OS Kids Entertainment

tjp70

Hi everyone.

I would really appreciate some ideas for low cost/no cost ideas to keep my kids amused this week. The lucky things have just returned from a week’s holiday in France with their auntie so tomorrow will probably be a chill out/bum round the house day to recover. Wednesday, we are going to spend the morning with a friend but other than that, it is down to me to come up with some ideas without spending any pennies.

DS is 14, DD is 10. I have promised them swimming, the local tennis courts are free, as is the park. DD loves cooking with me so that is a must. DS loves his PS3 but I try to limit that as I find it badly affects his attitude towards others if he plays on it too much.

They don’t have many friends locally as we live outside the school catchment area, so they are not the sort of kids who go out to play with their friends all the time. So it’s down to me (and them, although their ideas tend to be really costly!!).

So help me please MSE friends……inspiration needed.

Many thanks,

tjp70

Syman

we had a "mini - olympics" (of sorts)

Me, DS17 & DD10. we played a darts competition, followed by a few games of cribbage, then a quick quiz with a WII game. no arguments all day!!

tjp70

Syman, what a great idea. We have a Wii, card games, games for the garden and we are all hugely competitive! Fantastic idea. Thank you.

zippychick

hiya!

from memory there are quite a few threads which can help you

how to cope with school holidays and no money

Also these threads from the family board may help to give you some ideas:

easter holidays - CHEAP ways to entertain the kids

What are you doing today with your children? (school summer holidays)

Entertaining a 3 yr old on a budget


once you get some more Old Style input, i'll move this over to the families board

Zip

esmf73

How about a movie night? Get some popcorn ( you can pop it yourself) and chill in front of a movie? Helping you in the garden? Growing things? See whats in the freezer and let them make their own tea? Letting them decorate their room - if they do a picture first you could maybe "do" it in the may bank holiday at the end of May.

Aarons_mummy

Picnics, especially if they enjoy cooking you could bake cakes, sausage rolls etc and take a blanket along to the park. Walks in a woods if you have any near you, crafty things outside.

Hmmm I'm stumped I only have a toddler so just some easy things do for him lol.

Rainy days you could have a movie night, helping with a spring clean? (yes I am a MEAN mummy who does this!) hmmm dancing crazy if they choose music.

bigmomma051204

It may help if you let us know whereabouts (just the nearest town etc) you live.... people may have ideas for great free or cheap days out

tjp70

Thanks for all of your great suggestions.

We live near Portsmouth in Hampshire in case anyone has any bright ideas for our area.

bigmomma051204

http://www.portsmouthnaturalhistory.co.uk/events.htm free!

mummystar

Hi
Do you have a digital camera? Why not set them a photo challenge or a competition - taking pictures of boats or birds or on a theme and then print them through a cheap-y deal and make a scrapbook of the holidays?

Or what about them setting you a quiz on the local area after a walk

Hope this helps!

babyshoes

Hmm, thinking back to when I was that sort of age, I would read pretty much all through the holidays, with my younger brother bugging me because he didn't like reading as much and was bored. I think the advent of the internet finally captured his imagination!

Are they members of the library? Might be worth investigating.

I like the idea of taking photos, you could also investigate photo editing software for them to play around with their pictures - there is lots of free software available. They could then customise shirts / bags etc with iron on printer transfer paper.

Are they keen on crafty stuff? Perhaps a trip to pound shops / wilkos might be in order?