Summer holidays not going away

[Totallyfrazzledmum]

Starting to feel stressed about the summer holidays, we cannot afford to go away anywhere and looking for ideas but most day trips look super expensive. 3 primary age children who are very demanding :(

(Roughly) what area of the country are you in ?

Do you have a car ?

Days out don't have to be expensive at all.
If you can narrow it down a bit, MNers might be able to make some suggestions.

They are very demanding? How?

Mine loved a trip to ikea to play on the furniture followed by a hot dog and ice cream. If you have one near you that’s probably about £5 for the day!

Camping in a very basic campsite with few facilities?

Have a look at your local library - they'll probably have loads of kids activities (often free, but you may need to book in advance) over the summer. Ditto any local free museums or galleries.
On nice days, visit local parks, woods etc - take drinks and a picnic/snacks.
Plan fun activities for days at home - baking, crafting, gardening, scavenger hunts, "home cinema" (with dimmed lights, blankets, homemade popcorn etc).
Arrange playdates with friends.
Do you have any relatives who aren't too local who you could all stay with for a couple of nights as a holiday?

Plus aren't buses going to be free for U15s this coming Summer holiday ?
You can explore places you've not been before.

This would only work if she already has the full camping set up. Unless you can borrow camping stuff from someone OP?

All the community centres round here put on free activities for children in the holidays, usually things like crafts, bouncy castles and workshops.

Same here, I normally book a little caravan hol but just can't do it this year. Luckily my kids are happy at home, gaming and the like but I am dreading it

@Totallyfrazzledmum
Don’t get drawn into the mentality whereby your children feel hard done by if they don’t do throngs that require a lot of money. And more importantly, don’t feel guilty about it yourself.
”A walk” is an activity. So is going to the coast, paddling in the river, going to the park, the library, a free museum, a market.
We live in a place where my kids had
3 and a half MONTHS summer holidays. They maybe did one or max 2 paid day trip activities, all the rest they just played.

I don’t agree. As someone who has “all the stuff” you can literally go camping with a tent and then whatever you normally use at home. You can pick up a 4 man tent for £35. The only thing I’d recommend on top would be a foil camping mat (£7.99 on Amazon and would cover the footprint of the tent). What else do you need?

If you haven’t come across Paw Print badges they’re great for school holiday activities from home.

I think they are still doing universal credit days out over the Summer if you claim that? They do them at attractions all over the UK.

Have a look at LA activities, many do Summer festivals, park days, library activities, museum's have special days with entertainers or extra bits to do.

They're demanding? As in, they aren't easily pleased and are only happy with expensive activities? If so, I'd see this summer as a great opportunity to fix that character flaw! It's not a nice way to go through life, so if you manage to teach them how to enjoy the simple things they will one day be grateful to you.

Picnics
Walks
Water activities (from ponds and puddles up to wild swimming, depending on their ages)
Craft from recycling - eg make a boat then take it to water to sail
Treasure hunt
Bikes/scooters etc
Different play parks to your normal
Museums/galleries are free (if they hate these they can function as a perfect threat if there's any complaints about boredom)!
Cheap but not free for garden... pavement chalks, paddling pool, space hoppers (£5)
BBQs
Home baking

look at bus routes near you.
You can tap on for £3 max and kids are free in August.
Can take a picnic and explore some new places for very little.

Librarys normally do a reading challenge where you can earn stickers or something, so can get a weekly trip to the library for free.

Depends what you have at home doesn’t it? Some method for making food so they’d probably need to buy a gas stove or similar, air mattresses to sleep on, portable lights for at night time… it’s for a holiday not surviving in the wild. I’m still building up my camping supplies so I take duvets, pillows and pans from home but it still costs money in pitch fees, petrol, we needed plastic plates and cups, cutlery, pump for the air mattresses, small camping table to put the camping stove on. I think you are being pretty disingenuous there to be honest

https://www.geocaching.com/play

My DC used to love this! Inexpensive fun in your neighbourhood or make it into a day trip further afield.

They could make themselves a list (with guidance as to reasonableness) of activities to tick off this summer then get a sticker when they do them.

Some ideas here but they don't have to be all outdoors.

https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/50-things

Usborne Spotter's Guides are good too, you can pick them up at a charity shop sometimes or cheaply online. Or perhaps at the library but you'd have to copy the list.

Days out can be more expensive in the end then a cheap holiday abroad tbh .xx

Gas cooker plus gas, airbeds, torch as a minimum I’d say.

I’m planning on driving to the coast (1hr approx) when the weather is nice with a packed lunch and a football. Love a swim in the sea.

Where do you live?
They're just be parks, library activities, a beach?
Is a last minute holiday park a possibility?

Local library will have the summer reading challenge and they normally run some sessions round the theme.

National Trust membership is around £14 per month and I used to pack up a picnic and spend the day at a different property each week sometimes 2 in a week. Over the summer they usually have a while programme of events and great playgrounds.

If you say roughly where you live people can give suggestions. My DSis is coming to mine for a week in the summer and I’ve found loads of things she can do for free or a small charge.

We have the government-backed ‘Great British Summer Savings’!