So it’s finally here – the long summer holidays! Teachers and pupils skipped out of the gates on the last day of school, but parents didn’t rush home with as much enthusiasm.

If you are at home with your kids during the summer, it’s great not to have to get them up and drag them out of the house each morning – but as we all know, once they are up and they have finished breakfast, they will usually plonk themselves in front on the TV clutching their favourite gadget and moan about how bored they are.

So how do you survive the summer with your little angels?

Plan, plan and plan – and of course involve the kids.

Start by printing off a weekly plan, you can find them online or better still get the kids to draw one out listing the days and showing mornings and afternoons. (You will of course need SEVEN of these!)

Now fill in all the bits you NEED to do that week. For example, walking the dog, or if you go shopping on a Friday morning and will still need to do this in the holidays pop it on the planner. This way everyone will know that certain things need to be done and there will be less moaning on the day.

Next call a family planning meeting – sit them all down with paper and coloured pens and get them to make lists. Ask them to make lists for things they want to do so you can use them to fill in your planner. Make lists for:

• What do you like to do when it’s raining?
• Where do you like to go when the sun is shining?
• Where would you choose to go for a special treat?
• What friends would you like over for a play date?
• Who would you choose to invite if we had a sleep over?
• Who would you like to visit this summer? (Grandparents, aunts and uncles etc.)
• Pick something you would like to learn about this summer?
• What crafts would you like to do?
• Where would you like to go for walks and picnics?

Sleep overs and play dates can seem like hard work, but children tend to amuse themselves when they have friends to play with as long as you keep them fed and watered, and of course most parents will reciprocate and have them over to theirs another day, giving you some much needed you time.

Asking for things they like to do on rainy days means that although the weather may mean you can’t go on that picnic in the park, you can quickly get them excited about something on their rain days list and avoid the ‘what shall we do today?’ drama.

Get them involved in the household chores too. This is easier when they know that as soon as everything’s done they can go out for the day, or start baking.

If you plan activities well you can become super organised. If you have baking on your list you can bake muffins or cupcakes to the picnic or playdate the following day.  You can even make shopping more fun by giving them their own shopping list of things they need for baking or crafting so they can be in charge of making sure they have everything they need.

And of course don’t forget to schedule some time for reading and some mental maths to make sure they keep their minds active throughout the summer.

Now we can’t promise this is will give you a stress free summer but it will make it more fun – and everyone can get involved, even grandparents if they are helping out with childcare.

Have a great summer, and don’t forget to check our events page each week for new and fun stuff to do locally.