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Pre-schooler - cost of clubs/classes?!

59 replies

BeenChangedForGood · 29/10/2025 09:25

Sitting down having a look at our outgoings as we need to tighten things up a bit and I guess had never really thought about how much these things cost 😳

DS (4yo) enjoys them and is an only child (and no other kids in the family) so I like him getting the socialisation. They will be the last things to get cut but they definitely eat into our monthly budget.

We have:

  • swimming - £35 per month (1x 25 min group lesson per week)
  • gymnastics club - £20 per month (1 hour per week - but classes on term time only)
  • Gymnastics freestyle session - £6.50 per week - 1 hour
  • Drama - £35 per 5 week block - 45 mins per week
  • Football - £7.50 per week - 1 hour

I don’t know how people manage with multiple children 😳 Does this sound fairly standard? I don’t think any of them are particularly expensive on their own but they soon add up 😬

OP posts:
BeenChangedForGood · 29/10/2025 18:34

Wildefish · 29/10/2025 18:22

Maybe try cubs which is social and a lot cheaper. Not sure he needs two gymnastics a week.

Not sure if Cubs is different in different areas. We’re in Scotland and have Beavers (age 6-8), Cubs (8-10.5) and Scouts (10.5 -14). There is also sea cadets here but it’s age 8+

OP posts:
BeenChangedForGood · 29/10/2025 18:44

Sohelpmegod25 · 29/10/2025 18:34

I’ll be honest that sounds a lot for a 4 year old

I’d scrap one of the gymnastics sessions, keep swimming and then choose between football or drama

there’s nothing wrong with having time at home or just going to the park. The children’s centres and local museums/ library’s all have free activities on offer too and so I’m sure you could pad time out with free things.

@Sohelpmegod25 I think a lot of you may live in bigger places than us 😅 Our library is a few racks of books and a colouring in table. They host a “Bookbug” story time once a month for an hour. That’s all for his age and it’s on a nursery/work day for us.
We don’t have a children’s centre - I’m not sure what that is? 🫠
And our “local” museum would be in our nearest city which is a 30 min walk to the train station, then an hours journey on 2 trains costing £20 to get to the “free” museum. We do these things when DH is home and we have the car but it’s harder for me to access with being unable to drive.

OP posts:
Newsenmum · 29/10/2025 18:45

Wow that’s loads! Is he not in nursery or school?

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about these subjects:

mamagogo1 · 29/10/2025 18:52

I didn’t work at that age and they just did one club on top of nursery. Swimming came later too (they learn faster if you start a bit older). Squirrels is the scouting group for the little ones

TheNinkyNonkyIsATardis · 29/10/2025 19:16

Needmorelego · 29/10/2025 10:20

To be honest if he is a nursery 3 days a week does he need much more?
On your day off just do "life" things like walking to the corner shop, decide what you need to buy for dinner, count out the coins and interacting with the staff.
These are often skills and experiences modern children don't do.

This.

I take my son to the park, run errands, go to the shop, go to a cafe, bake, cook, clean the house together, tidy up.

We draw and sing and paint and play, but he also gets low-key involved in day to day life.

It will be far better for him to have these mundane things woven into his life than to be running around after different activities.

BeenChangedForGood · 29/10/2025 19:23

Newsenmum · 29/10/2025 18:45

Wow that’s loads! Is he not in nursery or school?

@Newsenmum nursery 3 days per week.

OP posts:
BeenChangedForGood · 29/10/2025 19:23

mamagogo1 · 29/10/2025 18:52

I didn’t work at that age and they just did one club on top of nursery. Swimming came later too (they learn faster if you start a bit older). Squirrels is the scouting group for the little ones

@mamagogo1 Ahhh, ok. We definitely don’t have that here.

OP posts:
Newsenmum · 29/10/2025 19:28

BeenChangedForGood · 29/10/2025 19:23

@Newsenmum nursery 3 days per week.

I dont get how you fit them all in! Personally I think it’s too much organised activities. I know people tend to pick one of two to pay for.

BeenChangedForGood · 29/10/2025 19:29

TheNinkyNonkyIsATardis · 29/10/2025 19:16

This.

I take my son to the park, run errands, go to the shop, go to a cafe, bake, cook, clean the house together, tidy up.

We draw and sing and paint and play, but he also gets low-key involved in day to day life.

It will be far better for him to have these mundane things woven into his life than to be running around after different activities.

@TheNinkyNonkyIsATardis we do all these things too 😬 most of the time it’s just him and I so he’s very used to being involved with the daily cooking/cleaning/errands. We don’t have much in the way of family so he spends all his time with me. He loves cooking, crafting, playing in the forest and the beach, collecting shells and sea glass. we do all these things constantly

OP posts:
BoysNameHelp · 29/10/2025 19:31

When does he get to just be at home and be bored?

Do you invite his friends round for playdates?

Cuwins · 29/10/2025 19:33

My DD is 3.5 and does far less than this. She is also an only child with no cousins etc so good comparison.
We do pay a lot for swimming lessons 30mins once a week at a private pool- expensive but she really enjoys it and is learning a lot, I like the fact it’s a small group (currently 4) compared to cheaper ones.

Other than that she does ‘nature tots’ which is a block of 4 sessions a half term (but stops between Dec- Feb) for 2hrs and works out at £10 a session.

1 day at pre school 9-3 and 1 day 9-12. Both funded hours with no additional cost.

Then we have 1 play date a week most weeks and some weeks she will go to a toddler group for £2.

That leaves us with 3 days with no structured activity- 1 is normally a play date with a friend. At this time of year that is often soft play or something so there is a cost but we could choose something free.
The other 2 days we do the shopping, play at home, visit grandparents, go for a walk or to a park etc. My partner often works weekends so we might go out with my sister somewhere like a local town or national trust.
School holidays tend to be more expensive as we loose the 1.5 days of pre school and nature tots is never on. But this week (half term) as an example she has been out with my partner and I to a local town (did include lunch but didn’t have to), been swimming, ran errands with my sister and had a play in the park and had a play date at soft play. Then we have planned another play date at someone’s house and a booked toddler climbing activity (less than £10). Weekend will be Tesco, library, see grandparents and local park.

BeenChangedForGood · 29/10/2025 19:35

Newsenmum · 29/10/2025 19:28

I dont get how you fit them all in! Personally I think it’s too much organised activities. I know people tend to pick one of two to pay for.

Monday - play at home then gymnastics, home for lunch & housework, walk to drama via the library for new books, park on the way home then dinner
Tues - anything we fancy in the morning & prep dinner as it’s later home time, gymnastics at lunchtime then park/beach/forest on the way to drama. Home for dinner.
wed-fri - nursery 8-5pm
sat - football for 1 hour in morning then anything we fancy
sunday - anything we fancy

OP posts:
Bitzee · 29/10/2025 19:41

I honestly think that’s excessive for a 4YO in nursery. I’d be doing swimming and that’s it. Reception age I’d add one sport so gymnastics or football, not both, and not more than once a week. I wouldn’t bother with drama at all unless DC had a real interest in it and still likely not at all when they’re infant school age. If you have money to burn then sure but nursery is ticking the socialising box, obviously swimming is important but the rest aren’t really necessary and you need to factor in chill time/quite independent play too.

BeenChangedForGood · 29/10/2025 19:45

BoysNameHelp · 29/10/2025 19:31

When does he get to just be at home and be bored?

Do you invite his friends round for playdates?

@BeenChangedForGood Hes at home playing/being bored loads! His clubs and classes are an hour tops each. He’s awake 5.30/6am-7.30/8pm each day.

Yes we invite friends round for play dates or meet friends at the park etc. He also does some of the classes with friends. Most of his friends are with grandparents during their non-nursery days so we tend to meet them out rather than having them round

OP posts:
Needmorelego · 29/10/2025 19:46

@BeenChangedForGood if you are a fairly confident swimmer just take him swimming rather than formal lessons.
He is at nursery 3 days - that's a lot of socialising. Are there days when you can just get together with any nursery friends and kick a ball around the park rather than paying for a club?
Edit : I see he does meet up with friends.
If you need to cut down financially then something will have to go. To be honest paying for an hour of football when you could do it for free in the park with friends sounds daft to me.

TheNightingalesStarling · 29/10/2025 19:49
  1. Are you happy with this routine? Is he happy?
  2. Can you afford it?
  3. Will he be upset you don't have time for it all when he starts school?

Its your life. You are lucky to have all that within walking distance.

FuzzyWolf · 29/10/2025 19:49

The prices you’ve listed are all cheaper than here (I’m in Surrey) except for football which is slightly cheaper (works out at just under £5 per session).

I totalled it up a year or so ago and worked out we spent £1200 per term on clubs (and my youngest only does Beavers) and that doesn’t include how much my middle child’s pony costs.

BoysNameHelp · 29/10/2025 19:59

I think I'd try to have at least one day a week where there is nothing we have to do - a proper day of rest or doing whatever we felt like
But my 3yo only has no set schedule at all - we do drop in groups, playdates, friends round, trips out, lots of time at home

NuffSaidSam · 29/10/2025 20:21

It's a good mix of activities and if he enjoys it and you can afford it then crack on.

The one thing I would say though is that this kind of activity isn't actually particularly good for socialising because it's so structured and adult-led. To give him the kind of socialisation he actually needs it'd be better (and cheaper) to organise playdates/meet-ups with his friends. Using these clubs to find friends/meet kids the same age is great, but they really need to socialise outside of a class setting to see any socialisation benefits. I would cut back on classes and increase his opportunities for free play.

August1980 · 29/10/2025 23:02

Op, no solution for you on the costs but just wanted to say I have an only child too (11 months) and deep down I think I too overcompensate for her being an only child and the only child in our small family . 1 sibling on my side (child free) and 1 sibling on my husbands side (his brother is older and has multiple causal boyfriends) so our little one is the only one. She too does, swimming, art, music, baby sensory and baby gym, she is a nanny during the day and has day activities too - we are in London. I feel guilty she will be lonely so keep her busy and yes the costs are shocking… she is happy though :) and enjoys the classes…

SouthLondonMum22 · 29/10/2025 23:07

DS is almost 3 and he does swimming and football because he has twin sisters who also do swimming and then will also be starting football soon.

They also go to nursery full time so clubs are limited to weekends only.

JungAtHeart · 30/10/2025 00:53

I remember being in your position with my two DDs. Swimming, ballet, art class, trampoline…there were many more over the years. Musical theatre, horse riding, tennis, drama … and then one term I just said fuck it and didn’t book anything. And we all had dinner without it being rushed, I wasn’t always exhausted and we lived happily ever after. They’re teens now …

ColdWaterDipper · 30/10/2025 08:46

At 4, my boys did swimming twice a week (one hour lesson and one session just with me), they started swimming when they were newborns as it’s really important to us for various reasons. The youngest (October born so one of the oldest in his school year) also went to preschool / childminder while I worked whereas the eldest started school almost straight after his fourth birthday. They did rugby on a Sunday morning from 3 years old as well, but that was it in the way of clubs. I used to take them running or bike riding straight after school / preschool most days, and they had a pony to ride a few times a week too. we live on a farm so they spent a lot of time outside just helping us with the animals etc at that age.

however, we have 2 boys very close in age who are very similar in their interests (both sports mad), so it’s a bit different to a singleton. Personally I think it’s fine to do lots of clubs, but maybe try to prioritise some unstructured free play time with other children too - so just taking him to the park to play with kids he doesn't know for an hour regularly - that will build those social skills and friend-making ability so much more than structured teacher-led classes and nursery.

You’ll know your own child best and what he enjoys - we always said we weren’t going to over schedule our kids and wanted them to spend most of their free time playing and not having structured classes, and then as they got older it turned out that all they want to do with their spare time is sports training! They are older now (tween & young teen) and both compete nationally in 2 sports, and regionally in 2 more. We probably spend about £250 per child a month including their club subscription fees (competitive swim club for example is £120 a month for 4 swim sessions a week), and weekly training fees where that’s not already included (endurance running club has a small annual membership fee to the running club and is then £5 per training session up to 3 a week). My husband’s training costs are also about £200 a month and I have horses (and swim competitively) so that’s just a whole extra money pit! Our kids by their own choice, do each week: 1x rugby (one boy only) 2x athletics, 3xsurf life saving pool swimming (or in the summer it’s sea swimming), 3x swim club training (other boy only), 1x triathlon specific training, and 1x ski training. They also play football / rugby endlessly at home, are always wanting to go surfing or out on their bikes etc and at weekends we don’t have any training scheduled usually but one has a rugby match most Sundays, and about once a month they have a cross country league race and a triathlon to go to. This is without all their school sports (rugby, football, basketball, cross country, athletics, cricket, surfing, golf and swimming). It’s a lot, but we are a very sporty family (DH and I both compete in swimming, running, and triathlon), and as they get older they do later training sessions or early morning ones so it becomes easier in some ways to fit more in to the days. I’d far rather they do what they love than sit around on a games console (we don’t even own one as they aren’t interested) like some of their friends seem to.

Chinsupmeloves · 30/10/2025 17:56

That's a lot! I think 2 would be enough and jist got do other free activities like park.

PurBal · 30/10/2025 17:57

My 4 yo has swimming lessons at £11 each (1:5 ratio). Nothing else. 2 yo does nothing.