To ask for cheap/free activity ideas?

[ShabbyButNotChic]

Hi all, i am babysitting my friends 4year old boy from friday afternoon until saturday evening while they go to a wedding and have a mucky weekend and im struggling to think of things to do. He is a very active kid and loves playing out so the plan was to go to the park/have ice cream/go on the roundabout til hes sick BUT iv looked and its supposed to rain all weekend!

Im a bit skint at the minute so cant really do a trip to cinema/zoo or anything. I really dont want him to be bored. He does love disney so his mum is sending the lion king dvd, so thats a couple of hours. Any great ideas? There will also be a long dog walk occuring at some point no matter what the weather. Im obviously going to let him relax a bit but would like some back up plans! Thanks in advance :)

Make cakes/biscuits.
Make a den downstairs (chairs, clothes airer, sheets etc) then have a picnic lunch in it, or in front of it.
Make salt dough models in the morning, or on Friday, then paint them on Saturday.
DD and I are hopefully going to make stained glass pictures in a bit, with bits of coloured tissue paper and sticky back plastic. That's just using left over craft bits we have in.
Do you have any left over craft bits, or bits of rubbish you could reuse?

Library, local museum, activities at the local Children's Centre, collecting leaves etc and making a collage, picnic, foot/hand printing, vegetable printing, making a book, baking, craft, colouring (print from Cbeebies website), visit to the supermarket (okay, not quite free), local park or nature reserve (with kagouls), teddy bear's picnic, garden centre, I-spy (make a list of things to spot on the walk).

Have fun :)

Put on waterproofs.
Go and jump in puddles.

Library, go for a walk and make a college of what you find on your walk, do a puzzle together, make a car out of things in the house (milk bottle tops for wheels, cardboard box for body of car)

Not sure where you are, but if you are in / near London then the Science Museum can eat a whole rainy day without trying. As I recall, the food is not as ridiculously overpriced as commercial places, but you can take your own food and picnic on the seating area in the basement.

I love the Science Museum. There are others, of course, but for small children the Science Museum is the hands down winner.

Take a look on Pinterest for some great ideas

Whereabouts are you??

Any local fairs/gala's on at the moment? You may have to pay for a few rides, but I'm sure if you mention you are thinking of taking him, his parents will give him some spending money for these?

You could take a few easy bits of finger food - he won't care if it rains and if you have a dog i'm guessing you wont either?

A nature trail whilst on the dog walk?

I LOVE this article. The five best children's toys of all time by Wired magazine.

Wow thanks guys some good ideas :) im in the yorkshire countryside, which should really be a great thing for a kid but in reality it is gorgeous but boring! No museums or anything like that for miles. I like the sound of doing a nature trail type thing when we are out with the dog. Minibeast hunting or something? Might have to casually invite my mum over saturday aft as she is a fantastic baker i burn salad im thinking maybe i should just get over the rain? I wouldnt want him to be all wet and cold...or am i totally babying him an he would love it? Hard when its not your own! I know my friend wouldnt be arsed as long as she got him back in one piece, but its quite scary being solely responsible for someone elses pride and joy!

Strike through fail lol

As long as he is dry he will be fine. So ask your friend to send over his coat and waterproof trousers and wellies.

We used to go to the playground like this in the rain. Is like your own private space! And as long as waterproofed you're fine.

Some other ideas for indoor stuff: Hide and seek, Hunt the thimble; Obstacle course

Have fun :-)

Ok, my boys love junk modelling. Get lots of old bottle tops/lids etc. A large box, maybe from a supermarket, and make a robot. Or if the box is big enough, a time machine? My boys love making the control panel out of the lids (for buttons and dials) - and just praise lots to get his enthusiasm going.

When you go for a walk collect lots of interesting leaves etc and make a nature picture?

ooh, you are in the best part of the world

Ask your friend to send him with his waterproofs and wellies. Take a spare change of clothes in case he does get wet and he won't care one jot.

However - I was under the impression the sun was going to be shining on Yorkshire this weekend, especially my part of it

Which part of Yorkshire are you in if you want to tell us?

That article is great mrsterry made me think im overthinking the whole thing! Haha maybe i should just give him a stick and a box and sling him in the garden for the day!

Eureka in halifax? You pay once and get a whole years entry free. Is it still miles away? Have you got a childrens centre we are currently doing baby ballet for free.

maxpepsi west yorkshire here :) its apparently going to sling it down on sat then be ok on sun. Although with the weather being how it is it could rain/shine/snow or anything!

Good idea thetrack but it is a bit of a trek. Ive been before though with the school i work in and it was great! I think i enjoyed it more than the kids haha

Hmm, I'm in West Yorkshire too, but the outskirts really as very close to North Yorkshire. My weather forecaster was obviously lying to me!! haha

Let me think, a nice day out, with dog and picnic??
Do you drive? If so any of the following are good:
Grassington
Kettlewell - is the scarecrow festival on???
Pately Bridge - fantastic play ground there
Burnsall
Howarth - up on the moors??

Making me want to go myself now

I bloody love haworth, the bakery the does the best sticky ginger buns, and the sweet shop...and the cheese shop...and the apothecary. Just got to be careful with the car park clampers! I always end up clock watching because im paranoid they will get me. Dont think i will get there this weekend but definitely have to go soon for the food

We've been clamped but Betty boothroyd did a massive campaign to stop the clamping! What about cliffe castle at keighley? My little boy loved it there.

And Bolton abbey...,

Rainy Saturday:
If he has waterproofs and you don't mind getting muddy then any 'sledging hill' is seriously fun in the rain with a good quality black bag under your bum... the wetter the better!
Then home to get cleaned up, have some lunch and a dvd afternoon with popcorn.

@ shabby park in the museum carpark at Howarth....the clampers of which you speak are not allowed in there! It's at the top of the hill, more or less around the corner from the evil ones money making bandits!

If you have waterproofs/boots etc for while it's raining, and either hot water or electric shower to be able to jump into once you get home to heat up, then into fresh dry clothes for the dvd and some microwave popcorn, that should work fine.

While out -
Mucky puddle jumping
Look in streams (even runoff streams) at how water flows
Look for footprints of different animals
See can you see any fish/aminals/insects in any ponds, streams etc you know of
Listen for birds and animal noises, and how the rain plops on leaves
Look at different shaped leaves on different trees
Chat about the water cycle and how water evaporates to make clouds then fall again
Look at how colours on tree bark and stones changes when they are wet
Play pooh sticks or skim stones if you can find any suitable water (running or still)

All sorts of nice things to do in countryside when it rains (I love being "down home" in rain, me and DD have lots of fun).