Are you staying at home these school holidays and looking for things to entertain your kids? School holidays are wonderful opportunities to reconnect with our kids and enjoy their precious company, but sometimes it can be hard to come up with ways to occupy them. Plus, most school holiday activities involve food in some way shape or form and quite often it’s food with loads of additives to boot. So how can we make the most of this time, do the fun activities that entertain the kids and still remain additive free to keep behaviours calm and balanced? Over the next few blogs, I’m will cover the top 5 things you can do to reconnect with your kids and how to keep them additive free. They’ll include activities to enjoy your time together and recipes, food substitutes and suggestions to satisfy their tummies too.
Activity 1 Visit your local pool
Ok, being a swimming teacher, I’m a little biased, but now it’s warming up in our part of the world it means we can say hello to water activities, and what better way to keep the kids occupied in the holidays (and wear them out so they sleep well too!).
Some of you may be fortunate enough to live by the beach – that’s a day out sorted right there… But for the land logged folk your options are either to take an expensive trip to the big water parks or amusement parks, or for a lot less money and hassle, head to your local pool. Most local pools now have some version of a water slide or water activities to make things fun, and if there are no ‘extras’ to entertain, bring along a ball or Frisbee and have some good old fashioned fun in the sun and water. Vitamin D for their little bodies and exercise to get the happy juices flowing too.
Unfortunately, most pool kiosks sell the usual hot chips, pies and lollies, which can quickly undo all the good reasons you head to the pool and certainly put a dent in your additive free calm happy lifestyle.
So what to do?
Bring your own food! Or if you don’t want to pack too much, head out first thing in the morning and be home before lunch.
What sort of food can you bring? If your kids are anything like mine at the pool, they duck back multiple times to wherever we are set up and grab a handful of something to shove in their mouths before quickly heading off for more fun. Which means, finger foods and easy to eat options are the way to go.
Here are a few ideas to get you started… (click on the highlighted text for recipes)
- Cheezy meatballs
- Homemade sausage rolls
- Good old vege sticks, cheese and dip (try some homemade cream cheese with avocado and lemon juice for a quick dip)
- Fresh fruit cut into pieces
- Homemade biccies (check out a few biscuit recipes in the sweet snacks or easter recipes pages of my website)
- If you’re after something as a sweet treat, hunt down the Yummy Earth, Surf Sweets or Artisse lollie range and take a packet to share (try your local health food or organic store, or online at sprout, the gluten free shop or organics on a budget)
Don’t forget to take water bottles and if they have a hankering for hot chips afterwards, head home, pop some whole potatoes in a pot to boil until just cooked, cut into wedges or chips, drizzle with a little oil and cook in a hot oven until crispy. Serve them with additive free sauce and keep your holidays calm and happy!
Taking the kids to the pool is a great way to combine the sun, exercise and good old fashioned fun with little expense – particularly if you pack your own food and avoid the additives 🙂 Stay tuned for another additive free school holiday activity to keep the kids occupied in the next blog.
What’s your favourite thing to do with the kids in the holidays? If you have an idea you’d like to share, click here to post a message on Facebook.
Happy swimming folks!
Loren x
