Super summer ideas with kids
Summer holidays are here! . The idea of spending almost 2 months with your own kids, whoms favourite activity is fighting and pounding your last nerve, can be a bit overwhelming at times. It may be the opposite and you are delighted to have the free time, however your brain just wont come up with the interesting ideas you want.
It`s physically impossible to entertain your kids 24/7 without needing some form of reprieve.
“i`m bored” is the dreaded phrase and if its not it is “I`m hungry”.
Thats not even the worst part. for the next two months you have to think of another meal to cook every damn day.
Anyway, summer holidays can be so much more, any kids ideal day is to have a parent present and involved in any activity. We dont always have the energy for being inventive so this is a simple creative list for when your brain draws a blank. This includeds activitites for each catergory of wealth. So we all have big plans and don`t always have the money to spend every day.
Whether an activity is free or expensive, chances are your kid will enjoy them as they have spent the time with you. Save yourself the stress of worrying about counting every penny by using a range of each of these activities.
I found that summer last year was one of our bests. We had a list, not exactly a plan as we wanted life to be as relaxing as possible, this also made activities so much more fun.
With a list of possibilities you can choose freely and simply for whatever suits you and your family best!
So here we go!
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- A bike ride (combined with a picnic if a sunny day)
- Read a book a day (pick a topic and run with it for the week)
- Go to the skatepark (great for confidence building and building likeminded friendships)
- Beach day (bring a picnic and towels. Don`t forget the suncream!)
- creative day – pick a subject (animals, the ocean, bees, transport, litterally anything you want) spend the day creating different things related to your subject out of all different materials ( pens, pencils, sticks, rocks, leafs, sand)
- Build a bee hydration station (collect sea glass from the beach and use and old bowl, it gives a place for bees to land without drowning)
- Build a stick village in the woods (no tools needed, collect branches and let the kids imagination run wild)
- Sleepovers! (have a friend or family member over, or even a parent sleeping in the kids room)
- Pudding for breakfast
- Find a new adventure in your community (faceebook groups and google often have great locations you never knew about)
- Learn a new skill (family and friends are full of talents, we are all different, share the knowledge)
- Practice gymnastics (family favourite here, we are not gymnasts but youtube is very helpful)
- Beach scavenger ( you will not believe the things you can come home with from the beach and kids love it!)
- Nature walk- a trip through the woods birdhunting, or finding a range of flowers, or a plant of every colour. something very simple can enthrall children.
- Build a den– use a blanket or an old sheet, you dont even need to leave your house for this one.
- Movie day- best saved for rainy days or when you are feeling exhausted and the kids are a little worn out. Cuddles on the sofa and a movie.
- Build a birdhouse– a couple scraps of wood, hammer and nails. Doesn`t have to be a birdhouse, let your child enspire you. Our favourite thing to build has been a ping pong coin drop (as we call it) loads of nails hammered into a board and see what you can drop to the bottom.
- Camping– if you have a tent great, explore anywhere. If you don`t build a den and sleep in it for the night. Bonus is those midnight toilet trips can be to your own bathroom.
- Toy collection- I have boys who love cars, we collected every car in the house and made a huge line from their bedroom to the livingroom. I didn`t have to play cars, I got to organise them by colour and had a great time.
- Teach the kids a skill you have learnt– you don`t need to be an expert to pass on knowledge. My sister likes to clean, she teaches her kids that, I like to sew and thats what I show them. We all have skills great and small.
Minimal cost (Under £10)
- Chalk drawing -create some artwork on the pavement or even an obstacle course Get them here.
- Plant flowers- some pots and compst and seedlings make a great activity and you can watch them grow. Get seeds here, bio-degradable Pots here and compost here. If you want pre-grown flowers then your local garden centre is the best bet, and is another minimal cost trip out.
- Roast marshmallows- set up a small fire, even in your garden, use a couple of rocks and dig a small hole and create a nice pit. Teach your kids some bushcraft skills and fire safety. Get some marshmallows here or for something different Giant marshmallows.
- A game of rounders- gather you friends and family and have a game of rounders (scottish version of baseball) These have always been our favourite days usually at the beach playing rounders and meeting new people. All you need is a bat and ball.
- Playdough- indoors or outdoors, kids adore this stuff, you just need to contain your inner perfectionist and be prepared to only have brown playdough by the end of the day. Get it here. We use forks and spoons or pretty much anything from the cuttlery drawer!
- trip to a local histrorical site– grab a picnic blanket and have a quick search on google. show your family your country. a picnic and fuel is your cost, the memories and education is priceless.
- New park each week– a great way for exploring any area is to try a new park each week, or as often as you like. The only cost is fuel or bus fairs getting there!
- Feed the ducks- a loaf of bread or 2 goes a long way. Play name the duck whilst you are there.
- Water fight- a pack of water balloons(these are rapid fill) or some water pistols ( these foam ones are our favourites, suitable for any age) on a hot day can be the ultimate treat. Have soem towels prepared!
- Painting– a pack of paints and some paper or some rocks! just remeber if you want them to last seal them with varnish. Indoors or outdoors a great activity for creativity or even set a challenge. Teach the kids about colour mixing and colour symbolism. Gather some rocks from the beach for this. (make sure it`s allowed in your area)
- Ice cream shop trip- find a special ice cream shop somewhere you havent been before and make a day out of it. Get imaginative with your ice cream and explore the area.
- Bowls- Brillaint game that can last forever and have never ending challenges. create obstacles within the game! Get them here.
slightly more expensive
When you dont want to do a massive amount of organising there are so many great places you can go.
- Go ape ( in the Uk) – treetop obstacle course and zip-lines included
- Trampoline parks
- Innoflate– worlds biggest bouncy castles
- Soft play
- museums
- shopping trip days out– charity shops are often where your kids will find the biggest treasures!
- Swimming pools– you dont have to be able to swim to enjoy the pool and the bonus is, the more often you take your kids to play the chances of them naturally learning to swim are higher.
- Leisure centres usually offer a wide variety of activities including badmintion and squash, table tennis, basketball, football and tennis
- Petting zoos/ farms- a whole adventure day out and some play time with animals are ideal for accidental learning
- Cinema
End of the day, If you are fed and watered and so are you kids, then you have done well. If you made a memory then even better, but really some days we are just survivng and other days we achieve loads.
What your kids remember is you.