9 screen-free ways to keep children entertained at a wedding or a restaurant
Ever taken 4 fidgety children to a wedding? Nope? Us neither! But in a few days, our lovely friends Joe and Fran get married and it’s our first wedding with all 4 kiddos so we’re heading down to Winchester for the wedding event of the year! (Move over Middletons! This summer, the wedding season is all about our lovely Fran!) So, if you’re looking for child friendly wedding ideas or have a wedding or family event to go to with your children or if you even want some ways to keep your children entertained in a restaurant – then check out these ingenious ideas to keep children busy without using a phone! I’m trying to use the phone or the tablet as a last resort – I want them (in an ideal world anyway) to learn that there are other ways to beat boredom besides electronic devices. Like good old fashioned conversation, for example?! Well, failing that, check out these creative ideas to keep small people busy!
To say the kid’s are excited about Fran and Joe’s wedding is an understatement! They love a wedding (they’ve only been to one wedding in their lives so what they means is- they think they love a wedding!) Fran is Finlay’s Godmother so Finlay is a page boy- and very excited about his role he is too! He cannot wait to carry the rings down (oh goodness! Here’s hoping they have anchored them securely to the box!) the girls have new pretty dresses to wear and Elodie and I are frantically practising the prayers we need to read out in the Church.
Although, I’m so excited about the day- I’m a little nervous about how our 4 will behave and whether they’ll be any time to enjoy the day running around after 4 kiddos! We have around a two hour drive to get there and so I’m hoping our crazy 10 month old Archie will survive in his buggy after a long journey! He’s crawling madly everywhere at the moment and DOES NOT want to sit still anywhere!! So we’re on a mission to find ways to entertain children at a wedding!
Fran and Joe have thought of everything with regards to making the wedding child friendly which is a good job given they’ll be over 30 children there on the day! Eeeek! More children for mine to join forces with and create mischief! Ha! They’ll be soft play and a movie room in the evening- so the day just seems like sooooo much fun for the little people!
But there’s a meal and a service to get through with 4 children to occupy and so I’ve been looking into little things I can bring along to occupy the kiddos!
If you have a wedding or family party or any of event where you need to keep your children entertained- try out some of these ideas! Feel free to let me know any other ideas that you have! I need all the help I can get!
1.First up, is this gorgeous Fairy Busy Bag or Elf Suitcase I know some little girls in my house who will just LOVE these! The touch of the little woodland animals is so cute!
2. Shape Play and Sequencing Activity is a great one because it’s super quiet and packs up very small. I love the clever addition of little eyes to make characters!
3. I am becoming a little excited by creating small world travel tins! These are such a great idea because you could have them ready for any trip away or just keep one in your handbag for whenever they are needed! Here is two of my favourites – a Small World Mermaid Travel Tin and a Dinosaur Small World Travel Tin!
4. If your children like drawing – try an easy homemade chalkboard book!
5. This is such a pretty idea – I am hoping my to display my kid’s mini looms once they’ve finished! Her’s an idea for a lolly stick loom that will entertain all different ages of children!
6. If you are travelling to the wedding then this Homemade Geo Board is fantastic for sticking on the window’s of cars or it could be stuck to a plastic tray at a restuarant.
7. This portable simple little Maths box can be used anywhere as a busy box, to keep your child occupied and learning at the same time!
8. My kids love lego but spend most of their time with it building lego cities that take up their whole room! I shall be bringing small amounts of lego with us to the wedding and love these lego building cards to go with them!
9. A Button Bracelet Box is a quick and easy idea to set up so that kids can thread different size buttons onto a pipe cleaner to make a bracelet. Lots of pipecleaners and oodles of cheap buttons make this a big hit with kids. Older children can thread through one hole of the button, and back through the second hole to make the buttons lay flat.
If you liked this post then you might like ’11 Boredom Busting Ideas for Travelling with Children’ for more ideas to keep little people busy on journeys!
