Skint in summer holidays

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If you have young kids and you’re skint how are you getting through it? Today we’re having a movie day with snacks but no further plans for the rest of the holiday. Everything is sooo expensive 😢 feel like I’m drowning and trying to keep the kids entertained until they go back to school

Pick blackberries, bring them home and make something with them
Make a den/desert island camp
Treasure hunt- find a red leaf, feather, post box, house with a blue door, other random things
Baking
Painting rocks
Making collage out of scraps (print off a template first of something they might be interested in e.g. butterfly/dinosaur)
Origami animals
Take an indoor game to the park with a picnic such as jenga
Learn to knit
Make a doll’s house out of boxes/ stuff in the recycling Blue Peter style

Good luck, holidays are starting to drag at this stage

They don't need to be 'entertained until they go back to school'. They can just be part of what is going on and needs to happen day to day. They can occupy themselves, and each other, sometimes. They can do things that are good for them, instead of for their amusement. School isn't there to be entertaining either.

My DS is now 17 but I noticed the other day the amount of free activities my local library had on - reading book challenge and they collect stickers - they had a Lego event, a seed/growing flowers thing, jewellery making etc - most were free , others were 50p-£1 to pay for costs of materials

Mine would happily at 7 spend every day at the beach with a picnic but I appreciate you may not live near a beach/petrol isn't cheap

I was going to suggest a new park.

Baking
Arts and crafts at home
Could you afford a bus trip somewhere if you don’t have a car?
Does your local shopping center have any events for DC on such as art sessions or little shows etc?
Is there anywhere near you that you can feed ducks.

Search all the parks in your area. We visit various one. Some futher afield.
Library often do days or it passes time just to go get books.
Feed ducks
Collect leaves to paint

Libraries for Summer reading challenge and craft sessions and story events.. Museums for sessions .Parks may have activities planned .Art galleries same as museums.

Bag lunch up and take it to the park for a change.

Cineworld has some pound films on, take your own snacks.

Not long to go now. You've broken the back of it.

A new park is a great idea.
Geocaching if that is is still going.
Our sports centre has an outdoor splash pool which was free and our favourite over the summer.
Home activities - "camping" - build dens out of chairs, blankets, clothes airers. Let them pack up their "provisions" and eat their dinner in their tent.
Put your 3yo in charge of a picnic. Have them plan the menu, write a shopping list (7yo can scribe) then choose the items in the shop, buy the food, make the sandwiches. Take picnic to park and put 3yo in charge of handing out sandwiches etc. They will prob choose very modest meals. Mine used to do cheese sandwiches and crisps, it filled the entire day and he was so proud.
Similarly baking your own bread takes most of the day if you'd have the oven on anyway. Making your own butter from cream is an optional go-with if you have a food processor. You can do it with just a big jar, but it is hard work.
If you have some not-very-sticky tape like masking tape, create some roads with in on the floor and add cardboard boxes as garages. Use more cardboard with sofa cushions etc for ramps.
One for maybe an older child, definitely not for your 3yo, but your 7yo might like to try stop motion animation. Lego figures are really good, you might need a bit of blutackor tape to hold things in place. Download a free app where you can take a series of pics and it runs them together into a little video. It doesn't have to be people, I remember my son doing quite a creepy one with a disembodied dressing gown slithering across the living room.

Please please don't feel guilty about the garden. They'll be absolutely fine, they have a mum who really cares and that is 10x better than a random bit of lawn.

Maybe it depends where you are but where we are there’s actually loads of fun & free activities on that would be fab for your age kids!

I don’t suppose you’re in/near Newcastle?

When my kids were small and funds were very limited we used to.

go to national trust places. I would spend my February council tax free month money on buying annual national trust membership and use that for numerous days out throughout the year. We are lucky that we have lot of places near by.

do the library summer reading challenge.

meet with friends at the park.

we were lucky to have an open air local pool which I was an opener for so the kids could go to for free - I know this isn’t an option for most.

go on bike rides

go to the beach - one with no facilities so no spending and take a picnic.

Arts and crafts, den making at home, baking.

make dens in the woods.

duck races if you have rubber ducks and a local stream.

Make the most of the councils summer free play days. I don’t know if these are still a thing.

visit family

wild swim in the local river

have a wander around the local animal rescue place. Often they’ll let the kids help clean out the small
pets etc.

there’s lots that can be done. But it does depend where you live.

What do you actually have locally?

Do you have any friends or relatives you can meet up with or visit?

Definitely source a new park and alternate them. Anything else outdoors you can utilise? (Canal? Woods?)

We don't have much of a garden, I always feel incredibly guilty for a few months of the year but we do live in Zone 1 in Central London so have many (free) options on our doorstep.

It also helps to have a car.

We went to the library at least twice a week during the summer holidays. Your eldest can do the summer reading challenge there. They often have activity sheets and crafts as well as books. Our library has iPads and computers too.

Look out for free family activities at the local museum and art gallery. Sign up to their newsletters so you know what is coming up.

Make Play dough at home cheaply. Use Pinterest for recipes.

We have a dog so twice daily walks. Any neighbours with a friendly dog?

Both DC do badge work in the Summer - Scouts and Girlguiding.

Charity Shop for a new board game - Orchard Toys do great ones for wee ones.

It won’t work for this year but what I did when mine were little was save some each month/week for the summer hols. Even saving £5 per week if you can gives £250 ish for the summer hols which can make a big difference. I still do it now, but it’s for my own holiday spends!

Just thought of something else my DC enjoyed, but will only waste about 20 minutes, but is great fun and free. Get a large cardboard box for example an empty large cereal box, put it on the floor, then you all have to take it in turns to pick it up with your teeth - no hands allowed. If everyone is successful, cut an inch off the top of the box and do it again. If one person can't do it, they drop out and the others try again with another inch off and so on until you have a winner. The young one will probably have more luck than you!

You could combine this with other party games like musical chairs or cushions and pin the tail on the donkey. (Just draw your own donkey, or cat or something). Also do musical statues and pass the parcel with a small packet of sweets for the winner. Call it a party afternoon.

I always have to get the kids out of the house every day, it gets too chaotic if they stay home. So if money is low we stick to free things - parks (different ones each time or it gets boring), libraries, city farms, adventure playgrounds, country parks, historic houses/gardens, musems, galleries, free festivals. I pack up lunch the night before so we're ready to go in the morning. Today we're off to a free play session at a church (not a toddler group, it has den building and woodwork so good for my 7yo).

Picnic in the park - just take what you'd normally eat to the park. Bring a frisbee or a beach ball.

Go on Freecycle and see what is on offer or request some interesting new toys or equipment: skateboard, bike, musical instruments, rebounder, mini table football or pingpong set, tennis racquets or badminton kit, paddling pool, craft supplies etc. I have given away all of these on freecycle in the past and also received many of them. People often do loft or garage clearouts in fine weather, or when their DC go off to uni, so there could be lots of free exciting new to your DC stuff for grabs.

Go blackberry picking with DC and make bramble jelly.

Create a scavenger hunt. Make a list of things they can find in the house if it's rainy or in the park/woods/garden etc and send them off on missions.

Do junk modelling with old cereal boxes and loo rolls etc - make cities or robots or monsters or space control stations.

Do some basic 'experiments'. Outline a 1m square of grass with some string and get them to see how many different beasts, seedheads, flowers etc they can find in it.

Play dates is the best time filler in our house, and consistently the most popular at all ages.

I usually invite a couple of their friends over, and just leave them to it. If your youngest is 3 they’ll need some supervision but the 7 year old should just happily cause chaos round the house for a few hours with their mate.

I usually invite the other child to stay for lunch (just whatever we’re having anyway), and buy a pack of custard creams etc. Overall cost about £3.

This is a good idea for next year. Save any amount you can monthly for next year. Book things in advance.
If you book coach or train trips a few months before the summer, you can get some good deals.