10 Cheap Activities to Do With Your Child This Summer

If you follow my personal Instagram account you may have caught my moan about how hard I was finding this summer. I have to admit it’s the first summer I’ve really struggled, usually I can’t wait to have time with LM. I have to admit, this year although I’m not bored of her and she isn’t driving me up the wall, I am feeling incredibly unfulfilled that I’m not giving her the time of her life. I do think, like with everything, social media has a part to play in this. I see all these families doing amazing things and we’re doing the same routine every day and I feel like we’re both bored by week 3. I don’t have the money to constantly go to the nearest city, or sign her up for a summer camp and the National Trust sites around our town cost a fortune! I just feel like i’m letting her down.

I know, I know, this is a first world problem, some parents would love a job as flexible as mine so they could spend every day with their kids (I work while she’s asleep) but here I am, struggling. Because mentally I’m not in the greatest of places and when that happens, I panic I’m not good enough to be her mum.

So this morning I got up and gave myself a kick up the bottom (metaphorically as I don’t think I can physically do it) and I plan on making the last 2 weeks the best summer ever. I’ve been researching like mad some cheap and free activities we can do this summer, as well and pencilling in a few days out. Germolene have put together a great downloadable guide called 90 Days of Summer that’s filled with loads of easily accessible activities for the summer, whether you have an hour spare or a whole day to fill, and it’s really helped me plan for the next 2 weeks. Lets face it, the end of the holidays are the hardest as you’ve got no money left! Here are some of my favourites that I’m planning on doing with LM;

Fly a Kite
LM has a kite my mum bought for her last summer and we’ve only taken it out once. We live on the coast so there is a constant sea breeze. I hadn’t even thought about heading out to a grassy area and flying it, it’s something we haven’t done in ages so I know she’ll enjoy it and feel like it’s a real treat.

Garden Fun
When LM was really little we only ever played in the garden. I don’t have a big garden and because we live on a hill there are no outdoor toys due to the winds we get in the winter (my fence gets blown down yearly, I can’t imagine what it would do to a wendy house!) so we kind of forget it’s there. We have a load of things we could play with outdoors, from big chalks, to skittles and skipping ropes! With the weather we’re having we should really make more use of the garden.

Go to the Splash Park
We’ve done the beach, and the park, but not the splash park! My mum is totally against it but while she’s on holiday I’m going to get LM kitted out for the day (with some beach shoes as those splash parks can be slippy) and take a picnic. Out splash park is free and I can set up camp to watch her. If you can’t get to a splash park create your own with water guns and a paddling pool!

Home Cinema
Not one listed in the guide, but one suggested to me on Instagram, on a rainy day, have a cinema. Get some popcorn in (the kind you can make in the microwave of course) and pick a movie we haven’t watched in ages. Pull the sofa so it’s lined up with the TV like in a real cinema. We’ll maybe even have a crack at making our own popcorn toppings!

Grow
One of the things we did do this summer was make LM’s Fairy Garden that she got for Christmas, she spent hours doing it and now carefully trims the grass every day. I raided my cupboard this morning and it turns out I have a lot of random things to grow (I have great ideas when we’re in Poundland but never get around to doing any of it). LM loves gardening, she clearly takes after my mum, so I think this could be a lot of fun!

Paint Some Rocks then Hide Them
It seems to be a growing trend at the moment to paint rocks and then hide them. I honestly had no idea this was a thing until LM found a painted rock and my mum explained the whole thing. This is something we could do in the morning before heading out in the afternoon and finding places to leave them. LM loves doing nice things for people so it could be right up her street.

Snap Happy
For her 5th birthday I got LM a Kiddizoom camera with a memory card. It’s in a box in her bedroom forgotten about. Inspired by the 90 Days of Summer who suggest giving your kids a disposable camera, I’m going to get some batteries for her camera and head out on a walk around our town. We’ve done it a million times but taking her own camera could give her a new perspective!

Nature Art
Another way to make a simple walk fun, take one of LM’s many Easter baskets, collects some leaves, flowers, stones and then come home to make a collage. We had very little money when I was a kid and I loved doing this! We used to go out for walks with my Nanny to give my mum a break and she’d have us collect stuff we could use to make art. My Nanny still does this which is the sweetest thing!

Visit Relatives
Another one not in the guide, but I just thought of it while writing about my Nanny, visit relatives. Because I get super anxious visiting people or asking to visit, we rarely do it. But the change of scenery and attention from someone other than me could be just what Little Miss needs. It also shows her how important it is to take time for you family.

Take the Bus
We live quite far from civilization (I often refer to our town as Narnia, it even has it’s own weather system!) but there are buses that leave from here and go all around our county, including over the Border into Scotland and down into Durham. They’re also pretty cheap at £6 for a day ticket. I’m planning on a day trip and i’ve already been looking up places to eat in Durham! If we can’t get away on holiday we need to have days that feel like a treat!

Writing this list down has really helped me feel a lot more positive about the next three weeks, hopefully I can give her some amazing memories that she can go back to school and write about!

If you need some more inspiration on how to keep kids of all ages entertained this summer, definitely give the 90 Days of Summer guide a download, it helped me so much!

I was sent the bag in return for writing this post to help inspire a summer of fun, all views and opinions are my own.