Tell npower your top tips and ideas for enjoying the summer school holidays - you could win a £300 Love2Shop voucher NOW CLOSED

[AngelieMumsnet]

The team at npower would love to hear about your top tips and ideas for enjoying the summer holidays.

npower say "We know that the summer holidays can often be stressful and finding activities to keep your children busy can be a challenge so we’d love to hear your hints and tips for a fun-filled stress-free summer. We can’t wait to hear your great creative ideas for getting through those 6 weeks come rain or shine."

With 6 weeks or more off in the summer, finding ways to keep your DCs entertained can sometimes be a challenge. So, what are your top tips for planning summer holiday activities? Do you like to do some research and advanced planning? Or do you prefer to be spontaneous? Does the weather affect your plans at all? What top tips do you have for having fun whatever the weather?

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Thanks and good luck

MNHQ

I've told the kids about how uni students do 'pub crawls' where they go to as many pubs as possible in a day and we've decided we are going to do a 'PARK CRAWL' where we have a huge list of parks and playgrounds as see how many we are going to manage to get to throughout the holidays.

I think we'll make a separate bucket list of summer activities that aren't so weather dependent and tick those off as we do them. My kids love anything like this where they are challenging themselves and being able to see progress being made against our overall goal.

For us it is being outdoors in any weather. Walks in a sheltered forest when it's raining or any free museum when it's really lashing down. City or country parks for walks, play parks for running around and burning off energy, and the beach when the weather is fine.

We have found places where you get an hour free parking so we tend to pay for an hour and get an hour free. This gives us plenty of time to explore the waterfront and then head somewhere else, say for a picnic.

I generally plan activities in two hour burst with lunch to break them up.

We also visit the library weekly, parking 10 minutes away so we get a bit extra exercise and fresh air (and extends the amount if time it takes up!)

I just noticed that the blackberries are starting to ripen in some areas so we'll add picking blackberries to our list of fun activities.

One of my top tips is not to do too much in the first week! Going too extravagant can mean that expectations are raised. Spread out all the 'good' activities.
I'm lucky my DC have lots of friends close by so they go out to play most of the time. We have DVD's and a full craft box for really miserable days.

I have preschool age kids but many clubs and parent/baby groups are term time only, so we still have time to fill over the summer. I am trying to meet up with parents whom I usually see at the regular groups, at the same day and time so that a bit of a routine is maintained for the kids, although in a different venue, so that they get to see their little chums!
This time of year is also great for getting little ones to enjoy nature; we've had lots of fun in the garden and on walks, spotting butterflies, bees etc.

My local library is great often has lots of stuff to do and is free! I'm also a fan of letting them make up their own games I'm their mum not their entertainer! Get their old clothes on and get them outside whenever possible!

Book onto your local forest school come rain or shine it's a whole load of fun for them and you plus it tires them out for the rest of the day!

...and prepare busy bags (small bags filled with crafty things) for quick bursts of entertainment!

DD goes to our local Adventure Project twice a week, apart from that they're happy with the park and colouring. Also, DD could read for England!

We are trying to do as many free activities as possible, beach walks, park days and library have been favourites so far. I do get stuck on rainy days as it really makes me lack energy to do much. We've also been trying out different ice lolly recipes with leftover fruit, saves me spending a fortune on ice creams.

Ask the kids what they'd like to do during the holidays. Make a long list of ideas together. Work through the list so everyone gets the opportunity to do the things that they suggested.

Spray chalk from the pound shop. For turning the lawn into a football pitch / athletics track / area of den for tig... Etc etc. Totally marvellous quick fun when DC are too old for a lot of the things suggested but not old enough to go off to the park by themselves.

Have a plan for things you'd like to do e.g. swimming once a week, library, geocaching, cheap morning kids cinema but also allow for unplanned down time - kids don't need to be entertained 24/7, gettng bored allows them to develop their imaginations

One teenage son is doing volunteer days with the national trust.. The other is doing a weeks adventure course locally based. Obviously the library and local swimming baths are frequently used as well. Picnics with teenagers don't go down so well now, but bike rides with snacks packed work.

Avoid Scotland like the plague this year as the weather has been abominable!

If I'd had known that it would be as bad as it has been I would have arranged to go on a short break abroad or down south.

Poor kids have been stuck doing indoor activities most of the summer

Have some raincoats and wellies on stand by! We do a few big activities but on quiet rainy days we get our wellies on and go looking for snails and jumping in puddles. It's fantastic fun and burns off a bit of the toddlers whirlwind energy!

We make sure we have play dates with a couple of classmates booked so we still see school friends over the summer. When it's sunny we rotate around local parks & woods with outdoor play areas, in the rain we do Playdoh, lego, build train tracks, cooking or head to the library which often have great free temporary exhibitions too.

If you usually drive, use public transport when possible. It extends the length of a day out and makes it more interesting, especially for younger children who are impressed by large vehicles. Older children can help with planning the journey, checking timetables and tickets.

Lots of different things......having friends round to play, painting stones, building dens, cooking, water fights and making boats to float on the local pond.

Have a few things planned for each week - play dates, activity camps, activities at the local leisure centre, visits from godparents etc, then have a general list of things to do like visit national trust properties, museums, films the dcs want to see, local activities (we are going to a maize maze some point this week) etc to fit in round that.

Have welly boots and puddle suits ready! We can't rely on good weather BUT we can be prepared to get out in the rain and splash!

I'm trying to take it slow, whilst my DSs are little (4 and 1) and happy to do so - and to not compare our holidays with others, especially as money is tight for us.

Our holiday plans include:

Playing in the garden/sandpit
Walking in the woods/by the canal
Visiting the local farms
Meeting up with friends
Picnics
Visiting family

And for when the weather isn't great:

Play doh
Painting
Making 'rock pets'
TV
Making dens
Baking

The usual really

Unfortunatly, ds gets to go to holiday club for most of the summer as we have to work.

But I look at the local paper website to see whats on at the weekend, then we cycle to local events - and its amazing what there is on. A couple of weekends ago the riverside centre had an open day and ds spent an hour kayaking for £2, and spent ages doing circus skills for free.

Picnics! Anywhere! At the Beach, in the woods, in a homemade den, top of a hill, on a trampoline, for breakfast, by the river, rainy day front room carpet picnic, in a tent, on the garden, in a meadow, shopping mall etc. It's always more fun from a lunch box :) I never plan the holidays just see where the weather and the kids take you!

I´ve turned a couple of weeks into a project to help my teenager get more confident about travelling around the city independently and managing money. Each day she works out a plan, I give her some dosh and usually with a friend she plans the day, travel, spends, catering and what to do if she hits any problems. Today was a trip to the beach and a sealife centre and it all went really well and I had a day to get on with work!