By the time children are old enough to have a half term, most mums are usually back to full time work. It’s tough trying to juggle a career and the half time holidays, and even tougher to work out how to entertain them.

However, the people behind the new Nancy Drew movie (out 11 February, just in time for half term) have provided us with some perfect tips to keep everyone entertained!

• Teddy bears tea party – This is a great way to entertain children and works especially well if your child has a couple of school friends over. Make tea in a teapot and serve it with cakes. Napkins for teddies are a must.
• Baking fairy cakes - Ideally, any tea party works best if you are able to make fairy cakes with kids in advance. Children will also enjoy decorating the fairy cakes before serving them to teddies, friends or relatives.
• Learn to ride a bike – This is obviously an idea for older children, but half term can present the perfect opportunity to help your child learn how to ride their bike. This can be a frustrating activity, but with time and encouragement definitely pays off!
• Grow cress hair – Pre-Easter, kids can have a lot of fun learning how plants grow through growing cress hair out of hollowed out eggs. Make sure you boil the egg, slice of its top and then fill it with damp cotton wool. Allow your child to decorate the egg and then sprinkle the cress seeds on the cotton wool. This goes down especially well when you can cut the ‘hair’ a couple of days later and eat it in a sandwich!
• Learn how to swim – When better to teach kids to swim than half term when you have a little more time on your hands? The local swimming pool will usually offer extra swimming lessons which also provides a good opportunity to distract several kids at once.
• Fly a kite – If the weather is good then learning to fly a kite can be a great activity – especially loved by Dads. All you need is your local park or beach if there is one near by. Younger children will need help with this, but for slightly older children kite flying will provide endless entertainment.
• Play dressing up - All children love dressing up and it’s a good idea to start slowly accumulating items into a dressing up box. This works well when you have other kids over to entertain, especially if they put on a play for you.

In February you can win a copy of Nancy Drew on DVD click here to enter