Entertaining Children

Entertaining children always sounds a daunting event, but it has to be neither complex, nor expensive. Children are often inquisitive creatures that like new adventures, or creating new things.

The are always lots of free, or cheap entertainment listed in your local Sunday Mail, especially around the school holidays, but why not try some of the following suggestions.  You may even be surprised at just how much fun you have as a family:

• Feed the ducks: save all of the crusts, or stale bread and feed them to the ducks at a nearby river, or duck pond. However, always remember to supervise children around water;
• Do sports: enrol the children in a local soccer clinic, Little Athletics, dance classes, karate classes etc. Not only will they be having fun, but they will also be getting fresh air, exercise and achieving new skills. For more information see www.littleathletics.com.au, www.ozkidsactivities.com;
• Get wet: especially as the weather starts to warm up. Water is fun for most children. Go to the beach, or your local community swimming pool. Join a swimming club, or if your children are more adventuress, you may consider joining them in a canoeing club, diving club, surfing club, or a junior sailing club. Check out http://www.swimaustralia.org.au or www.canoe.org.au for some more information;
• Fly a kite: kites are a cheap way of having fun, whether they are bought ones, or homemade ones. Get yourself a kite and watch the children’s eyes light up as it flutters and flies in the wind;
• Pack a picnic: unfortunately with two incomes and so many fast food outlets, there are fewer families enjoying the fresh air and eating picnics. Why not pack some homemade rolls, or sandwiches, some fruit, a tea flask and a rug and head off for a picnic in the local playground, near a river, or down the beach;
• Go for a ride: a sad fact of modern Australia is that 80% of children are driven everywhere by car. Riding push bikes are not only fun, but they are an easy way to exercise. Consider planning a family bike trip to your favourite playground, to the beach, or just around the block. Smaller children can sit in a child’s seat attached to the back of an adult’s bike, ride a tag-a-long (a child’s push bike attached by a bar, to the seat pole of an adult’s bike), or in a bike trailer attached to the back. Always remember to wear a helmet and to stay on bike tracks, or for small children, on the footpath. See www.cyclingpromotion.com.au;
  
• Circus skills: children love to jump and roll and learning new tricks is always great fun. If the back garden trampoline gets boring, why not consider enrolling them in a local gymnastics club. Often travelling circus’s offer free circus workshops whilst they are in town, but you may have to enquire. Check out http://www.gymnastics.org.au;
• Catch a bus, train, or tram: whilst 80% of children are driven to school, very few have ever stepped foot on a bus, or train. Plan a trip to the beach, grandparent’s house, or the shops using public transport. Be creative. Catch the bus to your destination and the train home, or vice versa. The children will love the adventure;
• Department of Youth: The Department of Sport and Recreation offers a wide range of fun and healthy activities for children, including sports clinics, holiday camps, learn-to classes, night vision walks, horse riding, abseiling, to name just a few. Google “sports and recreation” to find the respective website in your state;

With all that fresh air and activity, your children should sleep well at night!

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