Free Kids activities for school holidays?

[Ramona75]

Does anyone have any ideas on what Free activities that I can do with the kids over the Summer holidays?

I have a few days out planned but like most holidays, it hammers it down quite a lot, so what do I do with 3 under 9s in the house that will keep them entertained with either NEW craft & activities ideas that they have not done before, that will not require £50 trip to Wilkos for materials

I was thinking about creating a fun holiday calendar (with my limited knowledge of excel) for them and filling it with as many activities as possible to give them things to look forward too!

All ideas welcome! If I get enough ideas, I could make a kids’ calendar with indoor ideas for each day of the holidays and let you all have it too. Obviously you would not do all of them but at least there would be options available.

Help! 😊

Cooking and baking are good.

My DC 'helped' in the kitchen from toddler, standing on a chair... counting potatoes, choosing the vegetables or pasta shape to a bit older when they can chopp some doft veg like courgette and put pasta in the saucepan.

... and then there is obviously pizza toppings!

Shopping with a tick off list.

Build a parcour with chairs and pillows (don't touch the floor/ only use feet - no hands for balance) or have a teddy bear picnic...

Some great ideas and make your own pizza DAY will be on there! Could teach them measurements and a little maths at the same time. Get it all prepped in the day and make it & eat it in the afternoon. Could also get them to see where all their ingredients come from. i.e. country of origin, not a supermarket!

I bet Greg James has a video somewhere on Pizzas :-)

Planning treasure hunts where one clue leads to the next with a small prize at the end. Older kids can write the clues for younger ones. You can write for the oldest with the little ones help.

Make decorations for a disco at home. Have a theme based on a country e.g. Italian, Mexican. Design the flags, make that cuisine to eat, learn a bit about the country or a few phrases to say.

Have a talent show. Each child practises their skill to show e.g. gymnastics, football, write a play. This could be an end of week thing they practise towards.

Make a den with sheets etc. Play a board game or eat lunch in there.

Chores bingo. If they help out doing enough chores then you go to the shops and buy ice creams. Bonus points for going to the shop later in the evening so it feel like staying up. Make the chores funny like 'put away the washing walking like a chicken' if they need extra motivation.

Have a sleepover in each others room or the living room. PJs on, watch a film, even if they return to their own beds for the night.

Look out for any sort of trail near you e.g. currently there are Morphs to spot in London. Or print off/write your own sheet of things to spot out any about.

So many amazing ideas! Putting the washing away walking like a chicken made me laugh! That's one to do every day of the week, with or without the kids 😂

See what's on at your local library. Most have free activities over the summer holidays and your children can take part in the Summer Reading Challenge.

Check the local libraries, they often have free events. Ours has a Lego group, coding club, explorers etc

Have you ever tried Geocaching or Pokemon go

Both are cheap / free. You can explore new places and as an extra bonus the children get lots of exercise.

Never tried any of this. Will look it up!

YY to libraries - also sports centres, museums and churches. Also Forestry centres.

Cool! Might look into life on Mars too :-)

Churches often have free/ cheap holiday clubs eg 10-12 for a week. Some might do sports ones too.

Pizza day is a good one as said by pp. cinema day is another one, have fun crafting tickets and movie posters, have a choice of 3 films, microwave popcorn other snacks ect put blankets up at the windows ect.

Freeze water in balloons with something inside ( plastic Dino?) And then they have a race to see who can get their toy out first, you can put rules in place or they can go wild in the garden.

Go to woods or beach with scavenger hunts, you can print online really easily.

Love the ideas. Freezing water in balloons? Can't see that ending well with mine as they will assume that they're water balloons:-) Might try that activity when no sections of the NHS are on strike. Might need A&E 😂

Some great suggestions on here already. My DD liked making videos or drawing the pets.

I used to go to the park, library, free sessions at the local Hobbycraft and a lot of friends over. Lots of simple crafts! I found dd got bored cooking and clean up took longer than the activity!

Our local council has teamed up with the local Wildlife Trust to do free kids sessions, they're all focused around local parks and wildlife spots. They are doing bug hunting, den building, making bug hotels etc. Have a look around to see if there are any local wildlife organisations doing sessions near you.

😂sorry i didnt explain well.. you're suppose to take the balloons off when frozen so its just a lump of ice😂some people give a small pot of salt to help the kids melt the ice too

Breaking dinosaurs / animals out of ice can be a fun activity but please don't use salt on ice. It really isn't a good combination as it can easily burn your skin.

Oh wow,I did not know that 😮

Ah, that makes sense now 😋

Do Pets at Home still do free workshops?

Also look at Pawprint Badges... its a range of challenges around a theme... you have to pay to buy the actual badges but can download the activity packs for free.

Bug hotels are fun. We made one last month and put grass seed on top of it. The insects now have a small football pitch to play on 😆

Tell me about the cleaning. Kids sieving flour should never be allowed 😱

My kids love video quizzes, will try and find some of those too, they are mad on Disney!

Day out diary. On your days out, take pictures, make notes, collect leaflets, then create a scrap book to keep.