12 Budget-Friendly School Holiday Activities to Do at Home

Because school holidays don't need a daily itinerary… or a tiny fortune. 💸

School holidays are here.

Which means approximately 87 requests for snacks, a few cries of “I'm bored!” and the eternal question:

“What are we doing today?”

We get it.

While a few big adventures are always fun, you don't need to book a theme park, visit every attraction in town or spend a small fortune keeping tiny humans entertained.

Sometimes the best school holiday activities are the ones you can do right at home.

We've rounded up some of our favourite budget-friendly activities, recipes and creative projects to keep little hands busy, growing imaginations ticking and the “I'm bored” chorus at bay.

And because Halloween is creeping closer, we've thrown in a few spooky ideas too. 👻

Ready? Let's get making.

1. Make a Nature Mobile 🌿

Time to head outside and see what treasures you can find.

Take a little neighbourhood wander and collect fallen leaves, sticks, flowers, seed pods or anything else that catches your tiny explorer's eye.

Then bring it all home and turn your treasures into a colourful nature mobile.

Add some air-dry clay and your favourite Stampies® to make little stamped decorations to hang alongside your finds.

It's a lovely way to combine a little outdoor adventure with a creative afternoon — without spending much at all.

Tiny mission: Who can find the most interesting leaf?

2. Make No-Cook Scented Playdough 🌈

This one is a school-holiday classic for good reason.

Our No-Cook Scented Playdough recipe is wonderfully simple. No cooking. No complicated equipment. Just mix, knead and let the fun begin.

Once you've made a rainbow of colours, bring out the Stampies®.

Roll. Stamp. Squish. Repeat.

Tiny hands can experiment with colours, textures, patterns and their favourite animal shapes.

The playdough can also be stored in an airtight container for days, so one batch can keep the creativity going throughout the holidays.

Get the recipe: [Best No-Cook Scented Playdough Recipe]

3. Create a Tiny Ice Garden ❄️🌸

This one is wonderfully simple.

Collect a few flowers from the garden or on your next walk, pop them into your Freeze & Bake Poddies, add water and freeze.

Once they're frozen, you've got beautiful little ice creations ready for sensory play.

Let your tiny human investigate what happens as the ice melts, discover the flowers inside and explore the cold, slippery textures.

It's a simple activity that turns a few bits from the garden into a whole afternoon of curiosity.

And it costs next to nothing.

4. Open a Frozen Yoghurt Parlour 🍓

Who needs an ice-cream shop?

Set up your very own frozen treat bar at home.

Choose a favourite yoghurt, add fruit or other toppings and let the tiny humans help prepare their creations before popping them into your Icy Pole Moulds.

Once they're frozen, it's time for the grand opening.

Today's special: whatever's left in the fridge. 😂

The original WMBT holiday guide featured a frozen yoghurt parlour as a simple DIY activity, and it's still a brilliant way to turn snack time into an activity.

5. Host a Tiny Café ☕️

Turn the kitchen bench into a café for the afternoon.

Make a simple menu.

Give your café a name.

Create some play money.

Then let your tiny humans take turns being the chef, customer and very serious café owner.

Serve homemade snacks, smoothies or mini treats and let them practise taking orders.

For an extra bit of fun, make some Tiny Love Notes to use as café messages or little notes for customers.

Our free printable Tiny Love Notes were created to add little moments of joy to everyday routines, and they're perfect for creative holiday play too.

6. Have a Teddy Bear's Picnic 🧸

No holiday getaway required.

Gather every teddy, plushie and cuddly creature in the house and invite them to a picnic.

Set up a blanket in the backyard, lounge room or even under the dining table.

Then pack a tiny feast.

Fruit. Muffins. Jelly cups. Sandwiches. Whatever you've got.

Give the teddies their own plates and cups and let your tiny hosts take charge.

Bonus points for making invitations.

Extra bonus points if someone remembers to invite the teddy who has been living under the bed for six months. 😂

This idea was one of the original WMBT school holiday favourites, and frankly, we're not ready to retire it.

7. Have a DIY Pizza Night 🍕

Dinner and an activity in one?

Now we're talking.

Set up a DIY pizza station with bases, sauce and whatever toppings you already have in the fridge.

Let everyone create their own masterpiece.

Cheese mountain? Sure.

Face-shaped pizza? Obviously.

Every vegetable in the fridge? We're impressed.

Our Mini Pizza Dudes are another fun way to let little ones get creative with food while making dinner together.

And when the toppings inevitably escape onto the bench, a Placie® makes clean-up a little less dramatic. 😉

8. Start a School Holiday Cake Stall 🧁

Time for tiny entrepreneurs to clock in.

Bake a simple batch of banana bread or muffins, then turn the kitchen into a pretend bakery.

Let your tiny business owners:

• Choose a bakery name

• Design a sign

• Set prices

• Package their creations

• Take pretend orders

• Serve the family

Our Freeze & Bake Poddies® can turn simple recipes into cute little character-shaped treats, making the finished products feel extra special.

The original school holiday guide suggested a driveway cake stall, but we'd recommend keeping this one safely at home unless you're ready to explain local council regulations to a four-year-old CEO. 😂

9. Make a Salt Dough Masterpiece 🎨

Three basic ingredients can go a surprisingly long way.

Salt dough is an easy, budget-friendly craft that can be transformed into ornaments, decorations, coasters and more.

Once you've rolled out your dough, bring out the Stampies® and let tiny hands create their own designs.

Stamp an animal.

Make a pattern.

Create a whole little collection.

Our salt dough coaster activity uses flour, salt and vegetable oil, making it a simple craft to set up with pantry staples. Recipe here

Holiday challenge: Make one creation for each member of the family.

10. Turn Freeze & Bake Poddies® Into a Sensory Activity 🧊

School holidays are the perfect time to experiment.

And your Freeze & Bake Poddies® can be used for plenty of activities beyond cooking.

Try freezing flowers, creating mini ice sculptures or making little frozen sensory treasures for tiny hands to explore.

The beauty is that the activity can evolve as the ice melts.

What starts as “Look at this!” can quickly become:

“What happens if I add water?”

“Why is the flower moving?”

“Can I get it out?”

And just like that, you've got a tiny scientist at work.

WMBT has shared a whole collection of alternative uses for Freeze & Bake Poddies, including frozen flower sensory play.

11. Get Spooky With Monster Pancakes 🎃

Because school holidays + Halloween = the perfect excuse for a little kitchen mischief.

Turn breakfast into a monster-making session with our Halloween Monster Pancakes.

Let tiny humans decorate their own pancakes with silly faces, scary eyes and whatever spooky toppings you have on hand.

The original WMBT recipe uses a Stickie® Plate to serve the creations and even sneaks some green goodness into the pancakes.

And don't worry if your monster looks more adorable than terrifying.

That's kind of our Halloween vibe anyway. 👻

Get the recipe: [Monster Pancakes]

12. Have a Spooky Snack Session 👻

Halloween doesn't need to wait until October 31.

Make an afternoon of it with a few spooky snacks.

Try:

🕷️ Spider Cookies

👻 Popcorn Monsters

🧊 Freaky Frosties

🍫 Chocolate Brownie Monsters

🪱 Wormy Gummies

The WMBT Halloween collection has plenty of playful recipes to choose from, including Spider Cookies and Popcorn Monsters.

Put on some Halloween music, let the tiny humans help decorate and turn snack time into a little spooky-season event.

Because apparently everything tastes better when it has googly eyes.

A few more ways to keep the holidays budget-friendly 💛

You don't need a brand-new activity every day.

Rotate your favourites.

That playdough can come out three times.

That picnic can happen in the backyard.

That pizza night can become a weekly tradition.

And that cardboard box you've been meaning to recycle?

Congratulations.

It's now a rocket ship.

The trick is to focus less on keeping kids constantly entertained and more on giving them simple opportunities to create, explore and take the lead.

Sometimes the cheapest activities end up being the ones they remember.

Ready to make some holiday magic?

School holidays don't need to be expensive.

They don't need to be perfectly planned.

And they definitely don't need to involve a packed itinerary.

A little flour.

A bit of playdough.

Some things from the garden.

A few pantry staples.

And a whole lot of imagination can go a surprisingly long way.

So save this list, pick an activity and let the tiny humans take it from there.

Because boredom might just be the beginning of a very good idea. 💛

Happy holidays, tiny humans!