School holiday lockdown activities!

With the country split into different levels, the school's holidays will be very different for parents across the county. The good news is Aucklanders can now visit beaches and recreational parks that will greatly help with entertaining the kids during the school holidays! However, to help with rainy days or for activities close to home, we asked our Wilson Parking team members who are parents for their top lockdown activities to keep little ones entertained during the school holidays, here are our favourites:

Make musical maracas - since we can enjoy grabbing a contactless coffee from our local cafés, why not get crafty with those takeaway coffee cups.

Get the kids to decorate two coffee cups each and then fill with pasta, rice or seeds (whatever you have spare in the pantry) to make a maraca then tape together. You could also make a drum by using one cup and covering the top with paper or a balloon and elastic bands.

Handy hint – you can also use reusable coffee cups or even toilet roll holders to make these.

Play hide and seek – a classic favourite from one of our team members who said this kept her little ones busy for hours. You could also offer a prize for the most creative hiding spot.

Visit a museum – with most of the world being in lockdown at some point over the last year, many museums, aquariums, farms and zoos are offering virtual tours! Just search on Google or YouTube.

Become an artist - order some coloured chalk or pick some up from a click and collect store and let the kids lose on an outdoor fence or driveway (only when safe from cars and with an adult present). The best part is it washes away in the rain, so they'll have to start again. To help with lockdown community spirit you could get them to create messages to your local community for when people are out on their local walks.

Have a picnic in the garden – make this a longer activity by baking up a storm in the kitchen first and getting the kids to help you bake cookies or cakes for the picnic.

Make homemade play dough or slime – did you know it's so easy to make play dough with a few household pantry staples? Click here for an easy recipe. The play dough will last a few days in an airtight container.

Write a letter to a loved one – for older kids why not get them to write a letter to a friend they are missing or grandparents, they'll love receiving a letter in the mail.

Make a blanket fort – an oldy but a goody, keep the kids entertained with a blanket fort or turn one of your online delivery boxes into a kid's playhouse or fort.

CBeebies Bedtime stories – Okay so this one may be more for the Mum's – listen to your favourite bedtime stories being read by celebrities – some of our team members favourites include Tom Hardy and Rege-Jean Page. These can be found on YouTube 😊

Make a COVID time capsule – this is a crazy time everywhere in the world, so why not make a time capsule about this bizarre time in our life's. Get the kids to write letters about what Covid has meant for them and their memories of the past year, so you can look back in years to come! This can then be buried in the garden or popped in the attic.

Cloud watching – see what shapes you can see on a cloudy day – you'll be amazed how creative you can be.

Plant a vege garden or grow some flowers – order some seeds and build a vege garden. You can even create balcony gardens or a herb garden on the kitchen windowsill.