Holiday Bags

I love the long holidays - time pressures are off, and there's time to do some of the fun things that we don't always get time to do. The first week of our holiday is spent running a holiday Bible club at the church, our kids love it  despite the hanging around before and after as Mum and Dad set up and sort out! Then we usually head off  camping for a couple of weeks,  lots of exploring and bike riding. By the time we get back and sort ourselves out there are only a couple of weeks left before we are thinking about going back to school.

Quite early into Rebecca's school life we discovered two things. With Rebecca's short term memory issues stopping doing written work meant she would begin to slip backwards - things that were not established in her long term memory would be forgotten and that Rebecca loved writing and doing 'work'.

Taking these things into consideration and bearing in mind the limited space on camping trips I decided to make each of the girls a holiday bag - it would contain all they needed to keep them busy and entertained wherever they were, be it hanging around waiting for mum or on a wet days camping. The bags would be fun, would contain mostly previously unseen items, they would include worksheets to keep Rebecca's brain active and most importantly would not be compulsory - they were not homework that had to be done - whether they did any of the sheets was completely up to them. In fact what I found was that the sheets they had not done during the holiday would re-emerge months later -so none of the work was wasted.

The bags they have now come from a recycling store so cost nothing, prior to getting these They would have a cloth supermarket style bag, but there are attractive bags available at pound stores - so need not be expensive - the bag is important as it identifies whose belonging they are, keeps it all together and is easy to pick up and stick in the car when heading out.

I then create a book of worksheets - I have begun to design my own but most definitely a work in progress so most of the sheets come from free educational sites on the internet. These could go in a folder but this year I have simply gone for holes and a ribbon.

To complete the worksheets they need pencils, coloured pencils (they fair better than felt tips in a hot tent!) pencil sharpener glue and scissors - so these are all included in the bag.

Then in addition I add  plain sheets of paper - this is available for about £3 for 250 sheets this is great for drawing cutting and sticking.

I include packs of stickers -usually can pick up books and sheets of stickers for a £1 or so which they can use to create pictures or add to their worksheets.

One important feature of their activity bags is a scrapbook in which we try to keep a diary for most days of the holiday - the girls have our old digital cameras and so at various points in the holidays we dive into boots and print off some of their pictures - multiprints- that is 4 small pics in one 6x4 sheet keeps the cost down and means that they can add pictures of their adventures. In addition we collect leaflets, tickets etc and include these in the scrapbook. When they are in the mood we encourage them to write  something about their day - what they liked how they felt etc. To facilitate this , I have found this year some pretty journaling sheets so  I have included these in their worksheets.

My girls love making things (I can't think where they get that from!!) so I often look out for kits that can be made anywhere - this year I found these lovely dolls on offer in Hobbycraft for just £1.99 these will be things that we sit and do with the girls rather than something they just get on with - but it gives a great opportunity to spend time creating something together as well as learning to follow instructions.

These scratch cards were just £1 each again from Hobbycraft and will be something they can do independently.

I collect items when I see them reduced  or on  offer - which keeps the cost down - the phonics books were a set from Book People - working out at £1 each

I include a couple of reading books each and that is pretty much it. When we camp we will take some of games they can all play and a doll or cuddly toy - we always say one toy - somehow we always end up with several each!!