How a storage unit can entertain your children during the holidays
The school holidays are upon us once more. Whilst it will be lovely to spend time with our children during the day without having to supervise school work, there’s a lot of time to fill, and days out can prove expensive. So we’ve been thinking about how we can entertain our children during the holidays without spending a fortune.
What did your parents do with you, when you were little? Picnics and trips to the park were great when the weather was nice, but what about when it was raining? We remember being taken to pet shops to look at the fish, garden centres to play in the sheds, DIY shops to press the doorbells(!)... Yes, our parents must have been desperate for things to do that were cheap and kept us entertained.
Well, it’s your turn to be the parents now, and thanks to inspiration from one of our customers who told us that his 2-year-old daughter had had a great time rummaging in his storage unit recently, we’ve come up with some ideas for how your storage unit can be used to entertain your children during the holidays!
As tempting as it may be on some days, you cannot store your children in a storage unit. But your storage unit can be a surprising source of entertainment to keep your little ones entertained and out of trouble. To you, it may be just a secure room where you store all the things you want to keep that won’t fit in your home: to your children, it can be a veritable treasure trove!
1. Play dressing up!
Do you have clothes in your storage unit? Items you hoped you’d fit into again one day, or that you don’t get the opportunity to wear as a parent of young children? Your children may find it fascinating to see what mum or dad used to wear, especially clothing that’s very different from your usual style. Pull together old clothes, hats, scarves, coats and accessories and let them play dress up for an afternoon. Hold a fashion show with a catwalk down and let them take turns to be models and paparazzi!
2. Make relaxing quietly seem like fun!
You may well have old sheets, duvet cases and curtains in your storage unit. If so, why not dig them out and let your children use them to build forts in the living room, or as hammocks in the garden or park. They’ll enjoy sitting in their dens or relaxing in their hammocks with a book and some sweets.
3. Repurpose some furniture
Do you have any old furniture languishing in your storage unit? People often store furniture that won’t fit in their home, or that no longer matches their decor but ‘might come in useful’ one day. Maybe that day is today - and maybe you could transform it into something your children can play with.
- A larger, rectangular table could be transformed into a table tennis table for your garden (cover it with a tarpaulin and stand it on bricks to keep it dry overnight) by investing in a clip-on table tennis net.
- A smaller table could be transformed into a base for a train set, if you have one.You can buy all sorts of accessories like fake grass, platforms and so on, but it’s more fun to let your children turn their artistic talents to that task.
- With a bit of extra work, an old cabinet could be transformed into a puppet theatre or play kitchen.
- An old bookcase can be laid down and filled with sand to make a sandpit, with extra room for buckets and spades.
Make it a project you can all work on together to extend the fun and fill the time!
4. Learn a new skill together
Sewing machines often end up in storage units because if they’re not used regularly, they take up quite a lot of space in the home. They’re often passed down from generation to generation too, though the skill that’s needed to operate them seems to be less transferable! If you have one in your storage unit, why not invest a bit of time and learn how to use it properly with your children (carefully, obviously). You could make a comfy bed for camping or lazing in the garden by sewing together some pillows!
5. Garden games
Do you have an old skateboard or two in your storage unit? Or perhaps a couple of dolly trolleys that you’ve used to move furniture into your unit? If so, set up a game in the garden using these, some plastic balls and a couple of buckets and see who can catch the most balls!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKQ_coXOKgg
Have fun exploring your storage unit and seeing it as your very own Aladdin's cave full of interesting things for your children to enjoy over the holidays! Let us know what you find!