Entertain 3 Children for Free (virtually) Over the Summer Holiday!

HairyHandofDartmoor

Still spent £7.80 yesterday, so would like to get the costs down. Everyone else who was out yesterday seemed to be sitting down in cafes buying drinks and lunch though, but then they probably have a lot more money than we do!

It's hard to enjoy yourself if you don't spend anything at all!

mammamia2

I have been reading your thread as I too am trying to entertain on a budget for the summer holidays.

but thought I would tell you that my local libary are doing a reading quest , the kids have to read 7 books throughout the holidays basically one a week and when they complete them they get stickers and stuff at the end thay get a medal for taking part .

Whe we signed up we got a few leaflets with special entry prices to our nearest theme park (chessington and legoland ) the prices worked out cheaper than a kids go free or a two for one offer , Although a still a bit steep we will be taking advantage of theese offers for a final grand day out .

I am in kent and some of the things I have planned are

going to watch changing of the guard at buckingham palace armed with a packed lunch

picnic in leeds castle tickets are valid for a year

chatham dockyard tickets again valid for a year

local farm have a walk and a quiz

the local council have got a few FREE workshops that we will be signing up for - street dance , bug hunt in the local woods , fishing , building bird boxes etc

I hope you get some ideas from my post . I will be reading with interest what you and others get up to in theese summer holidays .

HairyHandofDartmoor

Yesterday was quite sunny (despite the forcast saying showers!). DD went into town to meet some friends but DS1 and DS2 were at a loose end, so we walked to the swimming pool, spent £2.20 each for them to have a swim, £1 each for a snack afterwards and then we walked home again.

Enjoyed the walk as it was a nice day and the whole outing cost £6.40 so it could be worse!

Today is a horrible dull rainy day so we will be staying at home today. However OH has agreed that he will take a day off on Friday and we will all go to the beach. I'm just praying for good weather for Friday now!

autumncannibal

Will be keeping an eye on this thread, I have a 3 and 6 year old girls, one of my favourite resources is www daysoutwiththekids .co .uk because you can search by area and age.

So far we have only had a couple of picnics in the park and a day out in Goodameavy and on the moors. There's so much more to do on a dry day, living in cornwall we're lucky to be surrounded by beautiful countryside and lovely historical landmarks (one of the girl's favourites is Roche Rock). I seem to spend most of my time scanning the internet for ideas of things to do as they get bored quickly.
Here's my offerings (forgive me if i'm repeating some)

Treasure maps
Hide a prize somewhere in the house or garden or even a park, leave clues at various places which will lead to the next clue, or draw a map, the girls love this.

Video Games
You can get some great deals through tesco dvd rental and alike, why spend £££ on a game that they complete in a few days when you can rent it and send it back, you can also get movies!

Competitions
I do scavenger hunts for the house or garden where they have to find something and rush back to me, each time they get rewarded with a gummi bear or something, you can also do the same for winning board games, video games, tidying rooms etc, kids are naturally very competitive, i even do room tidying challenges lol

party games
your kids are probably a little old for tis, but with the younger ones, dressing up and having a disco and wrapping some cheapy toys or little bags of gummis with old newspapers for pass the parcel, them pigging out on a home made birthday cake is fun.

Fashion shows
the girls love to dress up and i take photos of them which we all look at afterwards

Scrapbooking
take small momentos or even pictures of days out and put them in a scrapbook especially for the summer holidays, then they have a great record to take to show and tell when they go back to school. You could even make a scrapbook of something else or make a family tree?

Someone mentioned tents before, camping out in the garden, even if it's not through the night is great fun, especially if you have a fire pit and can roast some marshmallows in the evening. even making a fort / tent indoors.

learn something new, get an instructional book out from the library, the sky is the limit.

cooking is also great

chores
yes sounds boring, but if there's a payment scale, it take some pressure of you and gives you more time with them, payment doesn't have to be money, it can be staying up later, getting first turn with something, there's lots of different rewards.

that's all i can think of for now lol, most of the outdoor stuff people have already said.

good luck, and stay sane

autumncannibal

a friend just sent me this link http:// www. dltk-kids. com/
and this one
http:// busymominiowa.blogspot. com/2009/05/ family-activity-tumblebugs.html
(just delete the spaces)

HairyHandofDartmoor

Haven't had time to come on for a few days, but things are going quite well

On Friday OH actually took a day off :eek: and we went to the beach. We took all our own food so it only cost us petrol and £3.50 for parking. Had a great day, it was sunny and reasonably warm so DS1 and DS2 went swimming in the sea and DD dug an enormous hole, and OH and I sat in deckchairs and relaxed

On Saturday, DS1 and DS2 went to tennis in the morning and then OH took them all to a free event in the city centre.

After this they were happy to potter at home on sunday. It's a bit dull and rainy this morning but if it clears up I may take them to the park for a bit.

HairyHandofDartmoor

Didn't take the kids out on Sunday, Monday or Tuesday so felt a bit bad. So on Wednesday invited a friend of DS2 around, took them swimming (cost £6.60 for them all to swim plus £2 on snacks afterwards) and then had the friend back for tea. So the total cost of the day was £8.60.

Today went to Exeter on the train using the new railcard. OH dropped us at the station and the tickets cost £9.30 which I didn't think was too bad! We took all our own food and drinks with us. We had a picnic on the Cathedral Green, then walked down to the Quay and looked in the shops there and saw loads of swans. We went for a walk by the river and watched loads of families on pedalos and canoes. I bought them an icecream and we paid 90pence to cross the river on Butts Ferry! We had a great time, it was really nice to go somewhere different and the whole day cost £12.90.

I'm really knackered now though, I feel as if I've burned about a thousand calories with all the walking we did today!

HairyHandofDartmoor

Some of the places we passed on the train today also gave me some ideas for places to go, such as Exmouth which has a beach or maybe Teignmouth or Dawlish which also looked beachy!

I really enjoyed the train journey as well, as I haven't been on one for about 20 years!

40somethingmum

Hi

Just thought I put pop in and see how you are getting on. I can see that you have been having a lovely time. :T:T

I contracted swine flu so my Diary came to a rapid halt .:mad:

Enjoy the rest of the holiday

40SM

HairyHandofDartmoor

Poor you! I hope you get over it soon and noone else in the family catches it! :grouphug: Sending you a dodgy hug!

Shame about your diary. Can you carry on with it now?