Life,  Parenting,  Travel

Keeping Kids Entertained in the School Holidays*

August 11, 2017 /

If you live in England this week sees you half way through the summer holidays. Sad huh? Half the parents out there will be dreading the day they ship their precious little ones back to school (me), the other half can’t wait to watch their kids skip in and rush home to put the flags out (my sister). Unfortunately the weather just hasn’t been great this summer. Where I live it’s rained most days (yeah, I’m the idiot who left the washing out over night and it poured) and even if we do get some sun it’s just waiting to sneak attack you with more rain while you’re out having fun. Nice. So whether you’re have a perfect angel or a little monster, lets face it. by this point in the summer we’re all going a little stir crazy. So today I’m sharing 5 ways to keep the kids busy over the last few weeks of summer;

Let the House Get Messy
School is out for summer, I know these days it’s so important to have an Instagram worthy house, but for once let the kids make a mess. They’re only small for once. As long as your house is clean who cares if you have PVA glue collages hanging from surfaces to dry (my current kitchen), who cares if you have Lego sets on the sitting room floor for 3 straight days (yep, done that), who cares if you have a pillow and blanket fort instead of a made up bed in your kids bedroom (the plan for today because it’s raining), if the kids are happy and busy you should be happy! Your house can look like a show home when they go back to school. Make, bake, build.. there are so many things you can do with your kids indoors if you just embrace the mess. Why not get them involved in decluttering if you want to make a mess but still be productive? My nephew LOVED helping declutter his bedroom the other week.

Run Off Some Energy
It’s not raining for once, get out the house! Summer is the time. Pack a picnic (and ponchos) and head to the beach for a few hours, take a ball, take a bat, get them to run and plan and enjoy the sea air. If you don’t live anywhere near a beach (I always forget not everyone is as lucky as we are) head to the local park. If you have older kids, why not have them go out on their bikes or scooters? Or if you have a dog get them to go for a run with them. Fresh air does wonders for excitable children. If they behave on the way home treat them to a quick tea, if you live by the seaside get fish and chips, if you’re not so lucky grab a pizza. It’s a fab treat that serves a purpose meaning you don’t have to cook when you get home. Just bundle them in the bath then off to bed!

Explore Local Attractions
See what’s on in your local area. Facebook often has a page full of events near you, or simply ask google. Nearly every single weekend this summer there has been something on in our area, from family fun days, to galas, sporting events and even a couple of festivals! I’m hoping the rain stops this weekend so we can go to the local Seaside Festival, next weekend we have a rowing regata and the Lifeboat Fete, then at the end of the summer we have the Food & Beer festival. If you live in the city check out libraries, museums and even the cinema for family friendly activities. Most of them have something on almost daily and a lot of them are free. Next Tuesday we’re taking the kids to a Pets at Home event that’s completely free, you just book your kids a place. LM can’t wait to get up close to some fluffies! We’ve visited the chocolate parlour, the local museum, the arcade, the garden centre in our town and travelled 40 minutes up the road to East Links which I’ll be reviewing next week.

Make Your Own Cinema
It’s not feasible to go out and spend loads of money every day, so aside from allowing LM to trash my house with various creative endeavours I have to find activities that cost little but are entertaining, and one of our personal favourites is making a home cinema. As I’ve mentioned above we’ve had a lot of rain which has resulted in watching a lot of Disney movies. I move the furniture around so the sofa is lined up with the TV (but not too close) draw the curtains, make popcorn and put it into individual buckets and we get comfy. We pick a movie each and get settled for the afternoon. We’re getting close to having watched all of the Disney Classic movies and it’s been great as LM has chosen different ones to watch and has even found some new favourites.

Have a Day or Weekend Away
The best way to break up the summer holidays is to have some time away from home if you budget allows. Before our break to Disneyland Paris we’re spending a day in London doing some more site seeing. This is LM’s 3rd time in London this year and she’s really enjoying it. It’s a great city with so much to see and do, I even know people who live there and never run out of ways to spend their day off. If you’re visiting as a tourist AttractionTix have launched a fab new ticket, perfect for families visiting the Big Smoke called The London BIG Ticket. It gives you entry to 6 of London’s most exciting attractions. This pass will save you over 50% compared to buying on the gate at each individual attraction. Once you have your ticket you can visit the attractions over a 90 day period! I love this because it means you can come back within the 3 month period and do some more exploring. The London BIG ticket includes entry to Shrek’s Adventure, The London Dungeon, Madame Tussauds, The London Eye, The London Aquarium and the London Eye River Cruise.

I have worked with AttractionTix on a number of occasions and they’re a fab company if you’re looking for tickets to big attractions both in the UK and around the world including Disneyland, Walt Disney World and Disneyland Paris. They offer competitive prices and convenient e-tickets you can print out and hand over when you arrive at the attraction. They’re a great option for parents looking to book tickets for the summer to keep those kiddos entertained.

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