half term ideas

skintmum2012

Hi everyone its the kids half term now. I would normally spend a fortune on doing things with them but with trying to safe I have no money so what would everyone subject free or very cheap things to keep children entatanied please.

FrugalWorker

I don't have kids, but here's what my Mum did with us.

- Picnics up the mountains, or even in the park, beach, where ever is close.
- Library (a lot)
- Art gallery, we were told to bring our art pads and pencils and we were to copy pictures in the gallery that we liked (we were 7-10, so hardly plagiarism)
- Museum, they often have work sheets for kids to fill in
- Visiting friends/family
- Baking - decorating home made cookies, make a cake together, teach them to make dinner.
- Spring cleaning / Declutter, make room for the christmas presents. Kids can tidy too. One of my jobs was polishing the shoes, the brasses on the door and any silverware.

onewhoasks

Geocaching is very good fun - you register on the following website which gives you co-ordinates and clues to find "geocaches" which have been hidden by people (containers containing log books and sometimes various other tradeable objects). I was amazed at how many geocaches were in my area when I registered a few years back and had fun finding a few. There are geocaches all over the world in fact.

Here's the site, it has a good intro video:

https://www.geocaching.com/play


You can buy "Travelbugs" which are special tags with serial numbers which you place in a geocache. The next person to find the geocache may pick up your travelbug and take it to the next geocache they visit - they log this on the Geocaching website... and so on. You can trace your travelbug on it's travels as people move it on. Two of our travelbugs went abroad and it was fun seeing the mileage.

Been a while since I did this but it's a cheap activity which didn't take us too far from home.

Butterfly_Brain

Your half term is early our lot don't break up until 13th Feb!

When my two were small we were skint as well so we used to do things like:

Going for a country walk and take a picnic.

Have a craft day, sit and make things together with lots of glitter and glue.

Baking and decorating cakes and biscuits, they are learning how to cook while having fun.

Start sowing seeds indoors and chitting potatoes, ready to go out when the frosts have gone.

Most libraries have half term activities.

Do you have a local museum that is free entry?

thefrugalflirter

I'd say :

- Nature walk (you could create an 'eye-spy' list of trees or animals they have to tick off as they spot them)

- Trips to the park

- Baking - I'd help my mum make biscuits, then I'd decorate them however I wanted

- Any free museums / art galleries in the area? Science museums tend to have the most interactive stuff for kids

- Sign up for Show Film First & see if there are any free films you could go and see

- Have a 'movie day', get some sweets / popcorn & have a movie marathon, e.g. all the Harry Potter films

- Have a look on Pinterest - if you search 'kids activities', loads of different fun ideas come up like free coloring in books or household science experiments you could do

If all that fails - my mum just used to invite my friends over and we'd entertain ourselves for hours - problem solved! :rotfl:

gayleygoo

HM play-dough is a favourite here. If you've never made it before, you might want to check out the many recipes available online. I do a "cooked" version with cream of tartar and hot water (and salt and flour), as it finishes up nice and smooth. Add food coluring and lots of glitter if desired. This keeps my kids happy for many hours, and can kept in a tub in the fridge for weeks. If the kids make anything they want to keep, it can be baked in a very low oven until hardened, and then painted.

Cornflour goop is also cheap and fun, very messy and easily washable

Depending on their ages, get them involved in your housework if you don't already.

Continue some of their learning from school. They could do science projects, counting activities, read books etc. My 7 year old DD actually asks me to write out pages of sums for her to do, and there are websites where you can print off activity pages for all ages.

If they are old enough, ask if they would put a play/show/magic act/art gallery etc together for you? You could invite some family or friends round to view it at the end of the week!

If you go out for a walk, take some paper and crayons and do texture rubbings on whatever surfaces the children can find.

If you have girls, decorated headbands can be fun. Buy some cheap, plain headbands, ribbons and craft flowers/jewels/pompoms etc, and some glue!

There are many blogs out there that have great ideas and tutorials too. I'm hoping to give this salt sculpture painting idea a go.

flipper_72

Have a look at http://www.dayoutwiththekids.co.uk/ they list both free and fee paying things to do, i have used it for inspiration in the past.

Library, museum, art gallery ours is tiny so takes up one morning or afternoon for us.

Baking interests one but not the other.

Lego, when we all sit down to build keeps them both interested for longer than if they do it without me.

papier mache masks made on blown up balloons.

dizzytina

Vue cinema offer kids movies over the holidays (and weekends) for £1.50 each. take your own popcorn and drink and its a cheap way to entertain them. Ill be taking my little girl this half term.

Also look on groupon for any cheap deals for bowling or other activities. A local activity farm near us tends to offer annual family passes for a family of 4 for £9 which is great as you get to use it all year round. Depending on where you live there may be other similar offers.
Parks and picnics are always a good free activity if you wrap up warm.
Check out what activities your local council is offering for the half term.
Look on pinterest and find some fun activities to do. I have 1000's of pins of ideas on my pinterest boards so if you want to follow me just send me a PM and i'll give you my pinterest details.

Hope some of this helps

Crowdpleaser

Another shout out for geocaching here. Best free activity there is.

also big shout for libraries. They are heading into dire straits right now. Use them or they will go!

I take mine to pets at home to look at the animals too. I think hobbycraft sometimes do free stuff for kids in the hols?

We also have cinema day. Where we have popcorn and pop and wstch films in the dark with the light off. Lol

kathrynha

Agree that pinterest is a great place to look. Here's a link to one of my boards https://uk.pinterest.com/tiggerkat77/child-activities/

Also over half term we will be having a playmobil day. Plastic tablecloth going down on the floor, and all playmobil sets being set up, including water in all the water themed ones.

Also play dates. Invite a friend round and let them play together with all their normal toys. Hopefully the friends parents might invite your child to theirs too giving you some time off.

Change4Life

Hi skintmum2012, our fun generator is full of active games for indoors and outdoors, rain or shine - there are over 100 to choose from! There's even a mobile version for you to download to use while you're on the move - https://smarttools.change4life.co.uk/ EM