I don’t know about you, but when I was a kid growing up in Glasgow, we didn’t have summer camps. School holidays meant being at home, playing outside, or spending time with relatives. So seeing what my daughter gets to experience now is absolutely amazing.

These days, there’s a whole range of holiday clubs to choose from – some are sporty, some are outdoorsy, and others are wildly creative. Think: surf camps, paddleboarding, woodland adventures, learning to build fires, or even foraging to make jam and tea. It blows my mind – in the best way.

This week, my daughter is at an art camp, where they do several different creative activity every day. It’s the kind of thing I would have loved as a child. And honestly? I still wish I could join in.

Then it occurred to me… I can.

So we decided to start our own: Skail Family Holiday Club.

How We Did It

Together with my husband and daughter, we grabbed a stack of Post-its and wrote down all the activities we’d love to do as part of our very own holiday club – one activity per Post-it.

We did this individually first, then gathered all our ideas and laid them out on the floor (there were a lot!). We grouped similar ideas – artsy things, gaming things, outdoor adventures – and combined any duplicates. Then it was time to vote.

I had a bunch of little dot stickers lying around in different colours, so we used them to help prioritise:

• 3 green stickers each = I really, really want to do this.
• 4 yellow stickers each = I’d quite like to do this.
• 1 red sticker each = Please no – I really don’t want to do this.

Our one ground rule? All activities were optional. No one would be forced into anything – but the red stickers helped flag strong preferences.

Once we’d finished voting, we had a much clearer visual sense of what we all genuinely wanted to do. We planned four days and divided them into morning and afternoon slots. Then we played around with our activity schedule until it felt like a holiday club that worked perfectly for us.

Give It a Go!

We’re putting our family holiday club into action next week, and I’ll report back with how it goes. I’ll also pop our activity list below in case you’re curious or want to try something similar with your own family.

If you do, I’d love to hear how you get on!

Happy Friday,
Shelley

P.S. I am involved in another summer holiday camp this year – the Summer Creative Retreat.

Mon AM: Outdoor Fun

• Tree climbing
• Gathering flowers to press
• Wood whittling

Mon PM: Comic Time

• Making mini comic strips

Tue AM: Creative Medley

• Creative Writing
• Stop-motion movies
• Digital art & design for PM activity

Tue PM: Pottery and Chill

• Doodles – pottery painting
• VR Party games

Wed AM:Clay-tastic

• Foam clay animals
• FOam clay Xmas decorations
• Foam clay ANYTHING

Wed PM: Painting

• Physical art
• Painting minis
• Painting a mini canvas

Thur AM: Crafty Time

• Decorate tiny bottles
• Fill tiny bottles with interesting things
• Decoupage / gilding

Thur PM: Cottage Core

• Play ‘Cottages and Cereberus’