It’s nice for the kids to have a bit of time off and away from the regiment of school and timed snack breaks, but where possible we’re trying not to let the structure go completely. Sure, as parents we’re all completely exhausted and giving them screen-time or letting them play whatever for however long they want is tempting, when it’s time to go back, it’ll be a nightmare!

I’ve also found that our daughter gets bored really quickly without a plan in place, even if it’s being let loose on a messy ‘experiment’ of different cooking ingredients in a muffin pan. She can mix, stir, get her hands dirty, and measure out to her heart’s content, but it still feels like she’s doing a task.

While I’m working (and hiding in my home-office nook with huge headphones on), my wife has set up a flexible Spring Break Timetable that has enough to keep our daughter busy but plenty of the time-off flexibility that gives an opportunity to refresh before going back to school in a couple of weeks.

As well as trying to squeeze in some learning, don’t forget to have plenty of fun to keep things rolling. Here are a few ideas:

• How to Build a Blanket Fort
• Easy Macaroon Recipe and Fluffy Pancake Recipe
• How to Make a DIY Mud Kitchen
• Indoor DIY Carnival Games to Make and Play
• Free Early Learning Resources and Lesson Plans

Over the Spring Break vacation, she’ll be spending most weekdays doing a combination of 1 hour ‘experiment’, 1 hour phonics and reading practice, and 1 hour of outside play.

The experiments are some form of tactile play. For this you can use anything in the house, but stocked up on:

• Bottles of shaving cream
• Food colouring
• Cornstarch
• Vinegar
• Bubble mix / dish soap

These are mostly things that she can make a good mess with and see how they react with each other.

For Outside Time, it will be anything from playing catch or frisbee, to getting out a magnifying glass and seeing what she can find and then draw what she saw.

Either way, you’ve got this!