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.

Everyone who posts on the thread will be entered into a prize draw to win a £300 Love2Shop voucher!

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Thanks and good luck

MNHQ

I've found that planning different things to do each day has kept my boys happy and they hav enjoyed plenty of time outdoors too

We get cooking! We set a budget say £10.00 for the week, and buy our ingredients, and see how many different dishes we can make from what we've bought. It's a great way to get kids cooking. Nobody turns down a delicious, chocolatey, cornflake cake, or some home made curry! We also grow our own herbs too.

We Have an arts and craft day and get some canvas and paints, they can be bought in bargain shops for as little as a pound and use paints or crayons and the kids can hang up their creations in their rooms, In the evenings get the kids to design a game that you can make the next day - give them ideas to keep it simple such as a paper boat race in the paddling pool or homemade skittles using a tennis ball and empty toilet rolls.

plenty of planning beforehand

join lots of local facebook groups that list whats going. We've found loads of free things running that we wouldn't have otherwise known about

have a list of things to do you want to complete by the end of summer with your child and try to complete it by the time they go back to school. Our list had day trips, painting, reading certain books, watching certain films, cinema, bowling trips. We made sure we had a down time too to chill out!

We go the parks for picnic's and do crafts at home, we have so much fun,

Make the most of the good weather, when it's sunny go out! Whether it's to the park, for a walk or a day trip to the zoo :) If the weather is bad and you're stuck in doors tearing your hair out cause the kids are going barmy then try baking or making things, paper mache is always fun and takes hours!

We survive by planning a small trip out and an activity at home each day. For example, a typical day might include a morning at the park followed by an afternoon playing with the water table in the garden.

Find a regular activity. There's a playscheme here which has something for kids of all ages. It's a godsend.

Just relax and take it as it comes!
If you were planning a picnic and it rains, have one indoors instead!

Plan, plan and plan! Keep track of when events will be happening on a big calendar, use local papers, leaflets, Internet etc to identify them. Then on a Sunday evening sit down, pull up the weather forecast and work out plans for the week - where are you going, what are you doing, what are you eating. Days without special events can be filled with parks, friends, picnics and kite flying etc. Makes life so much easier to get up in the morning and know what needs doing and hoe you are entertaining the kids each day.

Take advantage of Theatre month - kids go for free

Luckily we have woods behind our house so they can get out there and build dens, climb trees, dam the stream etc. They get pretty mucky, but we don't fret about that!

My best tip for enjoying the summer holidays is to relax and enjoy being with your children. Don't put yourself under too much pressure by planning every day and whatever you do, don't look at Facebook any social networking site as all you will see is post after post of all the amazing things that other mums do with their children, making you feel totally inadequate.

Go to the local park and swing alongside the children, and jump in puddles with them when it's raining (that'll be every day then). The children will enjoy having a happy, relaxed mum instead of one who stresses because things haven't gone to plan.

I'm off now to take my own advice

Geocaching is a fun way to get the kids out and about, exploring new places and getting them thinking too.

We invested in a second hand trampoline, its been great for sunny days. Lots of picnics in the garden or in the lounge with a makeshift tent made with some big blankets.

Weather does affect our plans , but generally will book dd into a dance summer school which she loves, then generally we will have a weeks holiday. The rest of the weeks we like to get the fliers from our local train station and visit places that we like the look of :-)

look for free events to enjoy.have a pack of art and craft materials and puzzlebookssaved ready for rainy days.share play days with friends so that all parents get a break.

The secret for me is other children. It almost doesn't matter what they do so long as they have a mix of company. So invite in a few of their friends around (giving their parents a break) and having a few kids will be no more effort than have just yours but they will be more easily entertained. Plus the added bonus is that then the other parents will invite them back giving them more entertainment .... and a break for you.

I make a timetable with loads of activities. so far we done
fruit picking
local farm
treasure hunt
picnic at the park
bbq at home
we have planned to do
baking
making handmade cards for Christmas
dressing up
gardening
visiting her nana in north wales.

it doesn't cost you a fortune if you plan well and my daughter loves getting up first thing in the morning and checking the timetable. she is very excited.

If you are lucky enough to live in the countryside like we are then there are always lots of things to do that will cost next to nothing, we go on walks in Norfolk and as we also live not far from the coast we often go on coastal walks and get to see seals on the beach in some areas, join local event groups on facebook (if there are any in your area, if not why not create a group for people to add events to) we have found plenty to do with the children via Facebook groups and you cannot beat recommendations

Don't put too much pressure on yourself. YOu don't have to go out every day, enjoy PJ days and not having to drag the kids out of bed with a few special days put that don't cost the earth.

We love to go see family and go on lots of walks, fruit picking, picnics, watch DVDs together, fly kites, go the beach, lots of things that are fun and money saving. As having three kids can be very costly

Look out for deals on deal websites like Groupon and try to do as much "free" stuff as possible like visits to the park and beach.