A journey to the Seven Modern Wonders of the World!
Join our new intern, Briony, on her journey to 5 of the 7 Modern Wonders of the World, and colour them in as we travel!
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Fun activities to do with kids over the summer holidays
The kids’ summer holidays might fly by for us, but for them, July and August can seem like a very long time without lots of fun things to do. To keep at bay the dreaded words ‘I’m bored’, we’ve decided to round up the best summer holiday activities for kids that the whole family will enjoy.
Visit your nearest castle or ruins
When the weather’s good this really is the best day out for children over the summer holidays, as there’s a bit of something for everyone! Children can ogle at the impressive buildings and let their imaginations run wild thinking about knights and kings, queens, princes and princesses. It’s also a great opportunity for kids to learn about the history of their local area. If you have the time to find a child-friendly documentary about the site beforehand, it will build excitement levels and make it the best educational experience for kids. When their concentration spans have been exhausted you can let them run around the surrounding grounds while you bask in the sun – it’s a win-win. This is a really fun and educational day out with the kids and shouldn’t be too expensive either.
Go on an adventure picnic
A picnic is surely one of the best ways to get kids off screens and out of the house. Get the children to help you prepare the sandwiches (scotch eggs and sausage rolls also go down a treat!) and choose a nice route on the map. Bonus points if it’s scenic and there are some interesting bits to see on the way – the kids will love this. Make sure it’s not so far they have to ask for piggybacks (you don’t want to be carrying a picnic basket and multiple children!), but the best picnics are always the ones you work hard for. When you’ve all burnt up a healthy appetite, let the kids choose the best picnic spot and get set up. Our colour & learn world map tablecloth or the fun at the zoo doodle tablecloth make the best picnic blankets and double up as a fun and educational activity for children to do while you get lunch prepared. There’s also a lot for the kids to learn about and you can test them with questions on the walk back! It really makes a picnic one of the best fun and educational activities for kids to do in the summer holidays!
Visit family and friends
The summer holidays are a great opportunity to visit family and friends who don’t live very near, who you can’t see every day. But long car journeys with children can be an absolute nightmare and we all fear the dreaded words ‘Are we nearly there yet?’! Best thing to do is be prepared with fun activities and games for kids to play in the car. The colour & learn world map backpack is perfect for this. You can ask the kids to fill the backpack with their favourite toys and games for the journey. Then when they’re in the car they can colour and discover our world map for kids using the enclosed set of ten wash-out fabric pens. While they colour-in, put their geography knowledge to the test (and test your own!) with a fun and educational quiz for kids. This will keep the whole family entertained and keep the whining at bay!
Go to a museum
Museums are fantastically fun and educational places to visit with kids and there’s almost always a special exhibition on offering something new and exciting. Have a look online at your nearest places and when you find something good, ask the kids to do some research on what you’re going to see – they’ll love it if they’re able to tell you fun facts when you’re there. If they’re not free to enter, most museums now offer family discounts or special ‘kids go free’ deals, so this should be a great inexpensive activity to do with kids over the summer hols. After you’ve had a good look round the museum, you’ll be ready for a sit-down and a bite to eat – be sure to take our colour & learn dinosaur placemat to go or the colour & learn butterfly placemat to go to keep kids happy and busy colouring-in while you lunch. They can then turn the placemat over and write down what they’ve learnt from the day! This is one of the best things to do with kids on a rainy day – everyone will enjoy this great family day out!
Have a fun day in the garden
When the sun’s shining, you want to make the most of it and not spend any time in the car. At times like this, a day spent in the garden (or a nearby park) can be just what’s called for, but you’ll need some tricks up your sleeve for when the kids’ imaginations dry up, the boredom kicks in, and they all start fighting each other! Paddling pools are great for cooling off when it’s really hot and if you’ve got water pistols there’s endless fun to be had soaking each other! Games like rounders and quick cricket are ideal if you have the numbers, or else hide and seek, sardines and marco polo can be hugely fun games for kids to play in the garden (and grown-ups love them too!). When hunger sets in, a great thing to do is make snacks with children – you can make ice lollies from fruit juice or yoghurt and granita from frozen strawberries, watermelons or any other types of fruit juices.
So there it is – a roundup of our favourite fun and cheap summer holiday activities for kids. We hope you have a lovely summer!
Creative Gifts for Children That Are Much More Than Just Toys
It’s often impossibly difficult to think of good children’s gifts. What do they like? What are they in to? What haven’t they already got? Kids’ interests vary wildly and are constantly changing, making gift-giving a complete minefield! This also means there’s a lot of waste – unwanted gifts are a common occurrence - and, since childrens’ gifts are a lot of the time made from plastic, this throw-away, disposable attitude (albeit not necessarily the child’s fault) is seriously harmful to the environment. So what can you get that will last a long time, that’s not plastic, that’s useful, encourages creativity and, above all, that kids will love?!
We’ve decided to round up our 8 best gift ideas for kids and the age ranges we know they work for.
1) world explorer bundle: world map duvet cover and world map pillowcase
Everyone needs bedding – you really can’t go wrong here! But what’s more, this high-quality, 100% cotton bedding also doubles up as a fun and educational activity that will keep kids happily entertained for hours at a time. This lovely set looks beautiful both coloured-in and just as it is and it’s completely jam-packed full of interesting facts, features, icons, wild animals and exotic sea creatures for children to colour-in and discover with the enclosed set of wash-out pens. Whenever they’re ready, simply wash in the machine, the ink completely disappears, and it’s ready to be re-designed, re-coloured and re-customised – it’s endlessly fun and endlessly entertaining – a great gift for boys and girls that they’ll use and re-use again and again!
Makes a great gift for boys and girls aged 5 - 12
2) doodle notebook pillowcase
If you’re short of ideas for gifts for children, the doodle notebook pillowcase is a real saviour; it’s perfect for both boys and girls and great for all ages! This is an ideal gift to have up your sleeve, ready and waiting in the present drawer, as quite literally everyone loves it! The pillowcase features a notebook design on one side, a cool frame print on the other, and has a secret memo pad hidden away in the fold. Kids (or adults!) can colour-in, personalise, doodle and jot down notes and messages. Then, when it’s time for a different design or a clean ‘notepad’, just wash in the machine and it’s ready to go again!
This is one of the best gifts for kids aged 5 – 105 (seriously!)
3) doodle frame placemat set of 4
An ideal gift for families, people of all ages will enjoy the doodle frame placemat set. Helps keep everyone busy and happy at the dinner table while they wait for their food and it’s great fun, too. Let everyone create their own masterpieces and colour-in the frames, then just wash and start again! Perfect for using on the kids’ table at dinner or birthday parties.
Perfect gift for children aged 4 and over (though big kids and adults love it, too!)
4) colour & learn world map backpack
This backpack is not only super practical for kids’ school books, travel essentials, swimming or sports kit, it’s also great fun and educational and can keep children entertained for hours! The world map illustration is full of cool things for them to colour-in and learn about and they can find out more info about everything they’re colouring on our world map page here. This backpack doubles up as a highly educational gift and also a very useful, practical item.
This is one of the best gifts for boys aged 7 and over but, of course, girls love it too!
5) colour & learn world map tablecloth
The best fun at family dinners or kids’ birthday parties, the world map tablecloth features our iconic, hand drawn illustration of the world and all its treasures printed on high quality cotton fabric. The tablecloth comes with a set of ten wash-out markers for all your colouring, doodles and customisations. All of the ink then completely disappears on a warm machine wash, ready for the next fun gathering!
Makes one of the best gifts for families with children of any age!
6) doodle designer accessory bag
One of our favourite gifts for girls, the doodle designer accessory bag pleases everyone from kids to tweens, teens and even adults. The gorgeous trompe l’oeil design gives scope for both colouring-in and decorating and also designing yourself from scratch and, as all the ink washes off in the machine, you can keep up with all of the latest trends and designs – this is one accessory case that will never go out of style! It’s also very practical - ideal for holding all sorts but especially great for fashion and beauty accessories.
One of the best gifts for girls aged 6 and up.
7) colour & learn dinosaur pencil case
If you’re looking for the best back to school gift, look no further than the colour & learn dinosaur pencil case! It’s packed full of fun and adventure and there’s lots to learn about, too! Kids can visit our dinosaur resource page here and find out all about the different dinosaurs and how they lived. At the end of term, or whenever kids are ready for a new design, simply wash in the machine, the ink totally washes out, and it’s ready to be re-coloured and re-customised!
A very cool gift for kids aged 7 up.
8) doodle wash-out pen set
These make great gifts for kids of all ages and are super versatile, too! Our doodle wash-out pens work great on both paper and fabric and are ideal for young children as there’s no mess or fuss. If young’uns get ink on their clothes, or worse, on yours, it’s no trouble – it all completely disappears on a warm machine wash. The same goes for cushion covers, curtains and tablecloths – the ink comes out of all machine washable textiles. And if you’re out and about and on the go it even comes off with just a dab of water and a bit of a scrub.
While our wash-out pens are a super practical gift for young children, they’re also great fun for older kids; although they’re designed for using on eatsleepdoodle gifts, they can also be used to colour-in and draw-on t-shirts, sweatshirts and banners! Perfect for creating custom designs for special occasions and great fun at parties! Our pens make inexpensive, cool gifts for kids of all ages.
This is a perfect, unique gift for kids of any age.
Monet is in!
Designers at Louis Vuitton have evidently cottoned onto the success of eatsleepdoodle's Monet placemats, as they've created their own homage to the great artist.
The 'LV' Masters collection celebrates some of the most renowned artists in the world.
New Website!
You may have noticed things are looking a little different around here… Well, it’s out with the old and in with the new at eatsleepdoodle! We decided our website was tired, outdated and in serious need of a revamp.