Welcome to part two of our series on things to do in the school holidays.

With a long school holiday ahead, I always think it can be nice for the children to have a project to work on.

Last summer they took on a reading challenge and they have asked to do that again this summer which is really lovely. They tend to find lots of the school books a little dull, so they love the holidays because it means their bookcases at home get some serious attention.

As well as lots of reading, the big kids often like to choose a topic to research and spend some time finding out everything they can about that topic. It could be anything from one of the planets to a superhero or particular pop star.

Craft projects always go down well over the holidays, but in order that you don’t end up drowning in stray paper, glitter and ‘treasures’ by the end of the first week, it pays to get organised and figure out a system. We have box we keep in the utility room, which we add to over a month before deciding what we keep and what we will recycle.

One way of getting around this is by having a crafting kit and presentation folder. We’ve recently come across Pipity which is a gorgeous, stylish and quality crafting kit that is great for both time at home or travelling. There are a range of options to choose from in three different colours. This would make a great gift idea for a child but quite frankly this is the kind of product I think all children should have.

I hope that in a few years many parents will be asking “Have you got your Pipity?” just like many of us now ask “Have you got your tablet, headphones, Trunki etc?”

If you have creative children, they will love this…if you would like to inspire your children to be more creative, to have less screen time and more play time then you will love this! This was created by Kate, a mum of three so she has it spot on in terms of what children will enjoy. You can buy these individual books to add into the kit, so once the children have finished you can just re-stock them. I guess moving forward Kate will probably develop lots more books so children don’t need to repeat the ones they have already done.

The satchel itself is so cute, little girls will enjoy carrying this like a handbag but the boys would like one they can wear like a rucksack. The kit has a range of supplies inside including scissors (just remember that if you are flying anywhere), glue, pencils and a sharpener that is contained so the bits don’t go everywhere. We would love to see some glitter pens in future editions as little people love a bit of sparkle on their creations.

Everything folds down so small and neatly and just looks like a cute shoulder bag – we love it!

Do you think your children would trade some tablet time for one of these? We would love to know!