The school Summer holidays are finally here! No more lunch boxes, book bags and P.E. kits to remember. No more wrestling uncooperative siblings into pushchairs for the school run. No more hunting for uniform socks. Hoorah! However, parents are now presented with a new challenge, as finding activities to keep everyone busy all day every day can be just as tricky.

But, fear not! Team Babycup is here to save the day! Start making memories with your little ones, by enjoying some of these free, family-friendly activities…

Get Creative in the Garden

Getting out in the garden is great in the sunshine, but after a while children get bored of the same sandpit, swings and slide.

Fence painting is an new and inspiring way to get children outside and using up that endless energy.

Don’t panic just yet, your fence is perfectly safe, no actual paint is involved! Gather a selection of buckets of water and chunky paintbrushes, fill water pistols and household spray bottles, then anything goes!

Explore the different results each method creates. For example, water pistols create thinner more direct lines compared to the mist of a spray bottle but has less control than a paintbrush. Creations can be captured on your phone and then once the fence is dry, the kids can start all over again! If you don’t fancy using your fence as a canvas then long rolls of paper, such as wall lining paper, are just as fun. Adding a little bit of food colouring, a different colour for each container, creates pretty artwork that can be kept once dry or recycled.

Recycled Collages

‘Found objects’ collages are a great way to get thinking about a project for a few days before they actually create it.

Give your little ones a shoe box, egg carton, or a few Babycup First Cups and let them collect tiny treasures for a few days when you’re at home or out and about. This could be a selection of literally anything: leaves from the garden, buttons, barbie shoes, scraps of paper, ribbons, flowers, small animal shaped plastic toys, photographs from the newspaper, shells from a visit to the beach, whatever they find interesting or beautiful and sparks their imagination.

Once your child feels their collection is complete, or their box is nearly overflowing, they can decorate their shoe box or egg carton with paint, scraps of wrapping paper and washi tape then set them off to glue in their found objects any way they like. Finishing it
off with pom poms and glitter always goes down a treat!

Cool Off…

When they’re all hot and bothered and need a cool off, mini mocktails and smoothies to drink from a colourful Babycup First Cup are always winners. Older children can help by carefully cutting up fruit and measuring liquids. Here are a couple of recipes that always please tiny taste buds…

Banana Blueberry Smoothie – For the littlest ones

Banana adds sweetness while the superfood blueberries give this smoothie vitamins and a burst of flavour!

Add a banana, a handful of either fresh or frozen blueberries and approximately 100g of full fat plain yogurt to a blender and blitz until very smooth.

Non-alcoholic Sangria – For big brothers and sisters

Get hands busy and chop up roughly 125g of raspberries, 125g of blueberries and a medium sized apple and put them all in a large jug. Pour in around 350ml of soda water and 350ml of ginger ale. Right before serving, add a splash of apple juice and give it all a good stir.

Strawberry and Watermelon Slushie – For all the family (over 12 months)

Remove the skin and seeds of a small watermelon and cut into chunks. Place half into a freezer-friendly bag and freeze for a few hours or overnight. Blitz the frozen watermelon with the rest of the watermelon and a small punnet of strawberries until smooth and slushy. If you don’t have a blender a fork or potato masher should do the job and would probably be more fun (and messy!). Add the juice of 2 limes, pour into suitable cups and enjoy.