Holiday time! Every house is filled with children behaving as though they have been let out of prison. No more school, no more time tables, no more rules, just lots and lots of free time. But wait! Most parents know through experience that this euphoria won't last too long. In a few days, the house will start echoing with cries of oeMummy, I'm bored and oeDaddy, I've nothing to do.
Holidays or not, children need some planned schedule. Don't give kids a chance to get bored or waste all their time in activities like watching T.V. Instead, plan their days in a way that holidays become a magic time where they learn to use their resources and develop their creativity.
Create a radio show. Give your child a tape recorder
andencourage him to record music, sounds, voices or pretend interviews in order to create his own radio show.
Plan a nature project. Give them a patch of garden or some flower pots, show them how to plant seeds of flowers or vegetables and teach them to take care of them. You can even have a friendly competition in the end to see whose yield is the best.
Redecorate their room. Tell them to decorate their room with their own creations. Painted bulbs or eggshells, picture or photo collages, decorated pottery and other craftwork.
Turn them into fashion designers. Let them design dresses out of old newspapers, discarded pieces of cloth, etc and arrange a fashion show for adults
Make and furnish miniature houses. Teach them to cut doors and windows into cardboard cartons and turn them into doll houses. They can make miniature furniture and furnishings with matchboxes, cotton spools, pieces of cloth, etc.
Create a photo story. Give them old magazines and safe scissors with which they can cut out pictures and create a whole storybook of tales told through pictures.
For your parenting related queries, write to the renowned parenting expert Sudha Gupta at sudha_gupta@mothersprideonline.com Selected questions will win 'Celebrate Childhood' by Sudha Gupta. HAPPY PARENTING
