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?

Please note, your comments may be used - anonymously of course - by npower on their social media channels, website and possibly elsewhere, Please only post if you're happy with this.

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Thanks and good luck

MNHQ

Search in your local area for fun days they are free and always have lots going on, The weather has been lovely which makes things a lot easier as children love being outdoors :)

Round by us they have fantastic outdoor pools and splash pay which both my children really enjoy they could spend hours in the water.

We hardly spend a penny in the school holidays its always free fun days and they love it. Cant beat the school holidays quality family time

Pace yourself, don't try to do everything early on. Do indoor activities like swimming on rainy days. Visit local parks for very cheap days out and utilise your garden if you have one...

Some summer fruit picking, homemade jam and other cooking tasks

lots of bike rides, followed by picnics in the fresh air and ice cream

Days out can be expensive, so try and mix with fun at home. Set up a tent in the back garden and camp out for the night; get chalks out on the pavement and play hopskotch. We also visit parks in the village we don't tend to go to a lot usually, take a picnic. Of course these are mixed in with the odd theme park trip, etc.

Get a few blankets/bed sheets and build a den by tying them over the couch/bed or anything stable, which is of a good height to enable the kids to sit up under. Dens make everything seem more fun. Throw in some pillows to make it comfy and a toy box. Will keep them entertained for a good few hours :)

we enjoy nature trails over the meadows, if the weather is nice we have a picnic. we collect leaves and grasses and take photos of things of interest, when we get home we stick what we have collected in a scrapbook and if we are not sure what we have, we look it up to identify it. Also worth checking out libraries and local places as many places do hold free events for all the family.

To see what local events are running through the hols, go to free museums, trips to the woods and country parks taking a picnic, ball and outdoor games, go pond dipping, on rainy days, have a game or craft afternoon, check local cinema for low price kids films in the holidays, go for a ride on a double decker bus! the kids love it!

We are fortunate to live not far from lovely beaches, woods and countryside and spend many days exploring for free. We often meet up with friends with a picnic then once a week we'll choose something like a cinema trip or bowling.

Summer playschemes are a godsend but failing that why not contact parents from their class and arrange big get togethers in a local park or playing field

Make use of free activities in the area, its often those things that kids love the most. I am lucky I live near the sea and we go to the beach, the splash park, the parks/petting zoo and so on, its those things I remember as a kid rather than the things that cost alot of money. Its also useful to look up local magazines for activities put on by local attractions, the historic dockyard near us often do childrens activities which are free to attend, we also have lots of free music concerts and stuff at the local bandstand so we take a picnic and enjoy these on a sunny day (when we get one!!).

Honestly just dont get stressed when thing dont go to plan. There will be days when the kids play up and you cant do the things you planned. Just go another day

As is usual here, it rains! So we love nothing more than putting our wellies on and going puddle jumping! It's GREAT fun! We will collect stones to paint when we get home. If the rain stops, we love to go bug hunting and collect things from nature to make collages. There is always something to do!

Build a play tent in the garden. Doesn't have to be a real one, although thats great if you have one. Set it up in the garden, or just use sheets, blankets etc to make a tent/teepee/fort. It is whatever their imagination says it is. Give them picnic food, torches and anything else you can think of and they will be in there for hours and never get bored. If its a real tent you can just leave it up all summer long. if blankets sheets etc, its easy to just put and pull down using things like pegs etc to keep it secured. It really is a cheap way to keep your kids and their friends occupied for hours and they never seem to get bored so you'll find every day they'll their imaginations will find something new and fun to do with it.

Have a couple of ideas up your sleeve for half days or days affected by poor weather. This can help to overcome the disappointment of (another!) poor summer

Plan carefully for lots of outdoor activities, but always have a back up wet weather plan. We are very fortunate to live near the beach and lovely countryside in North Yorkshire so there are lots of child activities around.

Me and my daughter always have a jam pack summer, we visit a lot of museums, most of them are free too so costs are kept down, we also do a lot of arts and crafts and visit the library. We enjoy similar hobbies so thats a bonus. Walking is also free and good for you !

I have 2 large jars (rainy day activities & days out). Prior to the holidays starting I ask each if my children to write down places they would like to visit (I also search the web for scheduled events). We then draw up a calendar to cover the holidays; write on the days which already have something planned or there is a scheduled even you want to attended. All the suitable suggestions get cut up & put into the appropriate jar along with the free days I've found & the night before they take it in turns to pull a suggestion for the next days activities from the jars. This way they have an input into what they are doing.

I'm creating a fairy garden at my parents house where Olivia loves to play. I've bought 2 fairy doors, 6 fairy solar lights, 2 little plaques for next to the doors with fairies leaning against them & one has the word 'believe' & the other 'secret garden'. I've also got a little stake which says 'tread carefully, fairies sleep here'. Olivia will love tiptoeing around it & telling everyone to shush so they don't wake the fairies

Look for free days out in your area - oh and lots of arts & crafts days & baking

with our 2 (7 /5) we decide at the start of each week what we will do everyday...great fun letting them decide, we have 1 day out which we pay for ie cinema or museum and fast food. the rest of th week, sandwiches/picnic and freshair, seaside for collecting shells and oddments washed up to paint or craft, the woods to find squirrels and wildlife, park for leaf hunting again to paint and mak collages later, garden for picnic and help with the weeding lol not everyweek. and 1 day crafting...great fun and lovely to give grandparents pics etc for their house lol

I talk to the kids at the beginning of summer and make a list of things they want to do. We use this to spread our holiday fun throughout the 6 weeks!
If it all goes wrong we go to Nanny's! Ha!

Get out as often as possible. It doesn't have to cost anything. A walk in the park with a picnic, a trip to the beach to catch crabs, a bug expedition. However it is also important that kids understand down time and the need to entertain themselves so try and encourage this daily for an hour or so.

It doesn't all have to be expensive. In the run up to the holidays collect cardboard boxes and little items that can be used for treasure hunts.

Cardboard boxes can be used for all sorts of crafts, you can make castles, dens and even your own theatre out of them.

We often do treasure hunts - around the garden, woods and even the house when it is wet - you can even throw in a couple of chores without them realising.

Baking is also a good one - or making your own 'easy pizza' with a tortilla wrap as a base.

We have bought 3 chickens and are showing the kids how to look after them properly - and we're all eagerly awaiting that all important first egg.

We'll then move on to everything you can cook with an egg (hopefully we'll have plenty of laying!)