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Stuck for things to do with the kids? Let us help.

Mum and young daughter doing yoga next to each other

Let's face it. Life for parents can be tough.

A lot of the Squirrel team are parents too, and so we've put together a few activities (and will continue to add to this page) to help pass the days. We did this during the lockdown period, but we decided to leave it open as you can never have too many ways to entertain the youngsters.

We're finding that there's tons of stuff out there that involves our children sitting in front of a screen whether it's passively or actively, so we've purposely tried to avoid this here to give some alternatives.

You'll find some audiobooks, some crafty ideas, simple recipes and some colouring in sheets (or drawing ideas if you don't have access to a printer).

Here's a few stories to listen to

There should be something for all ages here. Most are about 5 or 6 minutes long and might grant you enough peace to make a cuppa.

The Velveteen Rabbit

A beautiful classic story for kids of any age. This one's about 20 minutes long.

Listen now

Rumplestiltskin

One of the old Grimms' fairy tales, this one's a pretty tame version, we remember it being creepier! 

Listen now

The Frog Prince

A fairy tale about a princess, her golden ball and a little frog. No scary bits, fine for any age. 

Listen now

Raggedy Ann Learns a Lesson

Raggedy Ann stories are all about a nursery full of toys that come alive. They are sweet and innocent, timeless little tales. 

Listen now

Raggedy Ann and the Kittens

Mamma Cat has some kittens and all the toys go to visit them! 

Listen now

The Three Little Pigs

A bit of a strange story, with not the nicest of endings (so many of the oldies are like that) but kids seem to enjoy it so...

Listen now

Toddler sitting at table with pizza, glass of water in hand

Make your own pizzas

So easy and occupies the kids during the dreaded pre-dinner witching hour. Here's some suggested ingredients but you can use whatever you've got to hand.

Ingredients
  • Use a burrito wrap for the base (or Turkish flatbread)
  • Tomato puree
  • Grated cheese
  • Courgette (long thin strips done with a potato peeler)
  • Capsicum chopped into lengths
  • Pineapple pieces
  • Mushrooms (sliced)
  • Fresh basil leaves (or dried herbs)
Method
  1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees c.
  2. Get the base and dump a dessertspoonful of tomato puree on it. Give it to your child to spread around with the back of a spoon whilst you prepare the chopped ingredients.
  3. Put all your chosen chopped ingredients (except cheese and herbs) on a chopping board then give it to your child to arrange them on the pizza. They will eat a bunch of the raw veggies but that's a win, right? 
  4. Once they are happy with it, add the cheese and herbs yourself (or your child can if they are old enough to manage this without an almighty mess).
  5. Bung it in the oven for about 10ish minutes (check on it to make sure it isn't burning).
  6. Remove, chop up and serve! They will be so proud of what they've made and hopefully eat it all up.

Homemade instant ice cream - no sugar

Perfect for everyone even the babies, you just need a good strong blender to make it work. If your blender isn't up to blending fruit straight from the freezer just defrost it a little so it's soft enough to handle it.

Ingredients
  • Plain yoghurt (normal or coconut)
  • Frozen fruit (mango or strawberry or whatever)
  • Vanilla extract
  • Ice-cream cones
Method
  1. Get the frozen fruit out (about a handful)
  2. Add a dollop of yoghurt and teaspoon of vanilla
  3. Blend to an ice-cream consistency
  4. Serve in cones or bowls with sprinkles!
Toddler sitting at high chair with bib, eating ice cream

Colour in the Easter Squirrel

The Great Kiwi Easter Egg Hunt may be over, but the colouring in fun doesn't have to end.

Check out the wonderful contributions we had on Facebook below for inspiration!

Click here to download the PDF
Collage of photos of coloured in squirrel images

Make your own play dough

Ingredients
  • 2 cups of flour
  • 4 tsp cream of tartar
  • 1/2 cup salt
  • 2 Tbsp vegetable oil (coconut oil works well too!)
  • Food colouring - whatever colour you fancy
Method
  1. Sift the flour and cream of tartar into a large mixing bowl. Add salt.
  2. In another bowl, combine the oil and food colouring with 1 & 1/2 cups of boiling water.
  3. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir continuously until it becomes a sticky, combined dough.
  4. Allow the dough to cool down then take it out of the bowl and knead it vigorously for a couple of minutes until it's no longer sticky. (hint: if it's too sticky, keep adding flour).
  5. Store in an airtight container for up to 3 months.
Different coloured playdough, stacked on top of each other