Hooray! It’s half term! cry the children. Time for fun and relaxation and seeing friends… playdates to arrange, fun outings to fix and activities to find out about. So that means chill time and no work, we say, because that’s what we crave ourselves.

In fact, though a break from routine and super early mornings goes down well, kids actually just love learning. They don’t really want or need a break from finding out stuff, being creative and learning how to do things.They thrive on it and building this into half-term activities can make it all so much more fun .

Fun and educational

Snuggling up with a new book is always a treat, and a great habit to foster!  Find all the latest books to read and to borrow at your local library – check out your nearest option here  Most also run special events in the vacations- plays, readings, activities and more, which are great opportunities to take part, meet authors and also make new local friends.

At school, activities like drawing and writing tend to be separated, but there’s so much fun to be had when the two are brought together.  Kids and adults alike will be charmed by Charlie Mackesy’s book of illustrations The Boy, The Mole, the Fox and The Horse -  great inspiration for drawing and writing about half-term activities, friends, places and big thoughts.

Charlie Mackesy - The Boy, The Mole, the Fox and The Horse, $22.99

Maybe indulge in a beautiful mid-semester treat of a notebook to safeguard all those precious pieces of work – we love Katie Leamon’s stationery addict design which has a mix of blank, lined and grid pages to suit your mood.

 grey grid notebook, Katie Leamon at Shop Commerce Dallas, $16

Coloring in – and learning!

Kids love charts and creating a vacation activity planner is a great activity in itself, involving math, logic, creativity and handwriting skills. A bumper package, in fact, and great introduction to the concept of spreadsheets ongoing… All you need is some large paper such as ledger, a ruler and some pens.  The littlest can enjoy coloring in the squares and bigger children will enjoy writing lots of info into each day’s segment and decorating them. Add in some extra elements maybe – shiny stars for the kids to highlight favorite days, different colored stars and dots to differentiate what they’re doing/who they are seeing.  Lots of fun to plan with them as well as execute. 

Making, baking and math

Making food for friends is one of those satisfying activities that kids fully engage with at an early stage.  Messy, yes, but often hilarious too – and there’s lots of learning involved.  Everything from reading the recipe and getting out the ingredients to measuring, setting the oven temperature and timing the bake are positive knowledge steps.  Add in organizing cupcakes or biscuits in size order, counting out decorations and it’s a math buzz!

World mapping– even on rainy days!

While it’s ideal to get out to discover new places if the weather is good, there are plenty of options even when stuck inside on rainy days. Wicked Uncle have lots of great offerings including world map backpack.  Super practical for carrying school kit or a handy carry-on when travelling, it comes with 10 wash-out fabric markers so you can enjoy coloring in the countries you’d like to visit, or those where friends and relatives live. Featuring the modern wonders of the world plus sights, cities and animals, the design wraps round the bag like a globe!

eatsleepdoodle world map backpack from Wicked Uncle, $17.49