What do you do with your kids?

masonsmum

Hi folks, just looking for some advice and tips on how you entertain your children during the winter months?

I have 2 boys aged 7 and 2 who are full of energy, Im getting some renevation work done in the house at the moment and we are in a bit of a mess and over the weekend my kids seemed bored. We are trying to save extra pennies as we got married at the end of last year and we are still trying to get back on our feet so we have stopped the expensive days out cinema lunch etc.

My little one likes baking, painting etc but the older one not so much and I just wondered how other parents entertain their children without spending a fortune.

In the good weather we like a lot of outdoors activities, walking and trips to the seaside but I admit I am a fair weather outdoor type and hate the rain and the cold so any tips would be greatly appreciated as sometimes I struggle with ideas as Im not an arty crafty type either.

Thanks in advance folks!

sweaty_betty

I also find winter activities tricky - if I was on my own I'd stay in with a book!
Things we do are:
- cheap cinema trips (cineworld & vue both do sat/sun morning screenings for £1+ each) & take your own snacks/drinks
- trips to the library - ours has a children's/young person reading area
- swimming (sometimes there are family tickets for less than you'd normally pay)
- museums/art galleries - the ones near me are good for children and often have specific kids activities
- if you can afford it, if you find somewhere they both like its worth buying a season ticket. Eg eureka children's museum offer a free upgrade to annual pass when you pay (admittedly £11 for ages 3+) so you can go as many times as you like in the year
- otherwise we just meet up with other parents with children of similar ages - playing with other children's toys can be quite appealing :-)

sassyblue

Meet up with other mums, walk to the shops for a little treat like some popcorn and drink then in the afternoon have a cinema afternoon watching a film (my little one used to get his cuddly toys all lined up to 'watch it' too), swimming, get little one to do some baking and the elder one to make sandwiches for an inside picnic. Let the each choose a book to read with you, perhaps your 7yo could read to the 2yo?

Lunar_Eclipse

Visit the library. We also have a local museum which is good.

Local parks/forests. Young boys don't tend to care it's Winter and waterproofs and wellies add to the fun (supposedly!)

We did a fair amount of geocaching at that age. See https://www.geocaching.com I thought of it as a walk with a purpose.

Play dates with friends.

One of our children has always loved games, so we have plenty of those. 2 is a bit young, but at 7 they are quite competent.

The same child also has a fantastic imagination. So besides playing schools, hospitals etc, she could easily play with a bunch of soft toys for hours. They went on loads of adventures, had dog shows etc (she'd make posters, plan the events, make prizes, get us all to participate and so on.) She had a sibling to play with but most children would love it even more if a parent joined in.

She would also set up Village Fair games in our dining room or lounge: hoopla, get a hoop over the bottles, hook a duck, guess how many coins or pasta shapes were in a jar etc. There would be an entrance programme and entry fee! She would spend hours (as in all day bar meals) doing this.

Dens. The kids have always loved building them with cushions, sheets, chairs etc. Adding all their books and favourite soft toys was also essential.

On very wet horrible days, an enormous bubble bath filled with toys was sometimes used to easily pass an hour or more.

Playdough, air drying clay, fun with shaving foam on the kitchen bench etc are also fun.

marisco_2

I work on the premise that children should be able to entertain themselves given the right resources. I think for them to learn not to be solely reliant on others all the time is a necessary life skill. I invested in lots of board games, puzzles, books and art and craft stuff. Choosing out of these activities keeps my two sons amused for hours.

They each have a desk in their room and are into building models. Like all kids they enjoy watching TV and playing on their ds. I limit how much time they do this for though.

As long as it is just cold and dry we spend a lot of time outdoors down the beach, going for bike rides and visiting parks. They are both really active and attend a gymnastics club and swimming club. These aren't expensive hobbies and they get nicely worn out and relaxed by the exercise. Win, win in my book.

HOWMUCH

Park with swings and slide?
Do you have any ducks near by go feed them not many people do this during the winter months.
Walk in the woods if you have one near by?

double_mummy

salt dough
diy chemistry experiments - mentos + coke=rocket
treasure maps making and following them

neverdespairgirl

marisco wrote: »

I work on the premise that children should be able to entertain themselves given the right resources. I think for them to learn not to be solely reliant on others all the time is a necessary life skill. I invested in lots of board games, puzzles, books and art and craft stuff. Choosing out of these activities keeps my two sons amused for hours.

I agree with this. Of course, you should do things with your children and play with them, but you should also encourage them to learn to enjoy their own company and get on with things on their own, too.

valk_scot

marisco wrote: »

I work on the premise that children should be able to entertain themselves given the right resources. I think for them to learn not to be solely reliant on others all the time is a necessary life skill.

I agree with this too. Kids should be able to entertain themselves some of the time while you do other things. That's what toys, books, crafts and hobbies are for. Of course outings, trips and activities for the whole family are great too but kids should be able to understand that mum and dad have more things to do that just be their on tap entertainment coordinators.


If you've got a garden chuck them outside with a football and their wellies. Inside? Dressing up box, empty cardboard boxes, duplo/lego, toy cars and soldiers, tunnels made of sheets over the furniture, drawing, model making or even the odd DVD. There's a five year gap between my two youngest kids but they still seemed to be able to share a lot of games and activities, I remember the den filled with dozens of soft toys and giving them wee picnics in there. Kept them amused for hours.


One other sneaky trick is to get the older one to read to the younger one from suitable books or to teach them something, like colouring in and crayon colours.

Delree

How has getting married stopped the days out?

masonsmum

As my OP said Getting married has stopped the expensive days out as we are trying to get back on track financially after such a big outlay. Not days out as a whole!