Easter Activities for All: Having Fun at Home this Bank Holiday Weekend

It wouldn’t be a bank holiday weekend without plentiful servings of family films being shown on television. But there are plenty of other activities you can do to get you up and moving away from the TV, and Protyre are here to help with a few ideas on how to keep busy.

If you haven’t used your car in a while, it would be a good idea to carry out safety checks to help keep your vehicle roadworthy. This is especially important if you’ve been given a 6-month extension to your MOT, as your car’s health is in your hands. If you have kids, why not use this time to show them how to do these checks and to teach them why it’s important to do so? Why not get them to help give it a clean at the same time?

Once you’ve been through the car safety checks, have a go at making your own car from cardboard boxes and paper plates. Or make a tiny town for toy cars to drive around by using Lego, paper / card, toilet roll / kitchen roll tubes, PlayDoh, and anything else you may have in the house. If you don’t have any PlayDoh, a quick Google search will bring up recipes for how to make your own.
 
It wouldn’t be Easter without the traditional Easter egg hunt. Try turning it into a scavenger hunt and come up with clues to help find each egg. There are also plenty of Easter-themed arts-and-crafts ideas to keep your children occupied this weekend – from drawing the Easter bunny, to making Easter wreaths and banners. You could also make Easter cards to send to friends, family, neighbours, and residents of the local nursing homes.
 
Turn the outside of your house into a colourful masterpiece using chalk or crayons. Colour in each brick and create a rainbow wall; not only will this give passers-by on their daily exercise walks something nice to look at, but this will also help to show support for our key workers.
 
You don’t have to be able to go on holiday to see the world – get your child(ren) to pick 10 countries (you can choose more or less than 10 if you wish), then draw their flag, find out what their currency is (if they use the Euro, what did they use before?), and find out what the national animal is (Scotland’s might surprise you!). For an extra task, find out one dish from each country and then over the course of the weekend you have the option to try cooking some of these international cuisines with your little ones.
 
If the weather is nice where you are, why not take ‘holiday at home’ to a whole new level and make your own campsite in your garden or living room. All you have to do is set up a tent or make a fort and decorate the campsite with some lights and homemade signs.
 
Just because your teenager can’t go see their friends, there’s no reason they can’t see their friends. With loads of fantastic group video chat tools out there, such as Zoom, why not throw a virtual party? With the likes of Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Disney+ (to name just a few) everyone can put the same movie on at the same time and talk about what their watching with each other.
 
Not every activity has to be creative and different; the simplest of tasks can often make a difference. Why not phone your parents or grandparents? Or register to be a “phone buddy” to those who live alone or in care homes and who may otherwise not speak to another person for several days. Many people will feel lonely at some point during this period of social isolation and lockdown, but in this digital age that we live in there are plenty of ways to remain connected from a distance.

At the start of the pandemic the government and various organisations put out pleas and requests for hundreds of thousands of volunteers to help those in need. The response they received was amazing, but there are still volunteers needed to get prescriptions, buy essential food items, deliver food parcels – the list goes on. To find out how you can help the people of your community there are plenty of websites that can provide advice, such as GoodSAM, Volunteer Now, or your local councils website, to name a few.

Now, let’s be honest for a moment – how many odd jobs are there around your home that you’ve been thinking, “I’ll do that when I have time”? Make hay while the sun shines, and use this opportunity to hang those shelves, paint that room, or sort out the weeds in the garden. You may find that you feel happier at home once these tasks have been completed.

There are plenty of free courses being offered by various colleges and organisations, all of which can be done online. Whatever your interests, there should be something to suit you. Have a look on Google and start learning today.

Teach yourself a new skill – why not learn to knit or crochet? You can even find free patterns online to make your own essential worker dolls.

If you’re a fan of the theatre and musicals, both the National Theatre and Andrew Lloyd-Webber are showing different productions on their YouTube channels for free each week. Visit their websites for more information.

Bring the spa to you. There are loads of recipes online for how to make your own face masks and body scrubs, such as this guide from Elle.

All sports and motorsports may be cancelled for the foreseeable future, but you can still get your sporting fix with videogames. This month, PlayStation are offering Dirt Rally 2.0 for free, and both Xbox and PlayStation have Easter Savings / Spring Sales offering up to 60% off on various games, including FIFA 20.

Exercise doesn’t just have to be a trip to the gym or going out for a run. Now that all gyms, bootcamps, and leisure centres have had to close their doors, many are offering online work outs and virtual classes for free or for a small charge. Some have even created their own weekend workout challenges, for example to do 100 squats a day or to climb the equivalent of a mountain on your stairs over the bank holiday. Contact your local gym or exercise company to see what they are have.

Working out from home can be fun for all the family, but you might need a little prior preparation and imagination. We have a few examples of ideas below:

• with string and sticky tape turn your hallway into a secret agent laser-style course and see who can find their way to the end without setting off the “alarm”

• using masking tape, chairs, and other sturdy furniture create an obstacle course – follow the lines laid out with tape and complete 10 stations, such as push ups, crawl under a table / chair, star jumps etc. 

If you need to purchase anything to carry out any of the tasks we’ve mentioned above, please do not make special trips out to buy them. Where possible either order online or get any of the items you need whilst shopping for your essential items.
 
For more ideas on how to keep yourself or your family entertained, Pinterest provides a plethora of options. It’s easy to sign up, if you haven’t already, and you can save pins for later. Have your kids create their own board and so they help plan their own fun.
 
The most important thing to do this weekend is to stay home and to stay safe. Together, we can do this.