Let’s face it, keeping the children amused on holiday whilst a joy, can sometimes be a bit of a chore. The novelty of arriving somewhere new to explore (and no school!) can do the trick, but you still have to be mindful of the little darlings, and think ahead.
Kid’s clubs can be great, but often the children do know that they are being ‘farmed out’ so that the parents can have a bit of a break. So, it’s nice to arrive at a park with something new on offer that may spark their interest, and keep them happy for a couple of hours while the adults get some well deserved chillax time.
Haven Holidays may be hitting the nail on the head by teaming up with Ravensburger UK to get kids to do some outdoor art (weather permitting!). The idea is a simple one, that the children get to decorate safe areas with chalk and stencils. It’s a bit more structured than a random scrawl though, as the whole idea is to use stencils to decorate the outdoors, with a view to their efforts being show-cast on UKMums.tv, so the kids get to see their work on the box as well.
Mind you, it’s a bit ironic, as the whole idea is to get children outdoors, i.e. away from the dreaded screen. But, that aside, it sounds like a great idea. Some children can be resistant to activities if for one minute they start to remind them of school. But, give them some chalks and they’re usually away.
Hopefully the project which will be across their 35 parks will be a success for Haven, and hopefully something that can be continued at home, as stencils are easy to make with a bit of cardboard. Most caravan holiday parks have modern facilities, and even if that doesn’t mean an FST in the caravan with built in DVD player, you will have sockets to plug in a travel DVD player, none of which is particularly good for children, but admittedly handy if you need to do the washing up and it’s raining outside. So, anything that can get them outdoors is to be applauded.
Well done to Haven for teaming up with Ravensburger and coming up with something that may keep the children busy outdoors for a bit, and may spark a bit of long lasting creativity that they can take home with them (the ideas that is, they’re not ‘Banksy’s’, their designs will be left at the parks for posterity, or until the next heavy rain…). Original article.
By: Gareth Whieldon
