10 ways to make the school run fun
3rd August 2016
Helen Neale, freelance blogger and busy mum, takes us through some of the best ways to make the journey to school more exciting.
At the start of the summer holidays there is an audible, collective sigh of relief from parents across the country as they no longer have to get the children out the door and to school.
School runs can be a battle in most houses in the morning, but it doesn’t have to be this way. With a scooter, your imagination and a little preparation, you and your children, could be looking forward to that school run. This chore can turn into fun. Children will have never been more eager to get their shoes on in the morning.
The addition of a scooter will add enjoyment to every trip to school. Getting children active from an early age can improve health, concentration and even longer-term success.
If you want something more to focus on while you are scooting, there are plenty of ideas to make that school run even more exciting.
1. Spot the road signs
Children love looking out for things as they scoot along, so why not get them to spot specific road signs while you are travelling to school? Alternatively, get them to see how many different signs they can find along the way. You can even play a quick game of Road Sign Bingo if you have enough time to tick them off as you go along.
2. Play I-Spy
The simplest of games that we all know and love, so why not play it while you are scooting along? Easy, but oh, so very effective for occupying children, and adults, of pretty much any age at all. Just remember to keep your eyes on the path too.
3. Have a nature treasure hunt
Whatever the time of year, you can always spot nature. Take a little bag with you to collect those natural treasures on your journey. You can ask your children to collect anything from a leaf to a twig or even conkers. Ask them to look for items that feel a specific way, or are a certain colour to mix things up a bit. Vary the choices depending on the time of year, maybe including a daisy when it’s the summer or a special stone in the winter. If you are stuck for ideas, then Pinterest is perfect for inspiration.
4. Find a flower rainbow
Find flowers of each colour of the rainbow on the way to school. If you need a reminder, the colours you are after are red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. This works best in the summer, of course, but you can look other colours at different times of year, or expand the search beyond nature. Alternatively, why not just see how many natural items you can spot with different colours? This is a great way to learn about colours and keep occupied at the same time.
5. Scoot along with them
Scooting is fun for the children, but it’s even more fun if you are doing it as well. Why not get yourself an adult scooter so you can join in the games and get fit at the same time?
6. School run alphabet
Scoot along and take it in turns to name things from A to Z as you journey to school – all the way from Apple to Zebra. (If you spot a zebra on the way to school, we want to live near you!) A little variation on this is to spot numbers of things in sequence, so one car, two flowers, three birds and so on.
7. Car badge bingo
Car badge bingo works well if you have car-mad children with you. See how many different types of models and manufacturers of cars you can find parked alongside the pavements. See if you can beat your score the next day.
8. Play ‘Mini Cheddar’
The Mini Cheddar game works best played over a long period of time, so perhaps you can decide to play every morning and afternoon on the way to and from school for a week. For every Mini you or your child see shout ‘Mini!’, a yellow car shout ‘yellow!’ And if you’re lucky enough to see a yellow Mini, you know what to shout.
9. Teach them road safety and direction
If they are scooting with you, give them the opportunity to lead, with you supervising closely, and deliberately point out to them the key scoot safe messages. Encourage them to learn the route, and explain whether they are turning left or right at junctions. This combines both directional learning, with road safety skills, which will be invaluable if they do the school run on their own when they are older.
10. Vary your route
Vary the route to school to make it more fun. Why not go the longer way around? Why not try a more scenic route? Why not find a hill to scoot down? (A safe, but really, really fun hill.) Just because a route is the shortest, doesn’t make it the best.
So the next time you think you may have to drag your children out of bed and can see the journey to school becoming a chore – if you’re armed with a scooter, your imagination and of course, a few ideas, we’re quite sure they’ll be no dragging required in the future.
Let us know how you get on in the comments below.
To find the perfect scooter for a harmonious school run please visit www.micro-scooters.co.uk
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