Cheap and cheerful ideas

[bobbita]

Just for fun and ideas as I saw I thread about holiday prices and thought it would be good to give alternative ideas
What are everyone's best cheap holiday with kids ideas?
Mine is to make an indoor fort out of bedding and bits around the house and light some candles and turn off the lights/make it low light and get some fairy lights and have hot chocolate and tell stories and play games and cook together and have lots of yummy things. I think what kids want most is a magical and meaningful experience and that's what they'll have fond memories of as adults- whether it cost £1 or £1000000. I think quality time and fun factor matters most! Other ideas are festivals and camping in the garden or a cheap campsite or doing a house swap.

Bump

I don't really have many ideas myself, but a friend of mine often does little outings with her kids such as a nature trail where they just go to the park or wherever and look for bugs on the way. Or a bear hunt, if you've got grass, mud and puddles close by.

Indoor "Olympics" was a hit with my dc, they're still very little so we did simple things like putting pillows on the floor and they could jump from the sofa. Throwing rolled socks in a basket. Bowling with a soft ball and some plastic items such as cups.

I agree that especially younger kids really just enjoy spending time together without having to spend loads of money.

If there are woods near you, that's half the holidays sorted for free. DC used to: make dens, climb trees, balance on fallen trees, hunt for mushrooms, make mudslides into the stream, build dams in the stream, ride bikes, build mud ramps for bikes, make rope swings. And my two are very far from sporty boys. They just loved playing in the woods.

A bit of heavily supervised gardening or DIY project. DC 'built' IKEA shelving units and painted them with me; sawed logs, built and tended bonfires, grew veg.

Big box decoration. We always kept boxes that white goods came in. Then in holidays they'd become house/rocket/car etc.

A trip to Poundland. Give them £1 each and set them loose on the craft section of Poundland or Wilkos, then come home and use whatever they chose.

Film night: home made popcorn and home made pizza slices in a darkened room with a family movie on.

Just remembered, we used to spend hours 'losing the children' by rolling them up in duvets and dragging the duvet around wondering where the kids were. They'd squeal with laughter. Pretend the duvet is alive and get scared of it then they crawl out and the game starts again.

Fab ideas!

Fairy potion was fun. Put water, washing up liquid, bicarbonate of soda, glitter and food colouring in a jam jar and put jam jar in a baking dish or similar. Add white vinegar and you get a lovely frothy glittery volcano for them to mix round for a while. Add more vinegar for more froth.

Also, we had a 'bored' jar filled with ideas on bits of paper to choose. We had draw yourself as a superhero, fuss the cats, make up a dance, read a book, find something in the house for every colour of the rainbow, rehearse a show to put on for Mummy - anything that can buy you a few minutes to have a drink!

Yes @amy!!!

We find lots of science experiments online and sensory bin ideas.

I froze a bowl of water in stages adding their little plastic fish and shark etc animals. They then used hot water and salt with spoons to 'free'the animals! They all loved that!

Free museums (we aren't too far from London), lots of walks and trips to the park, time in the garden.

I always look for offers on days out.

Rainy days we bake, have a home cinema, junk model, play doh and paint!

These are lovely ideas. If say that the DC love going on a picnic. We'll get some nice bits in, and put it all together. They are always excited about a picnic.
Also, we have a National Trust membership. I know it has an initial outlay, however it's worth every penny, and very cheap too! Free parking, free kids packs at all the ones I've been too, and plenty of them in various parts of the UK.