Can’t think of what to do with the kids these holidays, but know you don’t want them sitting on in front of a screen anymore? Nature Play SA‘s experts know this is a difficult feat and have collated this fantastic list to give parents who are struggling with activity planning a break! So hand your kids this list, let them pick an activity and join in (or watch from the sidelines with a cider).
Here’s their list of 25 Things To Do This Summer:
Explore The Best Rockpools In Adelaide
Explore a reef or rockpool and see how many sea creatures you can spot! Some rockpools close to the city are in Kingston Park, Moana Beach and Aldinga Reef. If you’re looking to make a trip out of it, have a look in Second Valley, Smooth Pool in Streaky Bay, Oliver’s Reef in Victor Harbour or Stokes Bay in Kangaroo Island.
Go For A Good Old Fashioned Picnic
As a family, choose a new park or secret garden to visit and set out with picnic rug and plenty of yummy snacks in in tow for a day of discovery and adventure. You can bring lawn games, badminton and board games to keep you
Real Life Farmville – Where To Go Fruit Picking
Discover seasonal food: learn when different summer fruits come into season and then harvest from your garden, at an orchard, or farm. Some great places to have a pick at are Beerengberg Strawberry Farm in Hahndorf and Fig Picking at Glen Ewin Estate or check out Hahndorf’s Farm Barn to see a real farm in action!
https://www.instagram.com/p/BOlLr3vjFCD/?taken-by=beerenbergfarm
Wildlife Spotting
Get up early and go for a bushwalk, listening and spotting wildlife along your way! We’ve made you a handy walking trail guide of all the best walks in Adelaide, so take a peek and get on your walking shoes!
Build The Biggest Sand Castle
Make a sand sculpture – or a sand city! – and decorate it with natural treasures. Unfortunately, the
Port Noarlunga Sand Sculptures aren’t going to be built until April 2017, but take a look at their previous exhibitions online for some inspiration!
Make A Splash With In The Surf
Enjoy the waves: body surf, boogyboard or learn to surf this summer! Try classes from
Surf and Sun in Middleton, Moana or Goolwa, or try the
Port Noarlunga Surf School. You could also join them up to
Nippers at a Surf Lifesaving Club near you and teach them valuable skills in lifesaving and sport.
Painting
Paint pictures on cement or paper with a container of water and a paintbrush… or your fingers!
Dinner By The Sea
Spend a balmy evening by the river or sea: swim, play frisbee or cricket, enjoy a casual dinner, and watch the sunset with your family. Some great seaside venues at Henley Beach are:
Bacchus Wine Bar,
Stella Restaurant and
Malobo, where kids can play in Square and splash in the water, while you watch over them with a nice glass of wine. Or there’s the always reliable Glenelg Foreshore, where there’s a playground right next to beach and plenty to do and eat.
Photo Credit: @victoriafaithh01
Find The Most Epic Playground
We’re spoilt for choice of playgrounds and parks in Adelaide. You can find a local or venture down to the motherload of all playgrounds – St. Kilda Playground.
Explore The Botanic Gardens
Explore the Adelaide Botanic Gardens and enjoy the cool shade of the trees. While there, have a bite and a glass of wine at
Blanco, the
Botanic Gardens restaurant, a personal favourite of ours.
Catch A Critter
Try your luck at fishing, crabbing or yabbying! Have a look at the pier down at Henley Beach, or try Glenelg or Grange.
Find Your Green Thumb
Plant a summer garden or pot plant (why not strawberries or cherry tomatoes?). You can head down to your local Bunnings store, grab a snag and find out about upcoming kids workshops.
Go Paddle Boarding or Kayaking
Kayak or learn how to stand up paddleboard.
Westlakes Aquatic Centre also offer aquatic programs where kids can learn how to sail, kayak, canoe, windsurf, go snorkelling and double skiing in the lake before they head to the big, wide ocean! Additionally,
Stand Up Paddle SA offer single and group classes and the
City of Onkaparinga offer kayaking classes too! You might be lucky enough to spot a dolphin on your adventures.
Photo Credit: Stand Up Paddle SA Facebook
Cockle Twist
Find a beach known for cockling and do the ‘cockle twist’ – feel the waves lap against your feet, locate the cockles with your toes, then see if you can scoop them up!
Go Camping (or Glamping)
Go camping and look up at the night sky (head somewhere wild or pitch a tent in your own backyard). We have two handy-dandy guides for you to check out on
Camping and
Glamping. Wilpena Pound Resort also offer family glamping tents in their
Ikara Safari Camp, if you want to glamp with your kids in comfort.
Start A Nature Journal or Send The Kids To Twig & Stick Children’s Nature Club
Create a summer nature play journal to record your adventures and natural finds.
Typo has heaps of journaling gear available super cheap! Check out this cool school holidays program we found to
let kids get back to nature. Their workshops are focused totally on nature play and are all sustainable and educational. Children will be free to connect with their natural world, make new memories and friends.
Monkey Around
Look at the world from a different perspective: take off your shoes and climb a tree! For some spectacularly weird looking trees to climb, check out the Moreton Bay Fig Trees outside the Adelaide Botanic Gardens – they’re the oldest strip of their kind in the Australia!
Check Out What Lives Under The Sea
Grab some snorkelling gear and head down to the beach to see what lies beneath the surface.
Build A Boat
Create a miniature boat from things you can find in the backyard like seed pods, bark, sticks and leaves – then race them in the bathtub.
Dusk Discovery
Discover the world at dusk! Head out for a walk with your family, and see what you can discover as day turns to night.
Photo Credit: @madeleinekate93
Get Muddy
Turn on the sprinklers and you’ll be slipping and sliding through the mud in no time! Or make the most of our bizarre rainy weather and let the kids go dance in the summer rain and jump in puddles.
Build A Fort
Build a cubby or natural shelter in your garden, at the park, or somewhere wild.
Geocaching
Go on a real life treasure hunt with the family and see what prizes you can dig up! Start your
geocaching mission.
Lemonade Stand
Make homemade ice blocks or lemonade and enjoy them outside on a hot day! You may even get a few customers.
Next time your kids say they’re bored – throw one of these ideas their way and thank us later.