What extra curricular activities to choose?

[Hellenabe]

I'm really glad I stumbled upon this forum as I've been wondering whether to sign my children up for activities for a while now but didn't have the finances.

How did you decide what to go for? We have tried piano but my children didn't love it and we didn't have the space for a piano. Swimming lessons locally are hugely expensive (80 pounds for 30min). I really want my children to do more than me (I was very academic but nothing else). Im just not sure where to start. Ages are 6 and 7.

I would agree with previous posters swimming is a life skill and gives the option to progress to competitive swimming. Council lessons are good but also check out your local swimming clubs they may offer lessons at a reasonable cost. Running/athletic clubs are another great option and usually very reasonable because a lot of the staff are volunteers. If you are interested in music lessons singing lessons are the same price and no purchase price of instruments.

Yes so it's 60 for one to one teaching. I'm looking at other places as well, it's just I have friends who go here and love it. Its beyond my price range for 120 a week for swimming for two children, just 30min each.

So you need to find a normal swimming lesson at a leisure centre which is about £30 a month.

Yeah you need to book them into group lessons at the local leisure centre. My DC1 goes for a 30 min lesson weekly and it works out at about £8 a session in London. There are about 8 kids in the group and I initially wondered if she would make any progress and we’d be better off doing 1-1 but actually she’s made huge progress since Jan.

Like all pps swimming is essential for safety reasons. I prob wouldn’t encourage it as an actual hobby for numerous reasons.

I think learning an instrument is brilliant for any child but choosing the right instrument is hugely personal. Just because piano isn’t right for them doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try anything else!

Pretty much all were because they asked to do them. Swimming was always a priority so they have to do that until they are decent swimmers.

Also day of week and time is quite important as needs to work round my work.

Worth checking all costs involved. My eldest now does competitive cheerleading and is quite expensive as have to pay membership fees, monthly training, kit, tickets for competitions and shows.

Swimming (group lessons), Scouting and sport (dance then cricket), music lessons from Y4. What does the school offer? DS2 (Y5) does choir, Latin, IT (and yet more cricket) after school or at lunchtime. DS2 will do the same (or other options like basketball) from Y3.

There are a lot offered at Y3 at the school (private) so not long to go. For music, there is violin, flute, piano, guitar etc. I only just discovered this today! Did you buy the instruments for the first lessons? What happened if they gave up?

I'm guilty of being quite lazy as a child, only focussing on academics. I remember my parents starting me on music lessons but i gave up quickly. I feel i wasnt well rounded plus i was just not sporty ie always last. I'd really like my children to be more well rounded purely for their mental health.

The way it worked at our kids school was for taster lessons on the various instruments (which were normally done in small groups) you didn't need to buy anything, they loan the kids instruments to try. If you then wanted to continue you needed to block book a terms worth of lessons (usually private) and the teacher would advise on the instrument - in one case the teacher had one she lent DD, other times we usually hired a fairly cheap/basic model instrument until we were sure she was going to continue (also with some instruments e.g. violin they come in different sizes so you probably don't want to lay out a lot of money on something they'll quickly grow out of). The teacher told us what to get and where to go etc. With pianos and other large instruments space and transport can be a challenge and there's electric vs traditional to look at too - take the expert's advise is what I'd say and avoid spending too much money!

I'd def advise letting them do lots of taster sessions and picking the instrument that most appeals, they'll be more likely to practice if it's something they enjoy playing. DD despite being quite musical never loved piano as she found the two hands part hard, she got on much better with singing and wind instruments, but then other children find the lung-power/breathing technique needed to make a nice sound come out of a wind instrument hard, so it's worth them trying different things.

And absolutely agree, it's good for all children to try different activities and hobbies even if they aren't particularly gifted/talented at them all/any of them, it doesn't usually do anyone too much good to focus too intensively on any one thing...

Mine have both done swimming until string swimmers (able to swim 800m+) and scouting as offers such a variety of activities.

Mine both like performing arts and one has a real love and aptitude now she's older so, as well as a club, she can now do local pantos etc.

We also do junior parkrun on Sundays which is free!

As others have said, swimming is really important, so I’d be looking around for more affordable lessons. Ds is very sporty, he does football, rugby and cricket. Football and rugby are pretty affordable, but cricket works out expensive because of all the kit they need. Dd dances and it costs a bloody fortune in classes and kit/costumes. But she does loads of hours and dances competitively (troupe and solo). If she just did say tap and ballet it would be fine. Dance is as expensive as you want it to be. It can be affordable if you just do a bit, but it does have a habit of escalating.

Hi everyone, I have been looking at swimming lessons and have found ones for 50 for 2 kids. Im not a good swimmer myself so cant teach them. Still need to do more investigation! From next year, there are loads more clubs on offer at the school so I'm going to see how they go then. Similarly with instruments, lots on offer via the school but I just wasn't sure where to start.

Have you tried your local council leisure centre?

Look at things like beavers, a multi sports club or general arts maybe and see what they like.

Another option if they like singing is a choir, you can pay for community choirs or (and tip for others) if you are willing to commit to taking them, church choirs not only don't charge but some pay (pocket money essentially) to the youngsters for their commitment! Mine were choristers, there were kids from 3 other religions and none so don't think you need to be a baptised Christian and they got singing lessons and general music as part of the programme, no charge. They went for 2 hours practice then sang most Sundays