colours, and it’s free of charge, in the comfort of our own house!

Lego

They spent a great deal of time on their lego blocks too. I bought the 580 pieces LEGO Classic Creative Building Box Set for my son’s birthday instead of the thematic ones. According to a blog post which I read somewhere a long while ago and I just cannot remember which one, the Creative Building Box fuels a child’s imagination as compared to the thematic ones. The thematic sets are great for fine motor skills development, hand-eye coordination and also help to develop the children’s ability to follow instructions. Since I am sufficiently confident that my kids can already follow instructions, I decided to move on to build up their creativity. Furthermore, the Creative Box Set is cheaper than the thematic ones.

Wii

I will be lying if I said they played no electronic gadget during the holiday week. But at least I managed to limit it to just Wii, and they were pretty much amused by the sports games.

What are your children’s favourite activities?

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