School holidays can be stressful for parents who are expected to fill the weeks with endless fun. This can be exhausting, not to mention expensive!
If you need a helping hand to take the fur kids off your hands, call on the Pet Sitting community at Mad Paws to help.
From overnight stays to dog walking, pet day care, house visits and more, your needs are covered.
Surviving school holidays with kids and pets
If you’d like to see if the kids and pets can keep each other occupied these school holidays (and hopefully allow you to get some work or chores done), then keep reading! We’ve created a list of fun activities your children can enjoy with your pets; either furry family members or temporary house guests.
Teach (learn) a dog trick
This can be a very rewarding task for older children as it requires patience and consistency – two skills that children often need to work on! Load your child up with dog treats and help them to choose one awesome trick they’d like to teach their fur sibling, then sit back and watch the magic happen! Your child will enjoy an incredible sense of achievement once your pooch performs the trick and they can tell anyone and everyone “I taught them that!”
Build & overcome obstacles
Everyone has junk lying around that can be fashioned into a doggy obstacle course. A few bricks and a stick transforms into an adjustable jump. A plank of wood and rock makes a see-saw. This one can get as complex as your child’s imagination will allow! After planning and set up, your child and pooch will have hours of fun tackling the new home made course!
Host a mini dog show
Does your child have lots of friends with dogs? Why not get them all over and put on your own dog show? Each dog has to show their very best party trick and complete a series of tasks – sit, stay, come etc. Create your own judging panel and hand out prizes to one and all – best in show, the pup who tried the best, the funniest pooch etc.
Play dress-ups
Of all the activities between kids and pets, this one is reserved only for the more placid and playful pups! While some dogs don’t enjoy being dressed up in clothes and costumes, others don’t mind and will happily join the adventure of playing a character in a play or movie. Break open the costume box and let the fun begin!
Enjoy story time together
Make school holiday activities for pets and kids productive with this idea. Dogs can make the perfect reading partner for younger children who are learning to read and feeling self-conscious. Everyone wins – your dog will be happy to lie beside their human and receive attention and your child will be happy to read to a new, novel listener. Research suggests children are more confident reading to dogs as they are completely non-judgemental too.
