Keeping children happy and engaged during the school holidays doesn’t need to cost a lot of money. If you do a quick search on line, you can often find free places to visit, or free events in your area. Here are a few other ideas for activities during the school holidays to stop your children, or grandchildren from being bored.
Outdoors & Active
Nature treasure hunt
Make a list of things to find. I put. On things like a feather, something blue, a smooth stone, something you can eat, etc. They can learn about foraging at the same time.
Bike/scooter adventure
I pick a route with a ‘mission’.
We count bridges, find ducks or geese, spot trees that we can forage apples from later in the year We usually end with a picnic. The canal or woodland paths and parks are our favourite place to go.
DIY sports day
This can be done in the garden or a park. Hold an egg-and-spoon race, a 3 legged, or wheel barrow race. It can be done with a timer if not many people. Maybe you could make an obstacle course. A long jump is easy to organise as well.
Miniture garden.
On a paper plate make a miniture garden with what you find, and some additional extras. I use a little mirror for a pool, berries as veg, and moss as grass, etc.
Rainy Day Ideas
Cinema afternoon
Let them organise it. They could make tickets, make home made popcorn, or ice cream. Free extras make it feel special.
Junk modelling.
Look at what is in the recycling bin and challenge them to build something from it like a robot, castle, marble or toy car run. Things like cereal boxes, toilet roll holders, milk cartons and plastic tubs can make a variety of things.
Indoor treasure hunt.
Write clues on bits of paper (draw pictures for young children). My grandson likes to have a treasure map.
Baking.
Let them making the snacks for the week. My grandson loves making pizza faces, and chocolate crispy buns. He is a toddler but loves to help me bake.
Creative & Educational
Library trip
Many local libraries run free half-term crafts or story sessions.
Free museums
A lot of museums are free-entry and often add children’s activities during school holidays.
Kitchen science
Do easy experiments with the children, eg. A float or sink game, a baking soda volcano, homemade slime, or rainbow milk experiment.
Easy “Get Out of the House” Ideas
Train or plane spotting picnic. My grandson loves seeing local steam trains and likes to picnic on a hill where we can see the local airport run way. We talk about travel, countries, and he learns capital cities.
Visit a farm shop or garden centre
We visited a garden centre the other day that had free sand pits and a playground. I took our own picnic. We have another one near us that has a big fish pond and animals. There is also a farm shop where you can feed the animals for £1 each.
Geocaching
This is a free app-based treasure hunt outdoors. Great for walks with a purpose.
There are so many free activities. Although it seems the norm now to pay for a day out, it doesn’t have to be. Simple things entertain. One of my grandson’s favourite games is to knock over tin cans with bean bags, and he loves to lead a walk. Children don’t mind walking if it has a purpose. We will collect pine cones in the woods and then make firelighters. Sometimes we walk to forage brambles, apples, or elderflowers. Many times he is just happy going to a different park, or splashing in a stream on a hot day.
School holidays are a good time to pass our knowledge and skills on to our children and grand children. I remember having lots of fun playing as a child with my grandparents, but we only ever got a paid activity if we went away on a holiday. What is your favourite frugal activity to do with the children during half term?
