It is great having the kids home for the summer holidays, but we know that it can be difficult to come up with new and engaging activities to keep them from boredom every day. We have compiled a list of some awesome activities that you can do with your primary aged kids at home, keeping them entertained and educating them at the same time.

Fraction Pizzas

As part of the New Zealand school curriculum, your child will begin learning the basics of fractions in year two and building on this knowledge in the years following.

A visual aid can really help your child to grasp the concept of fractions, and a fun and interactive way to do this is with pizza! If you have the time, you can make the pizzas from scratch for extra fun, but store-bought is fine. Once the pizzas are cooked, sit down with your child and cut the pizza into slices. Explain how cutting it into two produces halves, four produces quarters, and so on. This will teach them equivalents: Two 1/8 pieces will be the same size as a 1/4 piece, for example.

Word Fishing

From the time they start school, your child will be learning how to read and write and expanding their vocabulary.

Word fishing is a fun and interactive activity that can be adapted to reflect your child’s reading and writing level. For this activity, you will need paper, paper clips, a string, a magnet, and a stick. Start by cutting the paper into fish shapes and writing a different letter on each. Attach a paperclip to the nose of each fish, and then mix them in an empty bath or paddling pool. Attach the magnet to the string, and then tie the loose end onto the stick. Your child is now ready to go fishing!

As they catch each fish, ask them to identify the letter that is written on it, and give examples of words that start with that letter. For older children, give them more challenging words to spell by catching the corresponding fish letters.

Butterfly Lifecycle

As part of the New Zealand curriculum, students begin learning about science in year 1. The different sciences are split into different strands to make them easier to teach and understand. The living world strand is about living things and how they interact with each other and the environment. Students develop an understanding of the diversity of life and life processes, of where and how life has evolved, and of evolution as the link between life processes and ecology.

New Zealand summer is the perfect time to explore these ideas with your children. If you plant a swan plant in your garden, You will likely soon find some monarch butterfly eggs on it! Over the next month, your child will be able to observe as the full lifecycle of a butterfly plays out in front of their eyes. Ask them to report on the changes that they see every day and help them to research the different stages of life.

Secret Codes

If you have older children who need something a bit more challenging, secret codes can be a very fun activity; they can even involve their friends outside of the household! Get your child to develop their own secret code by assigning each letter in the alphabet to another letter, a number, or symbol (don’t forget to write down the key so it can be decoded!) Now you can write each other secret notes! Your child can even send coded letters in the post to their friends to make things more exciting.

Keep your child learning over summer

One way that you can beat the summer boredom and keep the cogs turning is to hire a tutor for your child. 123 Tuition offers maths and English tutoring in NZ, bringing a virtual private tutor into your home seven days a week. Our tutors are real teachers who will explain each step of the learning process.

We provide personalised programmes and student learning support for all your children based on each child’s strengths and weaknesses, with courses that are fully mapped and aligned to the New Zealand Curriculum. With staff located across New Zealand, our expert course advisors are available to meet with you and your children online at a time that works for you, to fully explain the benefits of our programme.

Book a free assessment and an advisor will contact you to arrange a suitable time to demonstrate our programme for you, all online in the comfort of your home.