Day 6 of Champion Carly's challenge to spend 15 minutes each day for a week on a play date with your kids.

Teach them charity

It’s a common belief that “there is more happiness in giving than there is in receiving” so you can show your children what this means by helping them make some charitable donations.

For your 15 minutes today, you are going to spend some time with your children, going through their wardrobes and toy chests so that they can decide to give a few things on to those in need. If you have recently done a clear out, maybe you can make up some blessing bags together, which is a little different to choosing some old clothes and toys to donate.

A blessing bag is normally made up with a homeless person in mind. The idea is to fill it with a few essentials, deodorant, plasters, sanitary wear for women, chapstick, toothbrush and toothpaste, a comb etc and maybe even through in a couple of extra’s like an older pair of shoes or extra blanket that you don’t really need. If you have an old rucksack or handbag that you don’t use much, put everything in there.

Your kids can help get creative with ideas for this; they may want to include a bottle of water, piece of fruit or a snack bar. Maybe they would like write an encouraging little note with some motivational words to include in the bag. You may want to put some loose change in there too.

The idea is to get your kids involved in seeing how they can help make a difference in someone’s life, in as small a way as this. You can remind them of their situation and good fortune and encourage them to be ever grateful for this. Whether you make up blessing bags or go through their old toys and clothes to donate to the less fortunate, I’m sure your children will admire your generosity and want to emulate it.

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Play Dates Challenge Day 4 - Boredom Busters Jar

04 Feb 2016 BY A KalliKids Champion 1

Day 4 of Champion Carly's challenge to spend 15 minutes each day for a week on a play date with your kids.
 

Create a Boredom Busters Jar together

We all have those days where we have nothing planned and it feels like nothing is of interest. I do not suffer from boredom much, as there are usually a lot of household tasks that require my attention and I’m happy to sit quietly thinking, dreaming, planning. But our children sometimes need some inspiration for fun and play time in their lives when they feel they have nothing to do. I’ve always thought that if you find something to do you won’t be bored but sometimes finding something is the hard part.

Today you quality time can be spent creating a Boredom Busters Jar by decorating it and coming up with creative ways to keep yourself entertained should boredom strike one day. Your kids can get creative and make their own individual ones to use when needed, which you can help with or you could all make one big one to contribute ideas to.

You may choose to not just have fun activities and things to do in the jar. You could try adding both fun activities and chores into the jar. If your child is bored, they get to choose out of the jar but they may get “Clear out some old toys for charity” instead of “Let’s go for a picnic” as their boredom buster. If you are going to have this type of boredom busters jar you should ensure that they understand this is non-negotiable. It helps give them a sense of responsibility as they see that they can always ‘help’ with something, even when they feel there is nothing to d. It may also help them find something to do on their own before complaining they are bored.

To create a Boredom Buster jar you simply need a large container - a large glass jar with a lid, a biscuit tin, or even a large plastic peanut butter container will work. You can find anything to write your ideas on too. Ice lolly sticks are a popular choice, but coloured card and plain paper work too. If you feeling creative it is nice to decorate your jar with ribbons, colourful strips of paper, stickers, wrapping paper and raised letters to make it as fun as possible.

Your children will enjoy making this jar together and it will also hopefully be of use when you are next at a loose end for something to do. Remember you can always use “Refill the Boredom Busters Jar with ideas” as an idea in your jar!

Carly lives in Wokingham with her husband and two children. Carly helps parents get connected with the best activities in Berkshire and is looking forward to meeting parents at events in the area. To find out about KalliKids accredited activities in the Berkshire area follow Carly's Facebook page. If you are an activity provider in Berskshire who would like to find out more about becoming KalliKids accredited you can contact Carly here.