To ask What have you got planned for the school holidays (6 and 8)

[em11111]

I'm on maternity leave this year so will be home with the children.
Obviously there's 6 weeks to fill, we have a holiday for one week and a park at the end of the road so that will get good use.

What's everyone else going to be doing with similar ages? Looking for ideas.

I have an 8yo and he has a friendship group of 4, so the parents are rotating having them a day a week and if they can, doing a day camp, and then just a day at home. We have 9 weeks here, so lots of days to fill. My ds had some really nice days out due to us all chipping in with this rotating idea.
There are a couple of weeks that some are on holiday so we will just try do something else.
You are lucky that your dc are close in age and can hopefully play with each other.

My younger 2 are 10 and 11 so a bit older than yours but we are doing kayaking, paddle boarding, rollerskating, 1 trip to a theme park, sports club, 2 trips to soft play, probably a few free activities at the library, get the paddling pool out and try and go to 12 local parks. I try and keep my boys as busy as possible otherwise they won't go to sleep before midnight.

DS in camp Tuesday and Thursday. Off with DH on a Monday and me on a Wednesday. Between me and DH we're taking a friend on some of the days out, so we've been able to cover every Friday with DS being taken out by friends parents!

In terms of activities, I've got a Historic Houses pass which will do two days out with a friend. Local activity park. Local man made beach. Ninja warrior or high ropes. And then a day in Legoland for me and DS as a well done for a great school report.

we live in easy driving distance from the sea so will do some days out and swimming (sewerage spills permitting) and picnics.

Plus;

• mini golf
• bowling
• cinema alot
• Butlins for 3 days
• London trip to Natural history museum

DCs are 14 and 12. 14 year old has learning difficulties and needs ALOT of downtime so the plan is two chill days then 1 day of 'something'. 12 year old is a blessedly easygoing little soul and just goes with the flow.

We're getting near the end of our 10 weeks. My 13 year old has spent most of it sleeping but my 6 year old has wanted more entertaining but I've been ill for a lot of it so we've not done much but things like going to the park, going to the football field to practice football, swimming lots (have a beach down the road) and a lot of the time I just send him out in the garden to run around (I made a little obstacle course out of old planks and pallets for him)
We got lucky as for 2 weeks his friend was staying across the road from us with his grandparents, so the two boys played together every day.

We've looked for summer events in the local area, cheap or free stuff, like in the UK things like village fetes (we're not in the UK but we found vaguely similar things on a much smaller scale, with children's races and traditional summer games). Visited friends and family. Bike rides.

Only did one expensive day out, at an amusement park.

We have a few days staying with family one week and with friends another. One week there is a cheap drama workshop on 3 days which she’ll attend with a friend. Another week is our family holiday for a few days.

We do a mix of swimming, beach, parks and the odd historic house (for me!).

I used to write down all the dates of the school holidays,

1. Add all pre-booked activities/ holidays,
2. Find out when free things in the community were on fayres, art festivals etc,
3. Fun sessions at swimming and children's showings at the cinema.
4. a day a week at home / park /baking/ having friends over
5. A day a week visiting family / using a season pass to local attraction

Once you've done that it looks pretty full. You don't have to do something everyday but I always found have the battle of thinking what to do and the day wasting away. I also packed grab bags for different activities like swimming / beach / park so I just had to fill up water bottles and add some snacks and go

Mine is 6 and I’ve just started mat leave, awaiting arrival of number two in a few weeks.

Lots of swimming (at leisure centre) and beach trips for us (we’re 30 mins from the coast). We’re also having some play dates, hoping to have some days in the garden with the paddling pool and will be going to the local library to sign up for their reading challenge and do anything free that they have on (they run some craft type activities).

We will also have a trip to Smyths or B&M for a new toy and a refresh of play dough/kinetic sand and probably visit every playground in the vicinity!

Have annual passes to a couple of local attractions (zoo etc) which I am going to make very good use of.

Signing up for reading challenge at library.

Free attractions in local libraries and parks (puppet shows, performances, meet an author).

Swimming, parks, picnics, trip on the train to tourist town about 40mins away.

Holiday club. Session with a local forest school.

Also, I'm sure, probably a bit too much TV

I have one 10 year old son. I am very fortunate that I am getting teacher so have the full 6 weeks off with him. I am lucky that he is very chilled.

We have just finished school today.

We are away the middle two weeks so that will be lovely.

Other than that, a mixture of:

Swimming
Local walks (we have lovely bridal paths and moorland near us)
Seeing friends/family
Local library
Things at home such as lego/cooking etc.
He has a voucher he was bought for some sessions at the local clip and climb so will spread those out through summer.
Trip on the train to the next town along.
Free museum in the next village.

Will also look out for other free/cheap events locally.
We have great outside space so he will play outside a lot too.

Basically, we will do lots of nice things but also enjoy the slower pace as term time is crazy busy both because of my job and then his extra activities/homework etc.
I need to do some deep cleaning at home too!
The holiday abroad is costing quite a bit hence free/cheap stuff the rest of the time.

As I said, he is very chilled and to be honest, he is looking forward to some down time.
As a teacher, I know how much we pack in to every day and week with the kids and they really are tired at the end of the year so I wouldn't be afraid to have a few days just chilling.