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Dr Sunita Maheshwari gives you some creative ideas for a summer afternoon with your kids — and they’re all free

The start of summer holidays has probably every parent groaning about how to keep the kids busy; we are human after all, and have the right to freedom of expression. Unfortunately, this summer it is not going to be a fancy holiday or summer camp, nor a summer away with grandparents for a good majority of us struggling parents.

So what do we do, short of pulling our hair out or enrolling our kids in a countless number of classes that may send our budget reeling?
We simply follow these ideas to keep them busy and happy.

* Lie on the sofa and read to them; get your tiny tots to point out the animals, objects, letters and colours. Make it educational and fun; ask them questions like “Is this bigger or that’’, “Where is the baby cow and where does a piggy stay?’’ The idea is to make learning fun, but if they’re developing synapses in their brain as you go along, it’s even better!

* Play some music and dance to it; they are bound to join in. It’s quite exhilarating, and makes for a great bonding experience. Let the kids rock and roll and shake and move with you. Besides being an excellent way to pass time, it gets them to exercise and is truckloads of fun, too.
Now think of what all that jumping around will do. It will tire them out and may be, just may be that they crash out earlier than you expected. Will save you on beddy byes, too, even if it is for just one day.

* Arts, crafts, creativity and this ‘n’ that:
— Use empty cereal boxes to make animal cut-outs. Then help the kids to paint them to make a mini zoo; or, simply use the sides of the box to build a doll house and help them set it up and then play ‘mummy mummy’ or ‘shopping shopping’.

— Make little red riding hoods of your tots. Give them a basket each and take them to a park or to the garden. Help them collect lots of leaves and flowers that have fallen down. When home, put the foliage to dry. Give them ideas on how to paint these to make a collage.

— Take a pair or two of used, to be-discarded socks. Stuff them with paper and tie up loose ends to make it look somewhat like a man. Get them to paint on the eyes, the nose and the mouth. Use these puppets as part of a story telling session or to visit the zoo or the house the kids made the previous day with the cereal boxes.

— Give them some rice and pulses to make a collage, or help them make a beanie baby each with some mustard seeds. Just something more to add to their collection.

— Teach the kids the way to knead dough and then help them use it to make a variety of shapes, which they can paint when dry.

— The idea is to keep the kids busy, and this is one idea that may take hours (all the better). Give them a coconut shell and help them design their very own piggy bank. Give them paints, scraps of cloth, some glue, etc to create one of their choice. What’s more, it can get them to start saving.

* Plan a puppet show; nothing fancy. Just help your bundles of joy (for a while you may not think so, but then it’s a momentary phase) round up some of their favourite soft toys and have them whet their imagination by creating stories around the characters. Let them take turns at story telling and you can do your bit by using the stories to give subtle hints on the virtues of caring and sharing. This can be a way to inculcate good values in them while they have some roaring fun!

* Invite some kiddy friends of theirs over along with their mommies. Sing songs with them and help make up some silly rhymes and limericks and encourage each kid to perform before the audience. However, do make sure there’s lots of clapping after each performance.

* Normally we like to keep the children out of the kitchen. But there’s surely no harm in making little chefs whip up some ‘nimboo pani’ by letting them squeeze out the lemons. Or letting them mix jello and allowing them to cut it into different shapes once set. There, that takes care of their afternoon snack.

* To keep your kids from getting all hot and bothered, you must allow them to splash around in the bathroom. Make little paper sailboats for them to make bathtime more fun.

* Help them make a house out of pillows and a sheet where mummy and babies can cuddle up to warmth and kisses.
And, sure enough, there will be other moms with kids in the same situation as yours. So, do plan a group outing to tide you by once you run out of ideas!