Ideas for school holidays

[Dosey]

Hi there, since the holidays are fast approaching I was wondering if anybody has ideas of cheap and cheerful ideas of what to do with the little ones. I have the holidays off which I am really excited about but don't have a fortune to spend on days out.

Thank you for any help you can givw

my plan is along these lines

1. walk to the local shops to get some groceries in the morning, involving ds with what we are buying etc, looking at the different veg making it a little educational for him in the morning and then crafts in the afternoon, eg painting and gluing
2. walk to the park in the mid morning taking a picnic with us, kick around with the football etc, back mid afternoon and he can then play on his ps until tea time
3. local indoor play area on the morning and then visit grandparents in the afternoon
4. go to the shops for baking things in the morning to bake in the afternoon
5. morning of "homework/learning eg reading, maths etc in game format" (ds has slight learning difficulties so we need to keep on top of it)
6. trip to the local free museum (train museum)
7. swimming
8. bug/fish hunting and bird spotting in the local woodlands (free and educational)
9. train to the seaside and spend the day on the beach (taking a packed lunch to keep cost down)

10. play outside in the paddling pool if the weather is nice, have friends round for lunch

(take camera so we can make a scrap book towards the end of the summer so that's another day full)

keep an eye out in your local newspaper to see what fetes and fairs are coming up so you can have a walk around looking at the stalls etc (dont have to buy or buy anything expensive, perhaps a cake and a cuppa) then on to the nearby park etc after

If there is a council run playscheme on, I would use this as much as possible. The one in our village is for 2 hours every afternoon and is also a good way for DC to meet up with school friends without having to invite people over and having hordes of kids in your house all the time. Some councils also run free swimming hours on certain days (these can get really busy tho) and lots of libraries have summer holiday reading schemes where DC get little rewards and a chart to fill in (makes a library trip more of an event).

Also I ask my DC which friends they would like to see over the holidays and find out before term breaks up when friends are on holiday/in childcare so you know who is available when to make plans.