Try these fun activities with your pre-schooler today

To bond and spend quality time with your children, you don’t have to spend the entire weekend at the mall (and you wouldn’t want to with the spike in Covid-19 cases anyway). Make the most of your time together by participating in these fun weekend activities that the entire family can enjoy while avoiding crowds of people.

1. Get baking

If it’s too cold to run around outside or it’s raining, head to the kitchen with your kids and help them make these yummy cookies the whole family will love.

*Makes approx. 40 cookies

*Preparation time: approx. 60 minutes

Ingredients

• 185g butter
• 1 cup castor sugar
• 1½ tsp vanilla essence
• 2½ cups plain flour
• 1 egg
• 1 egg yolk, extra
• Icing sugar to serve

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celcius. Process the butter, sugar, and vanilla in a food processor until smooth.
2. Add the flour, egg, and egg yolk and process again to form a smooth dough.
3. Knead the dough lightly, wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
4. Roll out the dough between sheets of non-stick baking paper until 5mm thick.
5. Cut the dough into shapes using cookie cutters and place on baking trays lined with non-stick baking paper.
6. Bake for 10–12 minutes or until golden. Cool on wire racks
7. To serve, dust with icing sugar.

2. Construct a miniature greenhouse

Introduce your children to gardening by assisting them in the construction of their own miniature hothouse. It’s simple to get started, and the children will enjoy watching their seedlings grow. For more information on what you’ll need and how to get started, read on!

What you’ll need:

• ± 12cm pot (should fit the diameter of a coke bottle)
• 2L coke bottle
• Scissors
• Spade
• Potting soil
• Seedlings of your choice

Step 1: Use the scissors to cut off the top end of the coke bottle carefully.

Step 2: Fill the pot with potting soil and gently push your finger into the soil to make a hole to plant your seedling into. Once you’ve popped the seedling into the hole, pat down firmly around the base of your seedling.

Step 3: Lightly water with a spray bottle or watering can. Be sure not to overwater!

Step 4: Turn the coke bottle bottom upside down and place it over the top of the pot to form your mini hothouse.

Step 5: Stand your hothouse in a warm, well-lit area but make sure it’s not in the full sun. A window sill would be ideal.

Step 6: Be sure to water your seedling every day to prevent it from drying out. When the seedling is around 8cm tall, you can get the kids to transplant it into the garden.

Play games outside

Weather permitted, your garden can double as a playground. Here are a few great games to play with your kids:

Red Light, Green Light

One player, the ‘robot’ stands on one side of the garden while the others stand on the other side of the garden. The robot must face away from the others and yell “Green light”, at which point the other children must move towards the robot. The robot must then choose when to yell, “Red light”, and when he says this, he must turn around quickly and face the other children. Everyone must stop in their tracks. If anyone is caught moving, they have to go back to the start. This process is repeated until someone tags the robot. The first person to tag the robot wins and becomes the next robot.

Cat and mouse

Tuck a scarf into the back of your pants and your child’s pants. Start the game as the cat while your child starts as the mouse. When you say “Go”, your child (the mouse) must try to run away from you (the cat). The game’s objective is for the cat (you) to remove the mouse’s (your child’s) tail. Once you’ve caught your child and removed his tail, he becomes the cat and must try and catch you again. Remember to keep the game’s pace slow enough so your little one can catch you.

Big Foot Relay

Find two shoeboxes each for your children and their friends. Tape the lids onto the boxes, and then cut a slit in each lid that’s big enough for the children to get their feet into – in essence, turning the shoeboxes into big, funny shoes. The contestants slip their feet into the slits in the boxes and have a race. The children will fall about and have loads of fun.

Drag your teammate

Divide the group into two teams. Give each team a blanket. One player from each team must lie down on the blanket. The teams must drag the person on the blanket from one end of the garden to the other. Whoever crosses the finish line first, wins.