By admin 
The end of the year is approaching and with it comes concerns about what is the best type of activity for children during the holidays.
After all, this period should indeed be one of more rest, but it cannot fail to be a time for learning and developing fundamental skills for the future, whether cognitive or interpersonal, such as communicating with other children.
In this post, we will look at some activities that can achieve this result. Above all, it is important to plan so that this period does not become too tiring for parents, who continue with their work.
To learn some holiday activity tips for your child, keep reading!
Where to leave the children on vacation?
One of the biggest concerns and difficulties when you have children on vacation is where to leave them. Especially because in recent years, more and more, both parents work and are unable to stay at home all the time.
It is also worth remembering that children cannot be left alone until they are 12 years old (and preferably until they are 14), so it is recommended that you hire a babysitter, leave them at their grandparents’ house or try to reconcile your schedule with your child’s extracurricular activities (swimming, courses, classes).
What to do with children on vacation?
So let’s get started, regardless of where and how you decide to leave your little ones, there are some activities to do with your children, which you can teach and instruct the caregivers to do and which you can put into practice yourself in your free time.
Most options are designed to keep children away from screens , to interact and develop in the best way possible. But don’t get me wrong, there are several benefits of technology in childhood , it doesn’t need to and shouldn’t be cut out of child development.
With that said, let’s get started!
Treasure hunt
Treasure hunt games are great for entertaining children and developing their problem-solving skills.
They are especially interesting during celebratory periods (such as Easter, Christmas, birthdays, etc.), so that the child can find their present at home, but they are also great during holiday periods.
Simply choose an object/treasure for your child to look for and prepare some clues and riddles that they will need to find it. Always remember to adjust the difficulty to the child’s age; they need to be able to play and have fun.
Reading challenges
A good idea to do with children on vacation is to encourage a love of reading. To do this, you can create challenges, such as reading a certain book in a certain number of days, and then exchange ideas with the child about the story read.
You can let them choose the type of story or even the book itself. The idea is that it will be a fun activity for the little ones and will better develop their concentration , memory, reasoning, understanding and creativity .
(Lighter) study routine
No child wants to study as much during the holidays as they did when they were in school, after all, it is a period of rest. But that doesn’t mean you have to cut your children’s study routine completely.
Set aside one or two hours a day to review subjects and do exercises on everything you have learned so far, separate the subjects by day and try to find fun ways to stimulate this study period.
This way, you can help your child improve their performance in more difficult subjects, maintain their study rhythm and avoid a sudden break in routine.
Movie session
This is an option that uses screens, but it can be very interesting for children and teenagers. For younger children, you can work with children’s films that provide good learning for them or that are classics.
Then, you can create activities about the films, such as questions, summaries or other approaches that develop the little ones’ minds.
For pre-teens and teenagers, it’s a good idea to bring classics (appropriate for their age), such as ‘The Sixth Sense’, ‘E.T’, ‘Back to the Future’ and other films that are important to know. In addition to these, introduce new genres, really making it a movie-going experience.
During the end-of-year holidays, you can even create traditions, such as watching Christmas movies throughout the month of December — or other ideas that come to mind.
Backyard Bowling
To entertain children on vacation (who are at least 2 years old) you can create a bowling competition between the family, just use some plastic bottles as pins (add a little sand or soil to make them more stable), and use a ball to create the competition.
Another version is the game Coco no Buraco, which is almost like bowling. The ball is the coconut and with each round you need to be further away from the hole made in the ground. This is a game that works best for those who have a garden.
Secret Box
This is a great activity to do with your children, as a family, to develop creativity, sensory abilities, curiosity and communication skills.
It’s very simple: in a bag, put some objects that your child knows the name of and that are not sharp. Then, take a cardboard box and make two holes on the same side — you need to put your fist through it.
It’s time to play! Two participants stand with their backs to the box and put their hands inside to identify what the object is by touch. If in doubt, place a cloth over their hand so that they can’t peek inside.
Play pot
Here’s an idea to keep your child from getting bored. Sit down with them one day and write down all the games and activities they enjoy, such as drawing, painting, reading a book, playing with play dough, playing with a specific toy or game, among others.
Then make little pieces of paper with each one, fold them well and put them in a little jar. Now, every time your child gets bored, he can go there and have a new activity!
Outdoor sports and games
It is always good for children to play at home, but it is also essential to take them to play outside, in parks or city squares.
One idea, then, of what to do with children during the holidays is to take them out into nature and the sun, and to keep them away from screens. This can also help develop social skills in childhood by letting them interact with other children.
But remember to participate too, ride your bike with them, play ball, try skateboarding and other fun outdoor games. Family games are always a good idea, imagine creating memories playing Tacobol (Bets) with parents and children together?
Art and crafts
How about taking advantage of the children’s vacation and developing their artistic skills? You can let them choose what to draw freely or you can create daily challenges based on themes to stimulate their creativity.
If you don’t know what to suggest, take some ideas from the Inktober challenges, which are different every year — it’s basically a theme for each day in October for artists to do, you don’t have to follow it exactly, but you can use it as inspiration.
At the end, you can hang them all with string and invite the family to see the art display!
Family cooking
How about developing a taste for cooking in children? To do this, it’s quite simple, just ask them to participate in some fun tasks, such as separating ingredients, measuring quantities, mixing everything and, of course, seeing and eating the result.
It is better to opt for making sweets, which are easier for little ones to add and use fewer knives , but if you find ways for the child to participate in lunch and dinner, this is always valid too and helps a lot in developing the relationship between parents and children .
Outdoor and/or cultural tours
Taking children out for walks is important, which is why we brought up a topic about the outdoors above, but sometimes, instead of focusing on play, it can be interesting to take more targeted trips, such as visiting zoos, farms and other places so that they have more contact with nature.
In addition to these, cultural outings are also very important, such as art exhibitions, museums, going to the theater, cinema, music and dance performances. This way you can expand children’s minds and increase their possibilities for interests and culture.