Frugal school holiday activities

arbrighton

There is the country park at Marbury, and the boat lift at Anderton- a little bit of a parking fee but then plenty to do (including an outdoor pool at Marbury).

Mrs_Toast

Thanks everyone these are all brilliant ideas. Arbrighton, we are almost within walking distance to Marbury and Anderton so hopefully my son will be happy to bike there and save on parking.


Tomorrow we are heading to Ikea in Warrington to grab the 17 piece Tupperware set for free so we'll have plenty more for picnics. Does anyone have any ideas of what things we could keep at home for both kids to enjoy or activities for outside? I know I need to stock up on paint and paper for the craft box but we have plenty of pay-doh and lego/duplo

arbrighton

Must be just round the corner from me virtually then, as I walk the dog to Anderton/ Marbury (and she's only got little legs!)

kathrynha

Have a look on pinterest for ideas.

Here's a link to one of my boards https://www.pinterest.com/tiggerkat77/child-activities/ with ideas for things to try with my daughter. She is slightly older than your kids, but some of the ideas are great with all ages.

When she was younger on nice days I used to put large sheets of paper on the lawn (lining paper is perfect), and paint on paper plates and she would paint with her feet running up and down the paper. No masterpiece but cheap and fun and very messy.

onlyroz

If you're in Cheshire then aren't you close to all those amazing castles in North Wales? E.g. Beaumaris and Caernarfon.

arbrighton

onlyroz wrote: »

If you're in Cheshire then aren't you close to all those amazing castles in North Wales? E.g. Beaumaris and Caernarfon.

Oooh and all the beaches along the North Wales coast too

Mrs_Toast

Onlyroz that's a lovely idea but it's a good 2 hours to Caernarfon from here which is a lot of petrol in the holidays. We do go to New Brighton quite a lot as it's free parking and good facilities. My son brought home a local magazine with lots of activities up until July and a lot of them are free/NT or are cheap. Hopefully there'll be another issue out before the summer. Kathrynha thank you I will have a look. We only have a yard but have the foam alphabet mats that cover quite a good area so plan on doing things like that a lot. Arbrighton you're definitely local then, we're in Northwich x

arbrighton

There will definitely be another NT magazine, but it's also worth checking the website for each local property to see what they have on.

Given how many we have in easy reach, a family NT membership would probably be worthwhile. Styal Mill is a good day out for example and Dunham Massey is lovely.

There are often holiday activities in the parks too.

Lion Salt works opens up soon I think.

Mrs_Toast

Our current NT membership runs out in July so I'm hoping we have enough funds to renew it as we do use it a lot even if it's just to park for free at Dunham Massey We are planning on going to Styal Mill for May Day as they are having a Victorian Day with lots of activities.


I believe the Lion Salt Works is opening sometime in May once they've finished with the museum and facilities. I can't wait as I used to go there a lot as a kid. I will double check tomorrow as I'm volunteering at Weaver Hall Musuem in the morning and they are ran by the same people.

dizziblonde

I look on dayoutwiththekids a lot for ideas. If you've got a splash pad near you - they're fantastic with the sort of age range you've got - we spend a lot of the summer at the ones local to us (we're pretty spoilt in terms of nice parks and outdoor stuff around here).

Also worth getting yourself onto any local "mum/parent" FB groups - I've found a lot of stuff local to us through these that I'd never have known about otherwise - things like a community cafe with a free soft play area, free community cinema showings and the like.