NOW CLOSED: Share your top ideas and tips for keeping the summer holidays fun filled on the cheap with Mu cheese - you could win an annual Merlin pass or a months supply of cheese

[AnnMumsnet]

We've been asked by Mu (the funky new Cheddar brand) to find out your top ideas/tips for keeping the summer holidays fun filled without breaking the bank. This could include arts and crafts, games, things to do at home, places to visit etc - we would love to know your favourite family activity.

Mu say "Mu believes in fuelling more family fun everyday; be this through our range of delicious, natural cheddars or through giving families the tools to make every day as enjoyable as it can be. The summer holidays are a perfect excuse to have fun with the family but sometimes it?s difficult to think of ideas to fill the whole holidays. Mu would like to create a free downloadable booklet which includes a list of activities that Mums can use for a bit of inspiration when needed"

This is where you come in! Please share your top tips on this thread.

The best ideas will feature in the Mu "Make everyday a Mu Fun day" free booklet which will be free to download from the Mu website and Facebook site from the 23rd of July

All entries will be put into a prize draw to win a family Merlin annual pass (worth over £400) which offers a family of four free entry into 28 top attractions including Alton Towers, Chessington and Sea Life Centre plus many more.

PLUS all entries chosen to feature in the booklet will win a months supply of Mu Cheddar. If your tip is used MN will be in touch for your address details.

Thanks and good luck
MNHQ

[PepeLePew]

Library each week
Get them to make a list of "things they enjoy" and pick something each day - I encourage small stuff eg "find some funny clips on YouTube" and "buy an ice cream"
Let them browse the cookery books, choose a menu, buy the ingredients and cook it
Movie afternoon - home made popcorn and curtains pulled
Picnic in the park

[boredandrestless]

I do a lot of free activities with my son, we do creative stuff and go on days out, but what he most loves to do is this.....

I sit down and tell him I will do anything with him for the next 2 hours.
Last time I did this we played dominoes, went through a comic together, and played in his tent. Nothing fancy, it was the 1:1 quality interacting time with me that we both enjoyed.

[CheeryCherry]

Before the end of term, gather a list of when friends are available/away, with mobile numbers. Distribute to all who are interested, then big meet ups/picnics/park trips can easily be arranged and planned around the days weather, quite spontaneously. Gets everyone out of the house, kids can play while adults skin and chat.
Also have a to do list for wet and dry days.
Plus a list of people to visit and people who must visit you. We have friends and relatives who we meet up with during school hols.

[severnofnine]

organise a trip to local park.... grown ups can take some pims and children can go bonkers together running round ( you need to be organised to set this up with other mums before school breaks up though)

make movie tickets choose a film and close curtains (and maybe even some coke as a big treat), or if feeling more flush lots of cinemas do a weekend showing of an older film at £1 a ticket.

trips to london to the natural history museum or other free entry places using railcard for cheaper tickets.

older children can do an online or book based "treasure hunt". We'll think up a theme then fins a load of questions like: which is the smallest country in the world or how many children did queen victoria have? he then has an hour to find as many answers as possible either using books or internet depending on where we are.

or a trip out with clipboards and pencils to do drawings... there is a small aircraft museum near us which is good for this!

or my personal favourite- tip out all the lego into a huge heap on the floor and make spaceships or a city or a massive tower!

[jimswifein1964]

Our library does a summer reading challenge, so that gives some routine to the hols- changing books and getting the challenge card filled up.

Giant crafts outside - we get boxes the local shop is throwing out, and take sellotape/poster paint out onto the patio.

Get the bus into town and WANDER - we just stop where we fancy, & discover loads of new things as a result!

Tesco clubcard points go a long way for days out!!

Visit Daddy at work!

Let them loose with a camera/camcorder.

Camp in the back garden - they make their own picnic first, take binoculars etc.

Let each child have a day where he/she chooses a day trip - and just go

[droves]

Never thought I'd see " funky" to describe cheddar . Can cheese even be funky ?

Thought those 1970 's buffet half oranges with the cocktail sticks and bit of mankey pineapple and sausage were as good as it was going to get .

[InMySpareTime]

I've had "funky" cheese before, I didn't think it was a compliment.
I thought funky was what happened to cheese when left out of the fridge for too long!

[nickschick]

Theres nothing much I can add to whats already been suggested ......one of the nicest summers we had was when ds1 was 12 ds2 was 10 and ds3 about 5 .....ds3 and I 'found' a huge huge box,as a nursery nurse and with ds3 being very imaginative we knocked on the door of the house where the big box was from - they gave us the box and a load of bubble wrap .....ds3 and i dragged the box home (it was so big and sturdy it was a feat) we put the box in the garden and ds3 sat in it for a bit and put stickers on it and generally liked the box ......by tea time their must have been 6 kids including ds1 in the box and a queue of many more awaiting entrance.

Each night the box was carefully manouvred into the kitchen (which meant no cups of tea unless you squoze around the box) and each day the box was used by lots of kids even those of about 14 wanted entrance to the box .....over time the box had a door cut in and a small window ....it was graffitid on turned the other way up and became a rocket ....I have no idea how so many kids played with one box( we are not socially deprived we have bikes and x boxes and stuff and there were no dodgy dealings going on inside the box either ).....even when we went on holiday the box was loaned out to friends who took care of it and all summer the box was the place to be!!.(the last week it disintegrated in pelting down day time rain causing ds1 & 2 to fall out)

this was about 6 years ago so not the dark ages so my (long winded) suggestion would be ........find a box .

Even now teenagers say to me 'rememember our box?'

[CJfromTheWestWing]

Feed them in the garden - picnics at home almost feel like a day out. Pop a blanket over the washing line for the tent feel too.

Or pitch a tent and let them have friends roubd.

If you have tiny kids make it a daytime sleepover teddy bear picnic idea.

[CJfromTheWestWing]

Give your garden party a theme - pirates etc - and arrange a fun filled playdate. Fet tigether with ither mums and arrange little stalls, like at a fete. They will have a ball.

[Yummymummyyobe1]

Depending on the age of your children will depend on what you do but years ago when I looked after 15 children during the holidays we used to do the following:

The weekend before the holidays we would decide on a theme for the holiday period eg the zoo, fair etc and which charity the money would go to. One year we did a fete and this is what we did:

Week one: We produced all the flyers and tickets for the big event and post them around the neighbours (messy/creative play)

Week two: We started to make stall, out of boxes and collected prizes.

Week three: Baked for the cake stall and made pictures and cards for the art stall.

Week four: We looked at the location for the fete and decided where all our stall would go.

Week five: Arranging the entertainment for the fete and practiced. The children did magic tricks and danced and told jokes.

Week six, final push on advertising and then the night before set up the stalls.

On the big day the local vicar opened the fete and people bought the children's cakes etc and the day ended with a party. The children loved it and the money raised went to the local animal shelter. I think the children raised around £30 in total and they had a full summer holiday activity.

[RabbitsMakeBrownEggs]

I am currently using a site called Pinterest to moodboard plan our Summer Holiday Activities. That way I can take what other people have shared and pop it in a folder, pin other ideas I find online, and plan something for each week, plus just dip in when I am panicking and need to find something to entertain them at short notice.

[nickschick]

Yummymummyton1 you sold cakes you had baked 3 weeksearlier?

[JugglingWithTangentialOranges]

Visit friends !
Have them over to yours

• Then all go out in garden, or kids outside, grown-ups inside.
  

Put the kettle on

Does that count or is it too simple ?!

Join a NCT coffee morning rota for similar, or meet up with everyone from your ante-natal class, taking turns at each.

Meet up in park with friends and their children for a picnic, or have ice-creams and coffee from the cafe.

[newlark]

Give the children a packet of coloured chalk and let them loose on the patio/wall of the house - drawing pictures, writing practice, hopscotch, drawing targets to throw a ball at (with different scoring rings) etc, etc. It all washes off in the rain .

[JugglingWithTangentialOranges]

Ooh yes, everyone should do that one newlark - that and painting the patio with water and big painting brushes. "So, What colour are you painting the wall, DS ?" (when you remember to look up from your magazine )

[Punkatheart]

My daughter is now motivated by things, rather than flying kites and going to galleries. At first I found it depressing, but then I realised that I simply had to change with her - taking into account those hormones of hers.

So now I encourage her to write letters to magazines - magazines she either finds in the libraries or is given by friends. She also enters competitions and I encourage skill-based ones, like short story competitions and poems.

Before you say that it sounds very indoorsy and couch potato-like, she once won a prize in a writing comp and we won a lovely trip to Stonehenge.

Researching for comps and being creative is all good stuff but she thinks it's fun, rather than work. It's a win-win situation!

[lisad123]

Raid your local scrap store and make musical instruments and make a band including making up songs.
Treasure hunts, bug hunts and flower pressing.
Meet different friends in the park for an evening picnic, much quieter.

[rookery]

Save up washing up bottles: great for drawing patterns with water outside and squirting the parent who's got comfy with book and cup of tea.
Offer sheets and pegs for them to make a den outside with a sheet over the washing line.
Teach them how to make paper aeroplanes, paper water bombs, paper boats... and leave them to it. (There may be tears. Have dry towels handy. Maybe hot chocolate...)
Take a book like Eye Spy Nature out somewhere green and let them search for things to tick off. Keep your distance - let them discover things for themselves. Or download the free resources from the Woodland Trust website.
Make a little ramp in the garden for toy cars.
Make a marble run from cardboard rolls (kitchen roll, foil, etc - requires a bit of collecting in advance!)
Designate one bit of the garden the mud patch: digging, watering, squelching, empire building allowed.
Put a box in the middle of the garden. Give them paints. (Rainy day: same, but with felt tip pens). Leave them to it.
Above all, remember what we used to do in the 1970s & 80s and don't be afraid to leave (slightly older) children to their own devices: let them get bored and don't offer to entertain them... This takes nerves of steel and runs so counter to current parenting but it's really worth persisting! I love spending time with my dcs but they need to be left to find their own way too.

[poopoopoo]

1. Get a big (or even better huge) card board box from the supermarket. This can be a: plane, space ship, boat, island..... you can paint it, draw on it, cover it with a blanket. This is my childrens favourite, and can keep them occupied all day with ongoing imaginary places.
   

1. Do the household chores and involve the kids- make lunch together (making pizza is an excellent easy option!) have a restaurant set up this is fun indoors or outside in nice weather! Do the washing- Pretend you are a launderette (role play, dressing up, paying for the service, sorting colours, using the buttons on the machine then hanging it up etc).
   

1. Plan some days out with the children to free local events and activities if nothing free is on locally, do some research there may be something going on not too far away. There are free small parks with great facilities often not too far away otherwise download vouchers in advance for reduced entrance fees..or just go to the local park and have some fun with a ball feed the ducks, ride bikes, learn to roller skate, go to the local pool- It is probably cheaper than you imagine, they have offers on for certain days where it only costs a pound for adults and kids are free. Our local pool allows one adult with two toddlers on a Saturday morning.
   

1. Sort out old toys and clothes and take them to the local charity shop and get some different things while you are there. They will have fun looking through your old toys if you still have any in the attic or at grandmas! You can then the next day decide what to donate and also get some new (but old) very cheap toys, puzzles, games, lego, dress up clothes, story books, books, books! (I know some people will not like this one, but I am not ashamed to say I buy second hand! I make sure things are clean and I clean/wash before use) You can teach children the importance of recycling and the problems the world has with waste disposal!
   

1. Ask them what they want to do They might just want to have time at home to play with their toys or watch a film. learning is about repetition; you might get fed up reading the same old book or watching the same old film, but if thats what they want to do then great! (if they say 'Disney World' then say you will start saving- and make an action plan with them for the next 5 years!)
   

Have a great summer!

[DoodleAlley]

Go on treasure hunts.

If you're in an urban environment you could look for different materials, colours of buildings, numbers of floors, vehicles.

If you're at the seaside or in the countryside you could find rough things, smooth things, learn some common trees by their leaves and mark them off.

A cheap clipboard can be covered with decorations by them and then you can print off duplicate copies to use according to where you are.

This is our plan for what looks like a rainy holiday in the uk and the rest of summer. You could even do one for supermarkets - bananas, tins of beans, toilet rolls. And for older children add in more specifics or three, four, five of one category.

[Lotkinsgonecurly]

Dens - we build dens in the garden. Plan picnics, write recipes for sandwiches ( great for getting reluctant writers to write!) Cook and eat things in the dens.

We then spend days improving our dens with plans, extensions and often furniture.!! Could easily be done in the park, garden or beach!

We regularly go to free museums, art galleries, libraries and do all they have to do. There are often children's activities on, treasure hunts and lots more.

We cycle, walk and meet friends to all the above and play.

Picnics feature very highly in everything we do!

[mummy1973]

Meeting up with friends is the best way to have a fun day. The more children there are the more fun they have!
On wet days we build a den with blankets under the table and have a picnic.
Tidying out the toys means they discover things they forgotten they had and that fills an afternoon.
Do a car boot sale and promise they can have the proceeds of their toy sales to buy new things for the holidays.

[VirtuallyHere]

Feeding the ducks - a favourite with my son but if it's a nice day do it in the morning (else you tend to find a lot of very full ducks with bread floating around them)!

The cinema. The Vue chain do Kids am which is around £1.50 per person.

Shopping centres - check out your local one. They often host free or very cheap children fun sessions.

Local museums - often they have free children activities organised.

Movie in bed - we reserve this one when we really need a lazy afternoon. If you haven't got an upstairs tv make a temporary bed in the lounge from sofa cushions/duvets/etc!