Effectively Engaging Children during the Holidays

Keeping children engaged and occupied becomes increasingly challenging during school holidays, as their routines change and they are no longer in a structured school environment. This poses a unique challenge for parents to keep children productively engaged and occupied. What effective strategies can parents employ to better engage their children during these breaks?  

GENERAL STRATEGIES TO KEEP CHILDREN ENGAGED DURING THE HOLIDAYS 
Here are some general strategies that may help parents to keep their children engaged.   

Maintain some form of routine: It’s important that parents maintain some form of routine for their children throughout the holidays. For example, setting aside some time to play, study, or do chores. Having a routine helps children feel safe and secure. At the same time, routines built around having fun or spending time together foster a sense of belonging and strengthen family relationships.  

Be intentional in planning activities for the family: Commit to one specific activity you'll do with your children daily and establish a consistent time for it. For example, setting aside 10 minutes after breakfast to talk about the plans for the day. Find time to connect with the family as well as each individual child. Also give your children space to connect independently with themselves or their friends, which can help them become more intentional in their actions and reactions.  

Allow age-appropriate autonomy and options: Let your children have a say in how they want to spend their holidays. Listen actively to their ideas, whether it's visiting a particular attraction, pursuing a specific hobby, or simply having more downtime. Communicate with them and understand their decisions. Additionally, factor in a reasonable budget for activities to help them learn about prudence. 

Include household chores and responsibilities as part of the activities: This is another way to keep your children occupied. This helps children to develop a routine, a sense of responsibility, and some basic skills like time management, which are skills that will benefit them in the future.   

ACTIVITIES TO ENGAGE CHILDREN FROM AGES 13 TO 16  

Pick up a new language: With the advent of K-pop and K-dramas, there is an uptake of people who are interested to learn Korean, and the holidays may be the best time to do so. Children aged 13 to 16 can visit online websites or attend Korean language academies to pick up basic conversational Korean. Afterwards, they can teach their family members what they have learnt and share interesting aspects about the Korean culture like Korean "Bunsik" (which means street food) or popular Korean bands or artistes. This creates an excellent opportunity for parents to engage with their child's interests and strengthen family bonds over a shared topic.  

Organise a camping trip with the family: Holidays bring about pockets of time for families to travel. Instead of going on a trip to another urban city, try camping. Enjoy the great outdoors and experience things that you wouldn’t normally do, such as pitching a tent or cooking over an open fire. During the trip, try vlogging to document the whole process. This will serve as a beautiful memory for the whole family to look back on, or even great content for social media.   

ACTIVITIES TO ENGAGE CHILDREN FROM AGES 7 TO 12  

Day at the office with Mom/Dad: If your company permits, bring your child to work with you. Children are always fascinated about what their parents do at work. By bringing your child to your workplace, it gives them a better understanding about what you do at work and spark interesting conversations.   

Household chores: Household chores may seem mundane and boring, but they serve to instil routine and responsibility in your children. Gamify the experience by allowing them to earn points or some pocket money whenever they complete certain chores. Once a week, you can exchange the points for a reward or bring your children out to spend the money which they've earned on something they like. For example, allowing them to spend their money at an arcade together with the rest of the family.   

Arts & Crafts Activities: There are many benefits to arts and crafts. They include development of motor skills, creativity, patience, and confidence, amongst many other soft skills. During the holidays, parents can embark on various scales of arts and crafts activities with their children. Simple activities like drawing, colouring or painting a family portrait can be just as enriching as more involved activities like model building or clay sculpting.  

EDUCATIONAL AND ENTERTAINMENT-FOCUSED GAMES   

Lastly, games are also a highly effective means of keeping children engaged during school breaks. This isn't limited to just one type of game; it's beneficial for children of all ages to engage with a balanced mix of both educational and entertainment-focused games. This approach ensures children are not only having fun but also actively developing crucial skills and knowledge. While educational games excel at engaging children and introducing new ideas, the most impactful learning happens when these concepts are reinforced through hands-on experiences and integrated into daily life.   

Parents play a crucial role in helping children apply what they've learnt on a screen to their everyday environment. This isn't just about repetition; it's about making learning meaningful and relatable. For example, a child learning addition and subtraction can practice with physical objects like toy cars, while one learning fractions can use building blocks to visualise concepts like 2/3 or 1/4.  

For entertainment-focused games, they primarily aim for fun and recreation, but their engaging nature can inadvertently foster a variety of valuable skills and positive outcomes. For example, games like puzzles or chess require players to analyse situations, plan ahead, anticipate outcomes, and adapt to changing conditions. This hones critical thinking and problem-solving skills.   

It is also important for parents to understand the difference between educational and entertainment-focused games based on their objectives and purpose. This clarity empowers you to set better boundaries and manage your child’s expectations effectively. This also prevents you from relying on games that are educational in nature which may become a default entertainment platform because they’re more engaging than traditional form of learning (aka “Edutainment”).    

School holidays present a good opportunity to engage your children in activities that foster essential life skills and benefit their overall development. Time to make the most of these precious breaks!  

TOUCH Parenting aims to strengthen parent-child relationships by providing parents with relevant parenting resources through every stage of their parenting journey. It conducts informative talks and workshops which empower parents with knowledge on preparing for and raising a new-born, navigating the digital age with their child, parent-child communication, and nurturing resilient children and youths. It is also appointed by the Ministry of Social and Family Development as the Parent Support Provider (PSP) for Primary and Secondary schools in Singapore.