Keeping the kids happy out and about

Conquer boredom by building a den in a woodland or local park – it’s a great way to let little imaginations run wild. They’ll have fun balancing sticks, tying branches to form a roof and deciding whether to leave a gap for a door! No big sticks? How about asking them to gather small twigs to make a fairy house instead?

Need to help them beat the boredom when it’s raining? Then get outside and have fun getting their hands dirty making mud pies!

To really get their imagination going, why not ask who they are baking for? Is it for a scallywag pirate on board a ship? Or some hungry teddy bears heading for their picnic?

Kids love water, so what better way to calm them down than by getting them to focus on creating a magic potion? Fill a little washing-up basin with warm water and let them splash and wiggle their fingers through it for some messy fun.

Why not ask them to find petals and leaves to help make the potion extra magical!

When you’re out and about and somewhere like the park, you could ask your child how many children skipping they can see, the number of steps between trees, how many dogs you see, or how many people. Or how many more people than dogs. There’s a whole world out there just waiting to be counted.

A great ball game for kids is to count each time you throw the ball to each other. To mix things up a little, you could try different ways of counting - starting to count in twos (2, 4, 6), and then having a go at counting in fives (5, 10, 15) and tens (10, 20, 30). You could even take a point away when someone misses.

If your little one is feeling antsy, why not get them to look for beasties? Wee explorers will love if you ask them to see what different bugs they can find in different places - search in grass, mud, trees and even cracks in the pavement.

To keep them entertained for longer, you could even ask them to count how many of each creepy crawly they can find.

Another fun game to play outside with a ball is to take turns at keepie-uppies. Start by counting each keepie-uppie. Then start again, and make each keepie-uppie worth two points. Then five points. You could even take a point off each time you drop the ball. You could ask your child to be in charge of keeping score while you play.

Jumpers make fantastic goalposts for a free ball game! Take it in turns to be in goal, and then for every ball that gets through the jumpers add a point. For every ball you miss, subtract a point.

Try taking it in turns to alternate numbers to 30, while rolling or throwing a ball back and forth. Then, if you're up for a challenge, try it backwards and in 2s. Start at different numbers, or if you don't have a ball handy pat your tummy or clap your hands while you count.

Make a fun treasure hunt out of things you find on the ground to get kids to interact with their outdoor surroundings. If they pick up something smooth, they have to find something rough. If they find something heavy, they have to find something light.

The best part – you can play this anywhere!

If your little one is climbing the walls in the house, why not take away the walls by climbing trees instead? What else can they find to climb – steps, logs, or little slopes?