Fun and games with the Boredom Busting Summer Celebration from Sainsbury’s

The summer holidays have only been going for a week and I’m already exhausted. It’s the first time I’ve had to face them with two energetic, inquisitive, excited kids to run around after and it’s quite a shock to the system (last year Bubby D hadn’t even learnt to crawl yet so things were an awful lot simpler!)

When I was doing my shopping in Sainsbury’s, I noticed the Bumper Book of Summer, and wondered if it might be the answer? Filled with lots of ideas for different activities suitable for sun, rain, indoor, outdoor, and all different ages it looked like a bargain buy – £5 for a whole summer of inspiration! It’s written by Josie Curran and contains activity ideas from David Beckham and Ellie Simmonds (Active Kids Ambassadors for Sainsburys), plus tips from Nickelodeon presenters Anna and Nick.  Plus it comes with a easy activity key which gives activity time, weather suitability, materials needed and a guide to the ideal age bracket – and it has a step-by-step  DVD, scrapbook to record what we’ve been up to with 100 stickers (Bubby D LOVES stickers) and a poster with an overview of all the activities too.

Then, serendipitously, we were invited to the Sainsbury’s Boredom Busting Summer Celebration to start off the inspiration with a bang! Or actually, a hooter – there were races going on where we got to dress up as various different vehicles, all ingeniously made up of cardboard boxes. The Wee Man thought it was hilarious to get me dressed up as a bus!

Face painting was a big hit – the Wee Man was very pleased with his yellow butterfly – and the … and make your own monster messy play were also met with equal enthusiasm.

After all that fun we were feeling a bit peckish, and there was good news – there are recipes in the book as well. We were offered a tasty slice of quesadilla each (made by putting a tortilla wrap in a warm pan, covering it with a mix of cheese, onion and pepper all finely diced, and then another tortilla on top). Wee Man liked his so much he went back for more, and clamoured to be able to make some when we got home too. I’m pretty sure we will, since it was quick and easy, and I also enjoyed it!

We followed that up with gingerbread man decorating…

…pirate hat making and pirate sword swishing…

…and then opted for something a bit less energetic and sat down to look at a GIANT snail and create a nature book to write all about giant snails (and other mini beasts) in. It reminded me of how much fun I used to have as a kid, keeping snails and having snail races with them. Perhaps we will give that a try too this summer!

Then the Wee Man was back to being energetic when he spied an obstacle course and some footballs.

The aim was to get the ball around the course as quickly as possible and into the net. Being incredibly unsporty myself, I was quite amazed to see that he can actually kick a ball pretty well! I think I’ll be enlisting the Other Half to take him to the park a bit for a kick around since he obviously really loved it – he insisted on completing the course three times before his attention was grabbed by the fake television…

… where he became a weather man! According to the Wee Man, we can expect snow, lightning and a bit of sun later so that ‘you can see where you are sledging’. I can’t say that I was particularly pleased with the forecast but I did enjoy the big smile on his face as he was being ‘filmed’!

And then it was time to sit down again and enjoy some seaside fun, painting a shell frame.

We finished the day so worn out that the Wee Man went straight to bed, fast asleep, as soon as we arrived home. That’s pretty much unheard of! And hopefully something we’ll see a bit more of this summer, now we’ve got the book 😉

We had an absolutely amazing afternoon and really enjoyed all the activities, and the Wee Man has already enthusiastically put up his poster and picked out his next activity. Vinegar Volcano here we come!