or is there nothing for junior school kids to do?

[Menagerie]

It's wet. I'd love to take my boys to a soft play area - the kind with big slides and zip wires, but all the ones I've looked up are for 5 and under. Our local park is the same. All the climbing equipment is for pre-school and infants. What are kids aged 7+ supposed to do to let off steam in the winter? I really don't want to have to inflict my white wobbly bits on the public at the swimming pool but what else is there. Unless we spend £20 going bowling for half an hour!

Menagerie - I'm near Preston.

It was definitely easier for us when they were younger. We lived in London and there were loads of different parks and playgrounds around. Now we live in the country and although we're surrounded by open space, it's harder to get them to come out and do stuff. I think that's because i was really fit and energetic and we spent out lives out doors and at soft play etc - we were never inside and never watched tv. Then I got ill and put on weight afterwards and though I'm better now, I've become really sluggish. Scary how much they follow our lead. Think I need to be far more active, so they join in.

YABU. I find it a piece of piss entertaining my 8-year-old - even in the rain, raincoats can be worn for the park and he is able to play DS, watch TV, swim, walk, shop, play with friends....

My severely disabled 14-year-old with challenging behaviour is a completely different kettle of fish. Come and look after him for the day and you will never complain again

Shame on you donkeyderby I hope I never make anyone else feel shit simply because my ds has a disability and their ds does not.
Just as I would never say to people moaning about their dad 'well at least you have one, mine's dead'.

This section may invite strong comment, but it's clearly not a question of great import that warrants a response as slamming as yours.

Other posters have replied without mentioning their respective dc's sn because it's irrelevent to the question.

You can help someone get things in perspective without making them feel shitty.

SN Top Trumps anyone?

Come and grumble down in sn if you need to donkeyderby, the OP doesn't deserve it for a fairly innocuous post.
So, the joy of my lad now being big and scary and expressionless and monotone is that he can now go on his beloved night walks to look at the stars and no one will mess with him.
Currently in his hairy holiday phase, he looks rather like a werebear.
He's loved the snow too.

everything is more of a drag in the rain

Yesterday I went with dd for a walk and found a pile of dc sliding down an icy hill on little plastic disc things, cardboard boxes pressed flat and even just lying down flat and going down the hill head first on their backs in their regular clothes. She loved it. We were there for 2 hours in the end. I froze my butt off standing around there chatting to a Japanese mum who was experiencing her first European winter and her first snow.

Got home and could barely move my fingers for cold but I thought it did dd good to get out. When it is dry and snow is about, it is easy for them to find something to do but rain in the countryside with just muddy fields and not much going on is not the easiest.

Not sure, could you put up a basketball hoop, some simple tyre swings - and kick them outdoors in raintcoats and wellies? So there is something to do outdoors when you are not up to much?

Thanks for standing up for me Defineme, but it's OK. I didn't feel got at by Donkey. She's got every right to point out it's not exactly a tough problem. One of my kids was very ill for years and when people whinged about trivia I often felt like saying, stop wittering - you don't know you're born.

Turned out we all have stinking colds which is why we were all slouching round the house not going out, watching too much TV. Soon as the kids are better we'll do all the stuff suggested here - like walks and bike rides in the rain.

But generally there's far less stuff available for older kids in our area, unless you want to fork out loads of money. No skate parks or adventure playgrounds. Not complaining exactly - just wondering - why does the provision stop so abruptly? Why wouldn't 7 & 8 year olds want to do soft play and go on climbing frames? All that stuff that's around to develop their motor skills when they're younger just halts. It's no wonder they mooch round on their DS's all day.

One of our local parks has a lovely playground for little ones, but it also has an adventure playground for teens, a bit like an assault course with added robust swings and such.
It was built because of sustained campaigning from local people. Including teenagers.

We need a campaign like that Goblin.

Our local adventure playground for teens got heavily trashed and vandalised :(.

I took my lot for a 14 mile hike today in the mist and cold, hooray! But they are still squabbling (sigh).

Went Ice skating last week.

14 miles! That's impressive. Did they whinge for hours or love it? How old are they?

Going to haul ours up a hill tomorrow, rain or no rain. Went on very short bike ride today with youngest playing delicate-invalid-in-need-of-sofa for the whole half mile.

I did judo as a kid and loved it. The kickboxing club where I train these days takes kids from 5 up.

Thanks for being understanding, menagerie. I was having one of those days - in fact, one of those Christmas holidays. Not top trumps really, just weary sadness

Has anyone mentioned GeoCaching yet? To make walks a bit more fun, turn them into a treasure hunt. It even uses modern technology by providing the location of the 'treasure' as GPS co-ordinates.

I find it really hard to find things to do with children during the winter months. Walks are great if you can get them to do it. I got bored over the Christmas and went for a local walk, ended up doing around 7.5miles (route map) including finding a tunnel under the motorway I didn't know existed - only lived in the area 11 years!

For anyone in my area (West Surrey / East Berskhire border) some of our favourite walks are:
Virginia Water Lake
Box Hill (near Dorking)
Windsor Great Park, Bishopsgate to Savill Gardens (can push a buggy along this route)
Windsor Great Park, BishopsGate to Village

Always on the hunt for new walk routes. Would be far easier without railways and roads getting in the way

Age 6,9, 11, 2 (in buggy).
I promised them a cafe visit & neglected to mention that it was over 2 hours walk away.

After cafe we still had to get home.
I walked very very fast & barely let them pause both ways.
DD moaned a lot about her feet last hour.
DSs were squabbling so much after we got back that DH dragged them out for another half hour walk!

Too muddy here to ride bikes. Had tummy bugs and been cooped up a lot indoors for last 10 days. We were overdue.

I would second climbing wall dd is counting down the days till she is 8 so she can have a go .Though anyone know if weight is a issue she is very tiny around 19kg and about 1.18m

That's OK Donkey. I have felt exactly how you sounded so often in the past and should count my lucky stars my son got better and those years are behind us. I was lousy at coping then. You have every right to show claws from time to time. Hope you've had a bit of rest since then.

We climbed Box Hill today nannynick. It was brilliant. People walking friendly dogs and flying kites, the kids picked up flints and climbed trees, and at one point it was covered in cloud.

Got plenty planned for rest of holidays now too - 10 families and all their kids on NYD, walks in woods with friends, sleepovers and cinema, so that'll keep them busy till school starts again.