How can I fill the summer holidays without spending undue amounts of money?

[DumbledoresGirl]

It is even harder than that, I'm afraid: the activities need to be suitable for children aged between 3 and 10.

We are not near a beach.

I can maybe afford the cinema or a children's attraction once or twice - no more.

Come on! Who has those marvellous, old fashioned, free activity ideas?

So far I have thought of joining the library reading challenge (but only dd is interested, not the dss).

Going to the park where there is a paddling pool.

Picking blackberries (if they ripen in time)

Spending one day with each of the three older children, going through their thngs, and selecting things they don't want anymore to sell (perhaps to your children on the For Sale boards?!) This is scraping the bottom of the barrel though!

More ideas please?

shame you are not at the beach

just spent the day there with the dds

total cost - £2.50 for ice creams

Great thread, getting loads of ideas.

We plan on doing lots of picnics and swimming (cos kids swim for free) and any other free or cheap stuff we can find.

DG -definately your smutty mind -disgusting Would never have crossed my mind

We're probably not that far from you actually -30 mins north of Gloucester on the Herefordshire/Worcestershire border

Oh, that is a nice part of the world (she says vaguely, with no real idea of where it is!) We are about 30 mins south of Gloucester so if we both travelled in the right direction, within 30 mins we could be nowhere near each other!

With my sense of direction that is entirely possible believe me

If you can try taking some photos of landmarks / buildings in your town without the kids. Print them out afew to a page and go on a days adventure with the kids trying to find them, you can also tie this in with the museum (free in my town) looking at how your town has changed

Check out the Macdonalds free child swim thread. I will bump it for you as I haven't for at least 3 hours I'm in Wiltshire and most the pools around me are participating

DG - if your kids like trains, a great trip is to get the Severn Beach line train at Temple Meads, then just stay on the train till it gets back to Temple Meads. Not expensive, and it's really interesting!

Fishing, we go all the time, my dd 3.4 loves it, has caught a couple already !! And when we go to the seaside, (we're off to Poole tommorrow for the day) Crabbing!! What a laugh! She absolutely loves it, take a picnic, food & drink, you only need money for an icecream and thats about it!

or at a weekend, watching the steam trains at Bitton

I am on a mission to find free.cheap stuf...

so far I have found:
storytwlling at local libraries
local museum doing free magic and puppets shows...

another free museum......wont occupy ds1 for long but he will eno=joy the metro journey there
svereal parks
3 visits to friends houses lined up

There was a thing in the Times magazine today - 101 free things to do with your children.

For next year I would do all your spending on a Tescos Credit Card...you can pay your bills with it, put the petrol on it...pay for your shopping etcetc...all the time collecting clubcard points, that you can then swop for days out...like alton towers/zoos/farms/castles...etc...even video rentals you can swop them for. www.tesco.com
You DO NOT have to shop at tescos.
Just do your normal spending on it and put the money in a pot to pay it at the end of the month.

I have similar problem DG! (2 boys aged 9 and 6, very limited money, no transport, and dh is away oor working long hours for the first 2/3 weeks)

We made a summer wish list (that filled up an hour LOL!)
which covered everything from 'going to the seaside' and 'visiting Italy' (PMSL!)
But most hearteningly, also included: ''watching videos'' ''baking and cooking stuff'' and ''just junking around''!

I told the boys I could afford one 'big' outing a week ie cinema ( but we take own drinks/popcorn) swimming (not free here sadly) or a bus/train trip to a city museum etc.

Today they took their modest pocket money to the pet shop, spent a very happy hour examining fish/scorpians/terrapins then half hour stroking rabbits/hamsters etc before spending the princely sun of £1.85 on 2 goldfish. We had an old fishbowl at home so just another £1.50 on fishfood and they spent the afternoon making 'Reefer and Fred' very comfortable indeed - complete with fishy wall mural to pin on wall behind fish tank!

Next week, we're having a bbq, and pooling resources with another friend with 2 boys for a marathon junk modelling day.

We do free Museums.

Visitor Centres often with good playparks and picnic areas, even if the main attration is payable we often avoided that bit when the kids were younger.

Visiting nearby towns to sample the cafes and window shop and play in a different park.

Local airport vewing gallery, or sitting in car on quiet road under flight path, kids stand on seat with heads out the sunroof. Not so easy these days of course to get close.

Very cheap activity days and playschemes at NT properties. Plus family membership is only £3.90 a month. So lots of places to visit. Take a picnic.

Libraries often have storytimes etc more for the younger one.

River bank or loch beach to paddle and plooter about for hours making harbours and rivers.

For rainy days I am always on the lookout for cheap craft kits and stuff to suplement the piles of arts and craft stuff we have. Ethel Austin have science kits reduced to £1 and we got a sticker machine kit thing reduced to £1 as well. Poundland has loads of craft and scrapbook stuff, set older one a scrapbook challenge and did out some old pics of the kids.

Always have the picnic bag in the car, you know the ones with cutlery, sharp knive, chopping board, plates. So if we are out and about I can just buy rolls and pate or cheese and make up rolls instead of premade stuff. That alone saves us a fortune as we get quite far from home a lot.

Don't forget the good old scavengar hunt. 2 different shaped leaves, a broken shell, shell that's not broken etc. Takes them hours!

Just to let you know I am still reading and getting ideas here.

PMSL at the idea of visiting Italy! Yes well, we would all like to do that!

I well remember the days of driving to the nearby air field (for one year, we actually lived on the site of one) and letting the children watching the planes. Unfortunately, we have moved from there now...

Do you know another family with children of a similar age, where you could swop children for a half a day ( say you take all the younger ones, the other mother takes the older ones) so they all have someone their own age to play with - will probably amuse themselves in the house/garden.

Our local museum often runs activity mornings during the hols - for a few pounds each they are off your hands for a couple of hours, allowing you to do something with the youngest. Council also has cheap day camps where you can book them in for a half or whole day. Doing something like that once a week or so would give you a bit of a breather.

Are there any good museums in Bristol?

I also have found a couple of parks which are a bit further away but are more interesting than our local ones - good for a day out with a picnic, especially if you meet up with another family. One has a canal nearby and they love watching the canal boats coming through the locks. Isn't the Wye valley fairly near you? That would be a good spot for a day out, the boys could go around that ruined abbey (Tintagel?)

One I remember from the Summer Mission when I was young was the match box challenge. Had to fit as many items in a matchbox as possible, lasted all day. things like a penny, a staple etc.

Pitch and strike, teach the kids how to put up the tent cook sausages and then show them how to strike camp properly or leave it up and camp out overnight. My friend does this all summer and the kids sleep out as many nights as possible even when back at school, swears they sleep better. It does help that she has an older one responsible enough to sleep across the door and take them in to the loo.

Junk challenge, empty the paper and cardboard from the recycle bin and challenge the kids to make a bridge strong enough to support a tin of beans or a tower high enough for bear to abseil down.

Make kites, Traditional style , This is the one we used to make, click on to find the template.

am being v brave and decided to take them to the seaside on the train by myself (!) and stay with grandma for a couple of nights She lives 10 mins walk from the beach - but the way home is a vveeeerrry long 10 mins walk up a really steep hill! See my bulging calf muscles