Half-term arrives like a full stop in the middle of a sentence. One minute the children are in school uniform, the next they’re standing in the kitchen at 7.30am asking what you’re going to do today. For a week. Without a plan.
The temptation is screens. Of course it is. But May half-term has something that February and October don’t: daylight. The evenings are long, the garden is warm, and there’s enough sun to make the whole thing feel like a holiday rather than an endurance test. This is the week to make the most of it.
Here are eight screen-free ideas that work for toddlers, preschoolers, and primary schoolers — outdoors when the weather’s kind, indoors when it isn’t, and everywhere in between.
1. Take the Play Outside
This might be the simplest shift you make all week. Toys that normally live in the playroom work just as well on a blanket in the garden or a bench at the park. A set of wooden animals become safari explorers in long grass. A train set runs across a patio. Blocks become a construction site beside the sandpit.
Children play differently when they’re outside — louder, braver, bigger. The play expands because the space does. You don’t need special outdoor toys. You just need the ones you already have and the front door open.
2. Start a Garden Project
Late May is perfect planting weather. Sunflower seeds, runner beans, herbs in yoghurt pots — anything that grows visibly within the week gives children a sense of ownership and excitement. Let them water, weed, and check progress every morning. If they’re old enough, give them their own patch.
Our Garden Wheelbarrow Set (£68) turns gardening into a full play experience — wheelbarrow, flower pots, garden tools, and planting accessories. The Little Garden Designer lets children plan and arrange their own miniature garden indoors. And the My Garden Activity Book (£20) is packed with spring-themed hands-on activities for slightly older children.
3. Build a World
Small world play is one of the most absorbing, screen-free activities there is — and half-term is the perfect time for the epic version. Instead of a quick session at the coffee table, give children the whole afternoon and a bigger canvas.
Start with a play mat or a baking tray as the base. Add scenery pieces — our Blue Water (£15), Forest Tunnels (£11), and Green Hills (£11) create instant landscapes. Then populate with woodland creatures, farm animals, or even the Cosmic Rocket Set (£70) if your child is in a space phase. Stand back and watch entire narratives unfold.
The beauty of small world play is that children lead it entirely. You provide the raw materials. They provide the story. It’s imaginative play at its deepest and most self-directed.
4. Play a Proper Game in the Garden
When the sun is out, the Woodland Indoor Croquet Set (£24) comes into its own. The name says indoor, but it works brilliantly on the lawn or the patio too. Children love the woodland-character hoops, and it’s one of the few games that genuinely entertains toddlers, older children, and adults at the same time.
If you don’t have a garden, croquet works surprisingly well in a hallway. The point is everyone playing together — talking, laughing, taking turns, and arguing about whether that shot was in or out. That’s the kind of half-term memory that lasts.
5. Cook or Bake Together
Half-term is the week for the recipe you never have time for on a school night. Let children do as much as they safely can — weighing, measuring, pouring, stirring, decorating. Even very young children can wash fruit, tear herbs, or arrange toppings.
Pop on one of our children’s aprons (the Fox Linen Apron at £15 is a favourite — wipe-clean and adjustable) and the whole thing feels like an event. Afterwards, they’ll almost certainly want to continue in the play kitchen, which means another hour of screen-free play while you have a cup of tea.
6. Go on a Mission
Children are far more willing to walk when they have a purpose. A scavenger hunt in the park (“find something red, something rough, something that makes a sound”). A bug safari in the garden. A puddle expedition after rain. A “how many birds can we count in ten minutes” challenge from the kitchen window.
Bring the discoveries home and extend the play. Stones become characters for small world scenes. Leaves become art. A found feather becomes the centrepiece of a nature table. Our Rock Pool (£90) and Forest Trail Kit are brilliant for children who love bringing the outdoors in — open-ended nature playsets that let them recreate what they’ve seen.
7. Set Up a Shop, Café, or Restaurant
This is a full-afternoon activity that older toddlers and preschoolers will throw themselves into. Grab some old receipts, make a price list, line up the toys as stock, and open for business. Children will take orders, serve customers, manage queues, and handle “money” — all of which involves maths, language, social negotiation, and enormous amounts of joy.
The General Stores is the ultimate prop for this kind of play — a full wooden market stall that becomes the centrepiece of a pretend high street. But you don’t need a specific toy. A cardboard box turned on its side, a tea towel for a tablecloth, and a few wooden food items will get the same result.
8. Have a Slow Day
Not every day of half-term needs to be an adventure. Some of the best days are the ones where nothing is planned, the clock doesn’t matter, and children simply drift towards whatever interests them.
Set out a few open-ended toys first thing in the morning — a dolls house, some blocks, a train set — and then step right back. The first twenty minutes might feel restless. They might say they’re bored. That’s fine. What comes after the boredom is almost always the most creative, most absorbed, most independent play of the week. It’s the play that happens when no one is entertaining them, and it’s the play they need most.
The Week in a Sentence
Half-term is five days. That’s not very long, but it’s long enough for children to get properly bored, properly creative, and properly tired from the right kind of play. The activities on this list aren’t a curriculum. They’re starting points. Mix and match. Do two in a day or none at all. The aim isn’t to fill every minute — it’s to create the space for the kind of play that screens quietly crowd out.
And if the weather turns on Wednesday and everyone’s stuck indoors? That’s what the craft page is for. Over a hundred free printable activities are waiting, and they work brilliantly with materials you’ve already got at home.
Ready for half-term?
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Gardening Toys • Small World Toys • Free Crafts & Printables
