How are you filling the 6 week holidays? Inspire me!

[caggie3]

I need to keep busy or I think we will all lose our marbles!

Library - signing up for the summer reading challenge.
Trips to the park, we’re lucky to have a few different parks nearby.
Swimming, we go to the local leisure centre where we’re members but I might spring for a trip to the fancy pool with slides once during the summer.
We’ve got a theatre trip booked.
There’s a couple of museums I’d like to go to.
I’d like to go the beach.
A couple of days at holiday camp to see school friends, plus a few play dates, which aren’t planned yet but I’ll arrange with some of the mums I’m friendly with.
We might visit my parents or PILs, they don’t live locally.

Our council arranges activities over the holidays, you could
check if yours does.

Try being over here in Ireland where they get 9-10 weeks off in Primary and 12 weeks in Secondary!! 😭

A couple of short breaks away (not abroad for us), a couple of summer clubs which last for a week each, a few day trips, that's how I get through it anyway.

Paying through the nose for holiday club 3 days a week!
Library, playdates, park trips, trips out for cake or ice cream for the other days. She's only 5 so easily pleased at this stage.

Couple of days at holiday club
A weekend away (still in England)
Intensive swimming course
A few different workshops booked
Summer reading challenge at the library
Two visits to two different cities near us
A summer pass for a local attraction
Play dates
Couple of day trips
I've hidden away some craft sets/activity books etc to bring out occasionally

With a regular(ish) timetable. Creatures of habit, here.

We have morning and afternoon activities scheduled in, the same every week.

Activities can be a 'big' trip out (swimming pool, softplay, theatre, museum, trip to a park that's further away). This is two mornings a week. We have playdates scheduled in two afternoons a week (not all booked, but will do nearer the time). There is a camp, two days a week for the eldest. We have swimming lessons taking up two sessions. Three sessions a week (one morning, two afternoons) are 'chill time' aka play at home or maybe the library/local park.

It means there not too much thinking required and the kids don't ask can we do this/go there and we don't get 'I'm bored' etc because they know what's coming.

We have 8 weeks and this is 3rd week off.
1st week camping trip seeing local sites and their library and pool!
2nd week signed up to neighbouring councils leisure membership that includes ice skating, soft play, bowling and a pool with slides etc. Cheaper for a month than doing 2 of the activities once each. Had friends over. Library - they can use Pc there and enjoy the games on cbbc.
3rd week cinema, swimming, friends over.

Will have 2 more weeks camping before end of summer but mostly will be inviting their friends over and using our memberships.

Two holidays which will take up three weeks then a few day trips, get some jobs done around the house. It'll fly by but my kids are old enough to entertain themselves.

We have a week away booked, theme park one day, 6 days holiday camp booked in. Shopping, cinema, park, soft play and chilling at home.

One week away
Multi sports/tennis camps
Visit to Ironbridge/Blist Hill Victorian Town
Eureka + in Merseyside
Manchester Museum

Otherwise free activities:
Parks/National Trust
Tennis (we are members)
Library/reading challenge
Board games
Gaming!

Depends how old your kids are I guess. Mine are 8, 5 and 1 and I feel like I have barely put any thought into the holidays and now they’re HERE!!!

I HAVE planned a craft for every Monday though and bought the stuff. Didn’t need to buy much actually. We’re doing:
• invisible ink with turmeric and hand sanitiser
• silhouettes
• salt painting
• bubble art
• foil printing
• Lino printing
• reverse perspective rooms
• lifesize self portrait - draw round the kid, let them colour in/fill with pictures of their hobbies and interests etc

Every Friday doing a kid swap with a friend - I have her oldest and my oldest, she has my middle and and her youngest, or vice versa, or we’ll all do something together

Got a few day trips with friends booked in here and there - one to the beach, one to local splash pad

LOTS of chill time too. We are 2 hours into the holidays and DS1 already has long-time-banned YouTube kids on!

17 years old with additional needs has 13 weeks off. So far I've taken him to a McDonald's to meet some of his old school friends. He's been invited to another friend's house for the whole day. I've taken him for 1-1 cricket coaching so far 3 times. He's been to a friend's 18th birthday party. I took him swimming with shutes and slides twice. He's meeting a friend at the same pool next week. He's played in 4 cricket matches so I had to drive him to the location. Next week we're going to Bridlington to see MiL for a couple of days. More 1-1 cricket coaching is booked for every Monday. Crav Magar which he goes to every Wednesday is running through school holidays. We'll go out for breakfast a couple of times and probably a couple of carvery's too. Later in August we'll visit my sister in Deven for 3 days and she will find local attractions we can visit. I'll invite his friends over one day for a BBQ when it looks like fine weather. I expect he'll want to go to places with his friends so I'll just chauffeur him around. I've offered him a 2 weeks break to Brittany France as I have a holiday home but he won't miss his cricket matches so I can't go.

Cornwall
Devon
Lake District
Liverpool
A festival (4 nights camping)
Plus local day trips, play dates etc

Mine have been off 2 weeks already.
Week 1 - holiday to Greece
Week 2 - been to cinema / small theme park / day at park
Week 3 to 7 - holiday club 2x per week then with grandma. They will be having days out to park, swimming, wildlife park, adventure farm, walks, telly, Nintendo, fighting with each other.. that kind of thing!

Week 1 grandparents (by the seaside). They have various activities planned like country park, zoo, and there is a funfair, beach, cousins to play with
week 2 dance holiday club
week 3 & 4 holiday (camping in France)
week 5 multi sports holiday club
week 6 forest school holiday club

The weeks at club I have Fridays off so it is club for 4 days then on the 5th day we’ll play at home/ play date/ library/ swimming/ baking/ crafting/ NT place etc. something cheap because the clubs have cost £££££

There are 2 inset days at the end and will use one for getting school shoes/ stationery and one for either a trip into London or Bath for museums or something cultural

@TedLasto youre going to wait until the 2 days before school to get shoes?? 😱😱 I’m having visions of Motherland!!

😁It's OK, that's how I've done it the last few years and it's been fine. My daughter has feet that don't grow at all all year and then shoot up a size over the summer so this saves me having to buy twice!

We've just arrived for a cheapie week holiday in a cottage near Ledbury. Me plus DS (nearly 15). He's still an age he doesn't want to go off with his mates so we are going.....

paddleboarding on the Severn
He has a blacksmithing session booked (he's into DT & materials)
to see the Mappa Mundi & the chained library
to visit a Cider orchard and makers (mostly for me 🙂)
cycling on the Mercian Way

plus a lot of exploring, pizza eating and general laziness

A weeks holiday at the start, another week at the end and 4 weeks of holiday club in the middle!! Work doesn't stop just because school does!

Some random ideas for your list...

We got a map of the village and visited every street... took a photo with the street name plate... this was a lockdown activity which took several walks.

If the kids have swimming lessons check whether they get included swimming... ours are everyone active which means they can swim in any everyone active pool for free! We'll be touring the 5/6 local ones for variety!

40 days of summer - a guide badge but open to everyone. The idea is you do a different outdoor activity everyday for 40 days (just short of 6 weeks!) There are more ideas in the downloadable pack https://www.ggsw.org.uk/40-days-of-summer/

Check if your kid has access to school programmes e.g. timetables rock stars that they can make use of.

I'm working my way through the white wines of the world in longitudinal order. 😆

I've made a list of activities/days out etc to pick from for the summer hols.
DH and I work full time and each have a week and a half off (separate weeks) so DS is with various grandparents or aunts and uncles the rest of the time.

The only day trip we've booked so far is legoland as we used Tesco club card vouchers when they were still x3 value.

Other plans/ideas:
New gelato shop in nearby town
Favourite soft play
Trampoline park
Chinese all you can eat buffet
Swimming
Cinema (meerkat movies)
Bowling
Garden camping
Tie dye T-shirts etc
Local town treasure hunt (can download online)
Bike rides locally and some further afield trips with picnics
Outdoor movie night (if we can borrow a projector)
Laser tag
New zip wire place that's opened locally
Local indoor water park

We definitely can't afford to fit all this in time and money wise but will let DS pick some of the things he wants to do.
Will have a few days of play dates as well which will just be chilling at home to fill a day here and there

Find a friend in a similar situation and arrange weekly outings together. Even if it's just to the park, beach river etc, the kids will enjoy it more playing together.

We're in Ireland too and just finished week 7.

Thankfully, now he's in secondary, it's much less stressful. He spends most of the day on his tech. It's still a bit crap though as we live rurally and a long way from any friends.

I used to dread the long holidays when he was in Primary school as we can't afford to go away anywhere and used to hope we'd have visitors to break up the monotony.

DS hates all sport so never attended a summer camp. ☹️

DD isn't school age yet but all her normal groups (bar 1) have stopped for the summer and my sister is a teacher who will spend quite alot of the holidays doing things with us so have kind of planned it out.

Week 1: a play date, day I'm working she is with auntie doing the messy play group that continues, swimming, possibly the free fire station open day if I don't think the noise will bother her and possibly the local miniature railway (less than £1 a go)

Week 2: 1 off dance session booked with a friend, messy play group with auntie while I work, she has the dentist, possibly a trip to PYO

Week 3: Messy play with her dad while I work- he has a couple of days off so we may well do a NT visit and maybe another day out. Will also probably book a play date for that week

Week 4: local park, play date, hospital appointment, nature reserve with auntie while I work, I have the dentist, possibly swimming,

Week 5: a summer forest school session, NT visit, local nature reserve, possibly a special event at a country centre/farm

Week 6: Possibly a wildlife centre, a different town with auntie while I work, swimming and will probably book a play date.

Thank you for these crafts! Going to try some with my kids!