It Was A Dark And Stormy Night....

Winter is most definitely around the corner. Gusting winds have blown any remaining autumn leaves off the trees, torrential rain has signalled the arrival of the perma-puddle in our driveway that will now stay with us until drier weather arrives in May, but perhaps most depressing of all are the darker mornings and evenings.

Pitch-black mornings aren't too much of a challenge for parents (once you've managed to extract children away from their warm duvets). Once you're up, you're up and there never seems to be too much time to mope around. It's the afternoons and evenings that tend to be trickier. Post-school, there seems to be about twenty minutes daylight before the gloom descends. Afternoon and evening blend into one and tend to drag on, and on, and on. So, if you're in need of a few pointers to help relieve the winter blues boredom, here are some thoughts.

Hold a Construction Olympics during the week. Each night, any bored child must build an object of your choice within a specified time using Lego, K’nex or any other such toys lying idle in tubs. On the first two nights, set a timer for fifteen minutes whilst they create something simple like a plate of chips or a church. Increase the timer to thirty minutes for a mid-week rocket or robot. Allow an hour on Friday evening for a more challenging project like a secret spy den or a boat that can fly. Every day when time is up, they should present their sculptures explaining any buttons or special features. Award points out of ten for both ingenuity and looks and keep a running score. If they’ve managed to notch up over 50 points by the end of the week, treat them to something special at the weekend.

It’s not too ridiculously early for Celebrity Santa either. Let them search the internet for images of their favourite TV characters, footballers, or X-Factor judges and print them out on the computer. Cut around the figures or faces and stick on to the front of a piece of folded card. Now for the fun bit – give all of them a Santa makeover. You’ll need to glue on cotton wool beards and red hats of course, but a touch of glitter on John Terry’s shirt or some antlers on Bart Simpson’s skateboard will also add to the disguise. Accumulate and keep safe over the next few weeks, then hand out to school friends at the end of term.

If anyone is still kicking their heels, put them in charge of supper. That’ll be scrambled eggs on toast for four, please.