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By Simone Mundy

Just like the batteries in a Christmas toy, my enthusiasm is running low, and we’re still a few weeks off before school, and our sanity, returns. What we need is some fresh ideas to get back into the school holiday spirit, so I’ve put together a list of some sanity saver ideas to get us through to Monday the 30th of January – not that I’m counting down the days or anything.

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1. Playgrounds to Explore – sounds straight forward but we’ve done the park at the end of the street so many times we’ve hit the stage where they start getting all parkour on the equipment, possibly trying to find new ways to have fun on it, probably finding new ways to injure themselves.

One of my favourite sites atm is Baby and Toddler Destinations – they review and rate play spaces all over Adelaide, providing great photos and letting you know the strengths and weaknesses of each destination. I love their reviews because they include important things for multi-mums like me, such as how much bark chips there are to eat and whether there is fences to corral your runners. They also have some super cute reviewers.

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 2. It’s SHOWTIME! – One of the best things about my son getting to primary school age is the fact he can now sit through an entire show and we’re super excited to go and see two of his favourite ABC2 shows live on stage with Families at Adelaide Festival Centre this January – ‘Operation Ouch’ is on this Saturday 7th and ‘Deadly 60’ is on Jan 14th. Thank goodness it’s dark and cool in the theatre – a great spot to be for this weekend’s heatwave!

 3. Werk Werk Werk while you Baby Wear! Given our house has its own resident DJ, we have no shortage of kitchen disco’s. My son also invented the disco-bath: fill the bath with water and glow sticks, turn off the lights. There’s not quite enough room for a family of five in his disco-bath, so we also love to go to Bey Dance baby wearing or family dance classes. Check out the options all around Adelaide here.

 4. Oh, those Summer Nights – last year we started a new tradition of backyard camping. Pitch a backyard tent, and sleep out under the stars with your own toilet nearby – Win! I’m also a huge fan of the drive-ins at Gepps Cross – and now we finally have a family van, I plan to spend a few summer nights curled up in the back with my little people, munching popcorn and watching the big screen.

 5. Westside Represent! Semaphore Foreshore – skate park, rides, icecream, jetty, cinemas, long grassy foreshore, the little train, the playgrounds and the best fish and chips in the entire world from SOTO’s

 6. On Ya Bike! Take the kids to one of the bike tracks around Adelaide. Free and Fun! SAPOL safety track at Bonython Park is a winner with the little roads and signs to teach them how to ride safely out in the real world. If you have little BMX Bandits try Kurrangga Park BMX Track (Adelaide Parklands) or the track on Bower Road at Semaphore where I grew up being totally RAD bunny-hopping on my BMX.

 7. Better and Wetter – Swims then Snags. Another favourite family outing on a summer day is an afternoon swimming at the local pool then cooking up snags and eating them on the grass. Try Payneham Pool, Marion Outdoor, Tusmore Park wading pool for toddlers or Waterworld for the wild at heart. We also love the new ARC at Campbelltown which is indoors but perfect for mums like me who have both little ones and middle sized kids.

Help me out — Hit me up!  What are your best sanity savers for the school holidays?

Simone x

Hayley Pearson

Hayley Pearson

Co-Creator and Writer for Adelady, she still gets goosebumps that she’s combined her creative passion with sharing the best of her stunning home state.

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