Learn English phrases for keeping kids busy during the school holidays. Practise everyday English for talking about children’s behaviour, boredom, and common challenges at home.
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This lesson is suitable for intermediate-level learners. After listening, test your knowledge with our quiz.
Learning notes:
Examples of phrases you can use when talking about keeping kids busy:
- I’m trying to keep them busy all day.
- I’m already running out of ideas.
- I’m running short on ideas.
- They’re starting to climb the walls.
- It’s hard to keep them entertained without just handing them a screen.
- We brought colouring books to occupy the kids.
- Looking after the kids all day, every day, can get a bit much.
- Keeping kids busy all day can really test your patience.
Examples of phrases you can use when talking about costs and activities:
- I don’t want to spend a fortune.
- That would break the bank.
- Going to the park is my go-to.
- Crafts in the garden are my usual choice to keep them busy.
- A trip to the beach is my favourite option for school holidays.
Examples of phrases you can use when talking about kid’s behaviour:
- Do your kids get on each other’s nerves?
- They’re always at each other’s throats over the smallest things.
- My kids pick on each other when they get bored.
- I feel like I’m constantly playing referee.
- I have to play referee when they fight over which game to play.
- After a few hours, the arguing can get a bit much.
Colloquial expressions:
Keeping kids busy means finding things for them to do so they don’t get bored or restless.
To run out of something/ run short on something, means you don’t have much left.
To climb the walls is to be very bored or restless.
To keep someone entertained means to give them things to do so that they have fun.
To cost a fortune/break the bank is so expensive that it is hard to afford.
To get on your nerves is to annoy or irritate you.
To be at each other’s throats means to argue or fight a lot.
To play referee means to stop arguments and make sure that things are fair.
To get a bit much is to become too difficult or annoying.
To test your patience is to make you feel frustrated and challenge your ability to stay calm.
Vocabulary:
A go-to is something you use or choose often because it works well.
To pick on someone is to be mean, teasing, or annoy them again and again
A referee is the person in sports like football or basketball, who makes sure that players obey the rules and decides who is right.
Learning notes:
When we want to stress that something is happening now, we often use the present continuous tense (I+am+verb+ing), but if we want to stress that something is usually true, we usually use the present simple (I+verb).
- Here Allan is stressing that he is finding this difficult right at this moment.
Allan: I’m trying to keep them busy all day, but I’m already running out of ideas. They’re starting to climb the walls.
- Here Claire is making the point that it is always true – it is hard in general to keep them entertained in the holidays.
Claire: … It’s so hard to keep them entertained…...
Transcript:
(Note: This is not a word-for-word transcript)
SBS acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country and their connections and continuous care for the skies, lands, and waterways throughout Australia.
Your kids are at home...all day. They’re bored. They’re noisy. And they keep saying...
Kid: I’m bored!!!!
...every five minutes.
School holidays can be fun, but they can also be stressful.
I’m Kate, and in this episode, we’re practising everyday English you can use when talking about keeping kids busy during the school holidays.
Keeping kids busy means finding things for them to do so they don’t get bored or restless.
Let’s join Allan, who has brought his kids over to Claire’s house so they can play with hers. The children run straight into the garden, laughing and kicking a ball. Allan and Claire sit nearby, watching them from a short distance.
Allan: I’m trying to keep them busy all day, but I’m already running out of ideas. They’re starting to climb the walls.
Claire: Tell me about it. It’s so hard to keep them entertained without just handing them a screen. Or spending a fortune and breaking the bank.
Allan: Exactly, I was thinking of taking them to the park tomorrow. It’s my go-to...Hmm...Do your kids get on each other’s nerves during the holidays?
Claire: All the time. They’re always at each other’s throats over the smallest things. I feel like I’m constantly playing referee. It’s exhausting.
Do you find school holidays challenging? Allan and Claire’s kids have so much energy, and it’s not always easy to keep them busy.
Honestly, I think it’s much easier to learn how to talk about keeping kids busy than to actually do it! So, let’s start. First, Allan said,
I’m trying to keep them busy all day, but I’m already running out of ideas.
If you’re running out of something, it means you don’t have much left. For example, I don’t have much milk left in my fridge so I could say that I’m running out of milk.
In this case, Allan doesn’t have many ideas for activities to keep the kids busy.
You could also say,
I’m running short on ideas.
And that would mean the same thing as running out of ideas. Allan also said,
They’re starting to climb the walls.
Here, Allan is not saying that his kids are actually climbing the walls- although some kids may do that! ‘Climbing the walls’ is an expression we can use to describe someone who is restless or bored.
For example, when I went to Japan, I was stuck on the plane for hours and was climbing the walls. Claire then said,
It’s so hard to keep them entertained without just handing them a screen.
To keep someone entertained is to give them things to do so they have fun. And, if you’re handing them a screen, you’re giving them a digital device, like a phone or a tablet to play games on, watch videos on or use to do similar activities.
For example, if you were well-prepared and brought books with you on a road trip, you could tell Claire,
We brought colouring books to occupy the kids instead of handing them phones.
Claire also said that it’s hard to keep her children entertained without...
... spending a fortune and breaking the bank.
If you’re spending a fortune, or if something breaks the bank, it costs so much money that it’s you can hardly afford it. With all the after-school activities and entertainment for kids during the school holidays, do you ever feel like you’re breaking the bank?
With fuel prices going up, my flight overseas this year will probably break the bank. I’ve checked the flights, and they already cost a fortune.
But let’s return to our dialogue. Allan has found a way to keep his kids busy without spending a fortune - he takes them to play in the park. He said,
It’s my go-to.
A go-to is something you choose often because it works well and is easy. You could also say,
- Crafts in the garden are my usual choice to keep them busy.
- A trip to the beach is my favourite option for school holidays.
So, whether something is your go-to, usual choice or favourite option, it is something you use or do often because it works well for you. For example, when I’m busy, pizza is my go-to dinner.
Allan also said,
Do your kids get on each other’s nerves during the holidays?
If someone gets on your nerves, they annoy or irritate you. I can relate to this. When I was a kid, my brother/sister used to get on my nerves all the time.
Claire replied,
They’re always at each other’s throats over the smallest things.
When people are at each other’s throats, they argue or fight a lot. Claire told me that when her kids have too much energy, they start annoying each other.
Yeah, my kids pick on each other when they get bored.
If someone picks on someone, it means they’re being a bit mean, teasing, or annoying them again and again. Just like my brother/sister did to me. It’s not always fighting, but it can still cause arguments.
Claire also said,
I feel like I’m constantly playing referee. It’s exhausting.
A referee is the person in sports like football or basketball, who makes the rules and decides who is right. During the World Cup - which you can follow on SBS On Demand - you’ll hear this word in every match. Every time you hear a (SFX) whistle, that’s the referee.
At home, if you’re a parent who stops arguments and makes sure everyone is fair, you can say,
I have to play referee when they fight over which game to play.
And if listening to your kids fighting annoys you, you can say,
After a few hours, the arguing can get a bit much.
You can use ‘get a bit much’ to say that something is starting to feel too much for you to bear, even if it was okay at the beginning.
For example, at the start of school holidays Allan loved spending all day with his kids, but after the first week, he said,
Looking after the kids all day, every day, can get a bit much.
This means that looking after kids and finding things for them to do all day can be difficult and sometimes stressful.
You could also say,
Keeping kids busy all day can really test your patience.
If something tests your patience, it makes you feel frustrated so that you find it difficult to stay. For me, waiting in traffic tests my patience. Oh, and a slow internet connection also tests my patience.
For Allan and Claire, it’s their kids - when they won’t stop arguing or when they scream how bored they are.
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Paul Nicholson and Lily O'Sullivan voiced the characters of Allan and Claire, and Professor Lynda Yates was our educational consultant.
