How do you keep your children entertained during the festive holidays? Share with NOW TV - chance to win £300 NOW CLOSED

[AnnMumsnet]

The couple of weeks (or so) holiday from school at Christmas time can be a long slog once the ‘big day’ is out of the way, especially if the weather is not very kind.

NOW TV would love to know your top tips on keeping the children entertained during the winter school break - do you brave the sales, snuggle up for a movie afternoon, encourage long wintery walks or dig deep and go to soft play? How about some baking or crafts? What about older children? Do you limit device time or allow them some extra time with their tablets? When do you get any holiday homework done? What do your children like doing in the Christmas holidays?

NOW TV say “'With NOW TV, we have a host of family movies lined up for the festive period - from Frozen to The Polar Express and even the classic Sound of Music! Families can also enjoy newer movies like Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them and The Lego Batman Movie - all from the comfort of their own front room'

Whatever your tip or best advice for other parents, add it below and you will be entered into a prize draw where one person will win a £300 voucher for the store of choice - from a list.

Thanks and good luck
MNHQ

Standard Insight T and Cs Apply

We only allow them 90 minutes of supervised computer time

Long walks with our Labrador. Plenty of winter crafts and movies with great snacks.

I think variety is the answer. We will spend time going out for walks, swimming, and bike rides. But we will also spend time indoors, watching films, doing crafts, building lego, or playing games.
For some reason, currently both of my children are very keen on monopoly.

We mainly watch movies and play on the games consoles, we also invite their friends over nearer to the end of the holiday period! :)

They get a wee bit of money for Xmas from some relatives and us, we tell them to save half and they can spend half if they want, so we have a day at the sales, get them to tidy their rooms for their new presents, watch some movies and they generally chill and enjoy a couple of lazy days in pj's, not me, i'm working throughout.

We tend to get the homework out of the way asap so we can all enjoy christmas without nagging and moaning! Our son is a teenager now, but when he was younger we did lots of activities like making christmas wrapping paper and tags etc, painting, gluing, the usual playing with friends.

My top tip for younger kids is to put a small tent up or make one out of bedsheets and let them do messy stuff like painting in there - far easier to wash a sheet or two or wipe down a tent afterwards and then they can spend ages getting really messy and enjoying themselves - aaaah those were the days.... if you say your kids can have their own special little buffet in there they will even clean it up with you! i love it when a plan comes together!

To be honest, the time goes so quickly! Long walks with the dogs, baking, taking the time to make extra nice dinners, some craft, and a visit to the panto!

Baking
Art & craft
Drawing / colouring / painting

• all Christmas related of course!

Plus watching festive TV / films Visiting Santa Going to the Christmas markets / shops

It's a lovely time of year!

Baking
Art & craft
Drawing / colouring / painting

• all Christmas related of course!

Plus watching festive TV / films Visiting Santa Going to the Christmas markets / shops

It's a lovely time of year!

Cheap and Cheerful, kids don't think of the money at an early age, so we bake cupcakes, make Christmas cards as they love sticky stuff and glitter, and afternoons on the sofa with a drinking chocolate and a nice family film they love.

Crafting baking games or a lovely walk in the park

We try to add variety to the holidays - lots of walking to get outdoor sunshine and daylight, we watch films together, read books, do colouring in and take part in role playing games

games console for us - the switch this year...

PLAY BOARD GAMES AS A FAMILY AND WATCH MOVIES WITH TREATS

Lots of winter walks, visiting the relatives, catching some festive movies and lots of home baking (sausage rolls, scotch eggs, cheese straws etc) are the order of the day in our house.

It's easy to keep Olivia entertained, she loves to help trim up for Christmas & to help baking cakes & cookies & then obviously after Christmas she will have so many toys & games to play with

Winter walks on the beach, good movies, arts and crafts for those that like it and Lego for those that don't.

crafts always go down well in our house. We also like baking and my daughter is animal mad so we spend time making bird suet to feed the birds in the garden which she loves

Lots of cheap things that you can do that are festive like board games, film nights in etc and just having lots of ideas for different moods!

Variety and remembering to just relax and play board games and other stress free activities

i encourage them to make home made decorations like paper chains etc and this keeps them entertained for hours

We try and get out for a walk at least once a day and some days, we bake, we make sweets, make Christmas tags or just curl up and watch a movie.

I plan lots of Christmas decoration craft themed activities and we bake lots of Christmas biscuit which the children can then decorate over the course of a couple of days and give to family and our neighbours.

Christmas day is family time, no TV, no gaming, no gadgets. Old fashioned fun & games is the law!

I madhya sure we gave some of those 'just add an egg' baking kits in for any emergency bored moments. The almost three year old has started to grasp a few board games so that will make life easier. If we do hit soft play we do it first thing!