For ages three to five

Bring the magic of stories to life

Work with your child to make a story glove. Using a pair of old gloves, ask your child to choose their favourite story, and then use each finger of the glove for the main characters in the story. Decorate each finger with your child using sewing in strands of wool for hair, sewing thread for facial features, scraps of fabric for clothes, and decorate with buttons and sequins. Once you and your child have finished the glove, get your child to use it to tell you the story.

Design-a Sandwich
It’s a simple idea and a great way to get your little ones thinking about different foods and combinations, while also extending their vocabulary. You can use items from the fridge or cupboard, or take your kids shopping to find their perfect filling. Once they’ve selected it, they can get to work preparing their designer sandwiches, and even draw or write up the recipe. You can then go on a picnic, have a tea party, or just have a sandwich-swap – anything really to celebrate their creations.

For ages six to nine

Full of beans!
Make your own beanbags. Supervising your little ones, provide some scraps of fabric from old clothes or bed sheets. Fold a square piece in half and sew around three edges using tight, small stitches. Turn this inside out so you have a pocket, and fill this with dried peas or beans. Stitch up the hole, making sure the beans don’t escape, and decorate with anything you like. You can then play games from balancing to juggling.

Go potty for painting
Get the kids to jazz up your garden or window sill by getting some terracotta plant pots from your local garden centre or hardware store, and giving them a lick of paint. You can provide poster paints or ceramic paints for this activity, and the kids can get working on their very own designs. Don’t forget to varnish the pots once the paint is dry.

Build a secret hideout
In your garden or an outdoor space provide old cardboard boxes, old blankets and rugs, branches, cushions, tubing, lawnmower clippings, anything with which your kids can start to build their very own outdoor den. It’s a great construction activity and one which will keep little hands occupied for hours. Once the den is built you could put books, paper, pens, and cushions inside and let them hide and play the day away.

For ages 10 to 13

Build an adventure course
In your garden or an outdoor space find a flat open stretch of grass and get your kids collecting items with which they can build a giant adventure course. Chairs can be crawled under, old bricks or square panels of cardboard can be used as stepping stones, bin bags can be used for sacks to race in, bean bags can be balanced on heads and old tubing or kids’ garden tunnels can be used to tunnel through.