The school summer holidays - ideas

oldhaggis

When mine were little the local council used to publish a children’s’ holiday activities booklet, which you could get from the local library or council swimming pool and sports centre. It can be found online these days.

Over the years they did swimming crash courses, kayaking, trampolining, gymnastics, disco dancing, multi sports activity days etc

Our local art gallery ran free themed art activity weeks. As a result, we had all sorts of wonderful monsters and masks to transport home on the bus afterwards.

The local library ran story telling sessions and also a sticker scheme for each age group. The children would be given a brightly coloured collector’s card and then be awarded a sticker, once they had read and returned a book.

We also borrowed lots of talking books from the library, which were free for children in those days and a godsend to entertain the children when we went on our annual holiday by car.

The children also spent many happy hours playing mini golf at the local park. This was their favourite activity when they were very small.

Another favourite was a short train journey to the local airport to watch the planes take off and land. We would take a picnic to eat in the viewing gallery.

At the end of the summer holidays we would go blackberrying and then go home and make a blackberry and apple pie.

Pink.

Hi cprtknight4,

As your thread has dropped down the Old Style board I've moved it over to the Family moneysaving board where a lot of parents post to see if you can get some more replies.

Pink

rsdiscos

I made a list by looking at blogs websites and googling bucket/to do lists. Here is mine
1. Watch silly youtube videos
2. Make bean bags
3. Start a club
4. Draw picture blindfolded/ with your foot
5. Sculpt with salt dough
6. Make a video using a digital camera of ‘a day in the life’.
7. Build a time capsule
8. Make handprint monsters
9. Play hide and seek
10. Play an outdoor street game
11. Learn 10 words in another language
12. Find shapes in the clouds
13. Build things with toothpicks and grapes or marshmallows
14. Make a yoghurt pot telephone
15. Write a secret message using lemon juice
16. Have a taste testing meal
17. Have pancakes for breakfast
18. Bag up some old toys to donate
19. Have a film night
20. Make a windsock with a plastic bottle and plastic bags
21. Make place mats colour pictures , collage and laminate
22. Have a picnic for breakfast
23. Spend a few pounds in a charity shop
24. Tell someone they have done a good job
25. Have a games night ( cards, monopoly)
26. Make a cereal box marble run
27. Do cereal box paper weaving
28. Make play food with foam felt
29. Make sponge balls
30. Have a water fight
31. Make a mini book
32. Colour a masterpiece http://practical pages.wordpress.com/art-activity-pages
33. Learn the sign language alphabet
34. Draw a picture without taking your pencil off the paper
35. Bake biscuits/ krispie cakes
36. Make a paper chain
37. Make an ice cream sundae
38. Make ice decorations
39. Build with newspaper rolls
40. Have a potion lab ( food colouring, shampoo hair gel)
41. Have a scavenger hunt collecting things in an egg carton ( colours or textures)
42. Leave a nice note in a public place
43. Create a family crest or flag
44. Make music with homemade instruments ( rice in a bottle)
45. Make bird seed hanger
46. Find a pen pal
47. Write an email/ leave a message on twitter to a famous person
48. Send a message in a bottle
49. Make your own bubble (google a recipe)
50. Collect bugs
51. Paint pet rocks
52. Find 10 different flowers
53. Who can jump rope the longest?
54. Interview a grandparent
55. Visit a market
56. Collect items that hold water and have a water relay
57. Make a zoo with stuffed animals
58. Invent a new dance to your favourite song
59. Make a peg geoboard
60. Go on a nature walk and collect rubbings
61. Create aboriginal art using cotton buds
62. Make funny food faces
63. Draw a picture of your house from the outside
64. Build family mail boxes for messages
65. Make rock candy
66. Draw a map of your street
67. Dress up without costumes( toga out of a bedsheet etc)
Melissa:T

balletshoes

thats a great list !

Our local council runs events all through the summer holidays at little or no cost, so its worth checking your council's (and your neighbouring ones) websites.

meer53

rsdiscos wrote: »

I made a list by looking at blogs websites and googling bucket/to do lists. Here is mine
1. Watch silly youtube videos
2. Make bean bags
3. Start a club
4. Draw picture blindfolded/ with your foot
5. Sculpt with salt dough
6. Make a video using a digital camera of ‘a day in the life’.
7. Build a time capsule
8. Make handprint monsters
9. Play hide and seek
10. Play an outdoor street game
11. Learn 10 words in another language
12. Find shapes in the clouds
13. Build things with toothpicks and grapes or marshmallows
14. Make a yoghurt pot telephone
15. Write a secret message using lemon juice
16. Have a taste testing meal
17. Have pancakes for breakfast
18. Bag up some old toys to donate
19. Have a film night
20. Make a windsock with a plastic bottle and plastic bags
21. Make place mats colour pictures , collage and laminate
22. Have a picnic for breakfast
23. Spend a few pounds in a charity shop
24. Tell someone they have done a good job
25. Have a games night ( cards, monopoly)
26. Make a cereal box marble run
27. Do cereal box paper weaving
28. Make play food with foam felt
29. Make sponge balls
30. Have a water fight
31. Make a mini book
32. Colour a masterpiece http://practical pages.wordpress.com/art-activity-pages
33. Learn the sign language alphabet
34. Draw a picture without taking your pencil off the paper
35. Bake biscuits/ krispie cakes
36. Make a paper chain
37. Make an ice cream sundae
38. Make ice decorations
39. Build with newspaper rolls
40. Have a potion lab ( food colouring, shampoo hair gel)
41. Have a scavenger hunt collecting things in an egg carton ( colours or textures)
42. Leave a nice note in a public place
43. Create a family crest or flag
44. Make music with homemade instruments ( rice in a bottle)
45. Make bird seed hanger
46. Find a pen pal
47. Write an email/ leave a message on twitter to a famous person
48. Send a message in a bottle
49. Make your own bubble (google a recipe)
50. Collect bugs
51. Paint pet rocks
52. Find 10 different flowers
53. Who can jump rope the longest?
54. Interview a grandparent
55. Visit a market
56. Collect items that hold water and have a water relay
57. Make a zoo with stuffed animals
58. Invent a new dance to your favourite song
59. Make a peg geoboard
60. Go on a nature walk and collect rubbings
61. Create aboriginal art using cotton buds
62. Make funny food faces
63. Draw a picture of your house from the outside
64. Build family mail boxes for messages
65. Make rock candy
66. Draw a map of your street
67. Dress up without costumes( toga out of a bedsheet etc)
Melissa:T

Melissa, where do you live and what are you doing in the 6 weeks holidays ?:rotfl:

emweaver

Im stuck for ideas too, all we seem to do is go to the park and feed the ducks. Not much else to do around here and Im going to be 34 weeks pregnant at the start of the holidays so don't fancy doing anything too energetic lol.

rsdiscos

Thanks meer53! I have always been paranoid about 'doing' stuff with my boys on the weekends and holidays. I think I am trying to build memories. My parents had their own business so 'family time' was rare. We have quite a lot of debt so again feel guilty about not being able to do theme parks and such. I just want the boys to have lots of fun and maybe learn some life skills too. Melissa

Turner1974

oooo was just talking about this. Send your kids to summer camp! The YHA are running various themed camps(Performing arts,action adventure, go extreme and future leader) in various locations around the uk. They're called 'Do It 4 Real' camps. Fairly cheap too

beautiful_ravens

I_wanna_live_for_free wrote: »

A couple of years ago we went camping. Sitting outside the tent we watched the people in the next tent get ready for their day out - the children were told "the dvd player and your DS are in the car so you won't be bored" - they were going 20 minutes by car to the seaside. :eek:

:rotfl:Were you camping next to us?!! haha I cannot abide their squeaks and squabbling while Im trying to drive my way round an unknown place, so DS's and DVD players are a godsend!!

Anyway for the hols - depends on their ages and where you live but -

water play, paddling pools in the garden
Make a tent out of a double bedsheet slung over the washing line.
Car boot sale and all the 10p's you can find to give them, [this never gets boring if they have the 10ps!]
Camp in the garden
Hunt for treasure in the woods [natural treasure] -next day, make something out of the treasure
Drive slowly around unfamilier country lanes until you see something good to get out and look at [church, hills, ruins etc]
Any ruins/mounds/castles etc which are free to get into/look round
Visit animal places like the donkey sanctuary, mrs tiggywinkles etc
Find free festivals/village events etc
Tye dying
Corn mazes [maize maze] are interesting...!
Visit the tourist places in your own nearby towns, go in the shops you never go in!
Scrapbooking - this can go on over the whole holiday, things they did/found etc can all go in there, scrapbooks are quite cheap and so is glue!

I shall be doing a few of these! :cool: