Please help me with some ideas for summer holiday activities (3 under 5 and struggling!)

[percyy8]

Hi everyone,

please no judgement- I’ve been struggling a lot since the birth of my 3rd baby. I have a 5 month old, 1.5 year old and 4 year old and just can’t seem to get out the house. I feel awful as I’m always just surviving, literally stuck in fight or flight mode 24/7. Husband works long shifts, will obviously have his 2 days off but no AL booked unfortunately so the majority of the holidays is on me..

it’s my 4 year olds last summer before school and I just really want it to be a good one ☹️ but I struggle to even get all kids up and ready and out! So hard for me as prior to my 3rd I was out every day, doing all sorts with the kids. My mental health is tanking and I’m desperate to give them a summer they’ll enjoy ❤️‍🩹

not many friends where we live, feel like I’ve missed out on making them due to not being able to get to classes this time around. So it’s just us really. I see my sister with her kids sometimes So maybe I’ll try and ask her if she’d like to go out a bit more during the holidays if she’s free.

any tips on how to make this all easier? And obviously what I came for, good days out that I can actually manage on my own with 3 kids! (Cheshire area if anyone knows anything in particular)

thank you so much!

Do you have a city farm? (Assuming you live in a city, sorry!) We go to ours a lot because it's free and there's a little cafe for a juice, and I take snacks with us.

Have a look on the local Facebook for summer activities, where I am there's always a few bits going on in the centre and in some of the museums etc.
Let the ones who can run, run themselves knackered in the park. Do mini-beast hunts with a magnifying glass, pick blackberries, feed the ducks. I've only got the one child but she's always loved that kind of thing.

Have you got a little money to spend on a few activities? How laid back is your 5 month old? Are they happy in the pram/sling so you can concentrate on the older two?

Trip to a farm
Woodland walk with a sheet of things to find
Trip to a splash park if you have one local
Park afternoon with a picnic
Soft play
Crafts
Library or museum trip

I hear you OP, I also had 3 under 5, but they are all grown up now. Your youngest is just a tiny baby, so you should be being kind to yourself not giving yourself targets to make the 4 year olds summer the best ever. I say that kindly, not as a criticism.
Kids don't need "fabulous" abilities all the time, IME it often just led to overstimulation! Local parks and smaller calmer attractions were so much better.
I would split the day in half and have a quiet morning and a little walk to the shops/local park in the afternoon or the other way around.
Where abouts in Cheshire are you? If you are anywhere near Northwich there are some beautiful free parks like Marbury (play area and lovely mere), splash pool in the town centre, cuddington, comberbach, roker play parks, Delamere Forest has a lovely nature mums group and cafe?

What about getting the older one enrolled in swimming lessons? They might love that? And you get to chat to other parents while you are watching.

There are also loads of mums and tots groups that meet in the parks and village halls, just go along and take your older child with you. 🥰.