Holiday and Postcard Theme
Holiday Themed Activities
Taking Dolly on Holiday
Provide dolls clothes, blankets, sunglasses, hats, suitcases, bags, lunch boxes, toy food, toy baby equipment, anything the doll might need to take on holiday. Role play with the children, pretending they are taking dolly/teddy on holiday and needs to pack their suitcase. Talk about the weather- hot or cold, the clothes they might need, what they might get up to on holiday activities wise and how we can fit everything inside for example folding up clothes not throwing them in.
Aeroplane Tickets and Passports- ask the child to make and design aeroplane tickets and passports for teddy /dolly to take with them.
Seaside in the Water Tray/ Sand Tray- Turn the water blue by adding blue food colouring, add rocks, shells, stones and seaweed, and the same to the sand tray to create a a seaside effect at home. You could provide them with sieves, nets and mini fishing lines ( even a garden cane with some string tied to it) to extend the activity further.
Making Waves- Take a large piece of blue material, with the children make sea waves with it, lifting it up and down to make it look like the sea. You could also use a parachute for this activity. Add plastic fish on top of the material to bounce up and down or ask the children to pretend to be fish swimming under the material. You could play the sound of sea waves in the background.
Sandy Beach- Put a plastic sheet down on the ground and spread sand down on the ground, give the children towels, sunglasses, hats, deckchairs, picnic mats, buckets and spades. The children can pretend they are at a sandy beach and feel the sand between their toes.
Holiday Photographs Collage- Collect lots of photographs taken whilst on different holidays or all from one holiday trip and ask the child to stick them on to a large piece of paper, you can talk about them and discuss memories of the places you visited and the people in the photos. Once you have stuck down and arranged all the photos where you would like them you can put a frame around them and hang them up.
At the Airport
Put a line of chairs for a waiting area, a check in desk, provide bags and suitcases, make tickets and passports and put more chairs together or use a large box to make an aeroplane. The children can take on different roles such as check in desk receptionist, a pilot, passengers and luggage handlers. Once on the aeroplane the children can role play being the pilot and flying the plane and giving out announcements to the passengers, they can be a passenger, a flight attendant that can give out drinks and food to the passengers, and discuss safety procedures for example wearing safety seatbelts and where the exits are and an airport traffic controller using flags and directing the aeroplane’s flying.
Train Station
At the train station you could have a row of chairs for the train and the children can take on the roles of a driver, passenger, ticket inspector and station manager who tells the train to leave the station.
Postcard Project
Take a trip to the post office or local holiday shop where they sell postcards to develop the children’s understanding on how postcards are used as a type of communication whilst on holiday.
Send a postcard to a friend or family member whether you are on holiday or not and talk about what to write on a postcard e.g. address, who it is to and from and a message. Below is a template of a postcard to use with the children.
Make your own Stamp
take a small rectangle piece of paper and ask the children to draw and colour in their own stamp. Provide them with real stamps or pictures of stamps so they can see what they look like and discuss what the numbers mean in the corner. When they have finished their stamp they could stick it on their postcards.
Ask family and friends to send a postcard to you and your child so they can see what it is like to receive one as well as sending one.
Sorting Postcards- collect lots of postcards in 4 different types for example, animals, people, buildings, beaches, and ask the children to sort them into 4 groups. Perhaps posting them into a shoe box with a slit in the top or placing them into pots or containers.
Postcard Jigsaw- Cut up a postcard into 4 or 6 pieces or even more if the child can do more and ask the child to rearrange the pieces and fit them back together to complete the picture on the postcard. To make the activity more challenging cut up several postcards and mix them all up before matching them or perhaps bury them in a sand tray and ask the children to dig them up and then try to complete the postcards and work as a team.
Nursery Role Play areas- Set up a post office/holiday shop selling postcards and stamps, have a till so they can buy the postcards and set up a mark making table to write out postcards. Provide them with a post box so they can post them.
