With the school holidays well and truly upon us, many of us are wondering how we’re going to keep our kids entertained until the new school year starts. Whilst it’s good for kids to take part in activities and have fun days out throughout the holidays, it’s equally important that they have unstructured time.

Boredom has bad connotations and most of us try to avoid it as kids will complain a lot when they start feeling bored, particularly in this day and age where they are so used to having plenty of activities as well as screens readily available. However, it can actually be a good thing for children to experience boredom, but you need to trust that they can be surprisingly resourceful and will soon start thinking up fun and creative ways to spend their time.

So rather than over-scheduling over the summer holidays, make time for a few days where you plan to do absolutely nothing. Having these activity-free days will help to inspire creativity in your children and gives them opportunity to learn how to problem-solve. Allowing our kids to experience boredom also encourages them to try new things because it stimulates their imaginations, which allows them to engage in the world around them rather than being passive observers. And in encouraging them to try new things, we help them to develop important life skills and learn how to entertain themselves without our input.