How to get best from long summer holiday with family

AN activity training leadership company in Sonning Common has launched a booklet of activities to keep children entertained over the summer holidays.

Summer Fun has been produced by Active Leaders, which trains and supports young people to lead multi-sports games in schools and other venues.

The booklet contains more than 100 activities for five- to 12-year-olds ranging from outdoor and indoor sporting challenges to crafts, cooking and puzzles.

It was printed by the Higgs Group, publisher of the Henley Standard.

Penny Snowden, who founded Active Leaders in 2016, said the aim was to provide a list of activities that could be enjoyed by all with materials and resources that most families already had.

The front of the booklet depicts a bird’s eye view of an activity-packed Olympic Games created by cartoonist Rory McNeill inspired by this year’s event in Paris, which begins on July 26.

Mrs Snowden said: “We want to encourage children to swap screens for sport and get outside and be
creative.

“The long summer holidays offer a lot of excitement and an escape from routine but for a lot of families it can be a challenge juggling schedules and work and trying to keep children entertained.

“The break in routine can be good but sometimes you need some routine to enjoy it.

“This summer we have the Olympic Games and we thought we would use that as the inspiration for the booklet.

“We wanted to make sure that everything in it is simple, uses hardly any equipment and can be played anywhere.”

Examples include making a mini golf target out of cardboard, a game of balloon volleyball and trying to get from lying down on the floor to standing up while balancing a toilet paper roll on your forehead.

To mark Paris 2024, there is a chapter dedicated to different international-themed games and a selection of recipes from across the world.

Active Leaders previously produced two books in 2020 to keep families entertained during the coronavirus lockdowns.

Mrs Snowden, who lives with her husband Phil in Kennylands Road and has two grown-up children, said: “The lockdown book was funded by a local grant.

“I thought it would be great if we could come up with a similar one for summer and the chances are that by the end of the summer children might not have completed all the activities.

“We checked with teachers and parents to make sure that the content was right and we’d hit the right level.

“We have lots of games that children have invented and we have given other well-known games a twist. Not everyone has friends or siblings to play with so we have created several games that can be completed individually as well.”

Some of the activities are suitable for wet weather days or long journeys in the car and there is an extensive selection of puzzles and brain teasers, including anagram challenges and Olympic-themed quizzes.

Mrs Snowden said: “You don’t have to be super sporty or an athlete to enjoy the booklet. You can pick it up and there will be a page you can do.

“And if you don’t have a ball, you can roll up a pair of socks and use that or use an egg box for target practice. We have tried to keep things cheap and it’s fun to make these things.”

Mrs Snowden said there was a serious intent behind the fun.

“We are bombarded with research into the importance of staying active,” she said.

“It’s estimated that about 50 per cent of the world’s population will be short-sighted by 2050 but it has been shown this can avoided if children are outdoors for two hours a day, which slows the onset.

“We know its impact on mental and physical health and social interaction but often it is hard to prise children away from devices.

“We can’t say we have all the answers but I hope that children will love Summer Fun, enjoy the activities and spend time inventing new games to challenge their friends and family.”

Mrs Snowden recalled that keeping her own children busy and occupied during the holidays was not always easy but her efforts had paid off — Phoebe is now a rower at Leander Club in Henley and Sophie is a Year 1 teacher at Sonning Common Primary School.

She said: “School holidays were always a bit of a juggle and they didn’t particularly enjoy holiday clubs and there weren’t that many around.

“I wanted to have a plan each day because if they knew what they were doing each day they were okay.

“Going outside always needed a twist, like having to collect things. I’m not a creative person and I would usually get ideas from my sister or friends.

“I think it was about variety and feeling that we had got to the end of the day and done something so they would sleep well.

“I grew up on a farm and we had to make our own fun playing outside so maybe it is part of my upbringing.

“There is a huge number of resources online and I wouldn’t say that ours are better than what you can find on the internet but we have put them all in one place. It’s easy and it’s tried and tested.”

The booklet costs £5 and is available from the Bell Bookshop, the River & Rowing Museum, the Kenton Theatre, the Henley Information Centre and Daisy Love café in Henley, Beville estate agent, Heath & Watkins, Sonning Common Garage and the Pet Shop in Sonning Common, the Loddon Brewery, Binfield Heath Stores, Stoke Row Stores and the Blue Tin farm shop in Ipsden.