What do you do with your 10/11 year olds at the weekend?

[weekendstrife]

I want us to leave the house and go somewhere - anywhere!
DD (10) and to a lesser extent DD (8) would rather stay home on roblox and spotify! Or even doing reading, crafts, drawing etc - which, of course is all good too. But I am keen to get out at least one day at the weekend - particularly as her mental health is not good and she has trouble sleeping.

To be fair she is getting (VERY) bored of parks, national trust gardens, trips to the library etc that were our cheap go to when she was younger. So I'd love to hear what you do to entice your DC out of the house at this sort of age both cheap/free and more expensive days out.

She does do dance classes on sat which she loves and would happily go out for dinner/to a show every weekend but sadly our £££s can't stretch to this.

My daughter has been doing St. John’s cadets since she was about 11, that is a week night event and she also spends Saturday mornings at a drama school. Both have been great, she a brilliant time at both and has learnt some great skills and made lots of friends from outside her school.

Have you tried hide and seek in a Forrest, obviously set boundaries you don't want DC to go missing but that's fun

Camping

Fishing

Building dens outside

Fruit picking

Plant some plants/vegetables

Tree climbing

Build a fire

Marshmallows on a fire

Roll or skating

Kirby

Visit castles

Museums

Swimming

Cinema

I once lost DD playing hide and seek in a forest, she was only about 6, in hindsight it wasn’t my wisest parenting choice!
Now she’s 10, nearly 11, she does indoor climbing, Scouts stuff if it’s at a weekend, walks, bike rides, visits to family, friends, swimming etc. She does sometimes moan about going out for a walk/bike ride but enjoys it when we’re out. She still enjoys a good park with climbing things and zip wires.

Not much tbh as we don't have a lot of money for daytrips etc, even to free places like the beach because we can't afford the fuel to get there.

My dc are 9 & 11 and they spend most of their weekends and school holidays playing out with friends on the street, either in each others' houses or gardens or on the street.

Cricket all day both days if DS1 (9) got his way. He also enjoys going swimming and is learning to ride a bike (he’s not well coordinated, much like me). If mooching at home then he’ll read, build Lego, watch TV (cricket again for preference). He also finishes his homework and does music practice which knocks out an hour or so.

Lots of good suggestions here already. Look out for outdoor family-orientated events with live music? We have quite a few round here in the summer.

Sounds like they are quite arty. Lots of big cities have street art walking tours, paid and free maps on the internet, also sculpture trails are good. My son likes taking pictures of these. We have also been on free city walking tours - they are so good you end up paying anyway.

If you don't have a dog, park walk is much more interesting if you can borrow one.

Get a small tent - go camping for the night,

badminton and ping pong are usually good, trampolining

In the more expensive bracket, we had a great afternoon doing archery and axe throwing together. Also like a bit of kayaking and sup. Artificial ski slope. Any pool with flumes or waves.

Great ideas - thanks everyone. I think I need to update our outings a bit to reflect she's growing up! Everything she's suggested is expensive, but there are some good suggestions here.

At that age we went swimming, for bike rides, on specific hikes - turn on the pedometer on her or your phone and give her the 10k step challenge. DS2 went from being a couch potato to being step obsessed and now does at least 20k steps a day. Pokemon Go helps get them interested in walks.

Look for cheap tickets to shows to see if you can go more often. Sign up for Central Tickets to get seat filler prices. We went to a few interesting things that way when DC were small. You could also look for free and cheap exhibitions at galleries (including small independent ones) and museums.

We started going to quirky museums at that age - postal underground rail museum or Dennis Severs candlelit Huguenot house (both in London)

You could also to get her to make a bucket list. Seasonal ones are great fun (loads of ideas on Pinterest) and work through it. DS2 has MH issues and through doing this has become very good in early adulthood at setting small lists of easy goals and fun things to do to keep his mood elevated.

Tickets for cheap shows sound great - if I can find any. The bucket list sounds very good idea too. Will talk to both DDs about this tonight.

Yes to Junior parkrun

A previous poster mentioned chess. My son plays at a local chess club in the week and it's completely free at a local social club (parent or grandparent always stays with him). He taught himself with apps like Chess kid.

Strawberry picking. I dragged my son out strawberry picking in the past and after he said "I really enjoyed that!"

Bike rides/walks. A small bribe like stopping for a coke helps! I think even if your child wouldn't choose a walk the odd one still does them good.

Trampoline park - particularly if you can get a friend/their family to meet you there - same for swimming.

Cooking your tea. Let them choose what to make/write recipe list/shop/cook supporting as needed.

We used to do alot of days out but they are simply too expensive for a regular thing.

Our local pool has family casual sessions. So you just turn up and splash around. We do that every Sunday followed by McDonalds.

If there is a good movie on then we try and so that on a Saturday.

But generally Saturdays are for chilling out. Some chores. A little bit of homework. Sunday we relax then go swimming then get ready for the week ahead. It is all quite sedate, but for various SEN related reasons the DCs need alot of downtime after a busy week at school. I'd love for them to be into more active things but they simply cannot cope.

I have a 9 and 11 year old and they both have clubs on Saturday mornings. In the afternoon they are usually off round the village on their bikes to the parks or I have a constant stream of kids round here. On Sundays we might go swimming or on a bike ride as a family or out for lunch, maybe a day at a National Trust place.

Dd11 loves a shopping trip...she always gets a smoothie from the juice bar and enjoys browsing in the book shops

Just-turned 11 year old and 8 year old here. they both have sports activities on a Saturday morning. 11 year old likes to go to local sports fields to play football or basketball with his buddies (without us). Him and I will often go do a few chores in town and have lunch out. Both kids enjoy a trip to the trampoline park or cinema (although cinema especially racks up costs).

Dog walks, usually at a park where they can play in playground or play football while I'm walking around. Swimming.

Playdates are still a thing, especially for 8 year old. But DS will go for an "official" play date with a buddy, often where they'll then go somewhere with the other family (or we'll have a friend here and we'll do something).

My 8 year old (and 4 year old) both love the video game arcade, it’s their favourite place they get £10 to share and it usually lasts us a good couple of hours. Trampoline park, swimming, theme parks, escape room and those around town trails are also things 10/11 year old enjoy

Magnet fishing has certainly entertained my DS9 recently - he spent hours doing that yesterday with a friend and we all had fun. We also do simple things like walk into town with the dog, get a takeout coffee etc and he comes with us. Plus the usual dog walks, NT gardens (don't drag him round the houses). My OH takes him swimming at the weekend sometimes and he also has his martial arts lesson on a Sunday. He does have plenty of screen-time and lounging too and OH is going through every Marvel film with him at the moment (not my thing). Am considering taking him to a games cafe too, which looks fun but not tried it yet.

We used to allow them to bring a mate each... yes it interupted family only time but it got em.out!!

This page might help you op
www.moneysavingexpert.com/shopping/cheap-theatre-tickets/

Our was cooking too.set a theme or cost.theu go get menu and cook it.fpr foodies they spent a whole weekend doing this.set up menus,restaurant in lounge.they were cooks and waiters.

My 10 and 12 year old love this sort of thing. I help them look for simple recipes and they do "bake offs".
We are abroad in a compound which despite being a Truman type experience for me, is heaven for children.
They go to bowl, play basketball, skate at the park and slide and swim on site with their friends all weekend and dragging them into the "real world" is a challenge.

12 and 9 year old - Saturday mornings have a sport we all go to , cheap drop in lesson.
swimming- in our area it’s free for kids but family Tix are quite cheap most places
biking
letting them have a friend over but saying no screens in the day - they play outside or in the house
go to town but we walk there and back
we have a dog so take dog out to a destination, preferably with a big playpark nearby, and take our own sarnies snacks

swim at beach

both kids have a team sport that takes up one eve/morning for training and one for games/matches
Let them bake or cook
on a weekend we might do a big walk with friends and their kids then picnic or do a pub lunch- they’ll walk for days if they have friends to run with
send them outside on their bikes
look out for free or cheap Tix for shows or events or festivals nearby
gonto London for day using Tesco vouchers to get in places or going to free museums. We take our own snacks and drinks and buy cheap ish street food when on a budget or use vouchers again for a meal somewhere.

İf she likes crafts could you find one of those family cafes where they do craft activities?
Maybe look on meetup and find something interactive and immersive for them that's affordable. Theatre workshops, skate boarding meetups, kids improv, that sort of thing. Find other families to meet up with and propose an activity they would all enjoy outdoors? Roller skates at the skate park?

Have a 9, 10 and 12 year old. We still go to NT or RSPB places most weekends or other local walks because the exercise and fresh air is good for us all. They’re still happy with a good playground although 12 yo is slowly outgrowing them. We go swimming together every Sunday morning after junior park run. Occasionally do other things like cinema, bowling, trampolining etc but they’re all way too expensive to do often. There’s a cheap cinema in the closest city though where it’s £3 a ticket so if there’s something they really want to see we go there and take our own snacks.

Oh and we do museums and art galleries too. I try to look for any local events going on constantly to see whether anything will fit everyone. I have two toddler’s as well so it can be difficult pleasing everyone. My eldest in particular would be happiest playing roblox all day but it isn’t good for him so I don’t let him!

I have an 11 year old almost 12. We do homework, a bit of cooking. I take him swimming on Saturday mornings. We try and watch a dvd or movie at the cinema. We are lucky enough to live near some lovely beaches so we look for sea glass. But it is pretty quiet. I try and save up proper days out for the holidays.