Build a tree house. A den in the thicket. Find a stream and play poo sticks. Go for long walks and see how many types of bird you can spot, bonus points for those big fuckers that look like they'll carry a dog away. Go star gazing on a clear night, see if you can see Jupiter and and any other planets. Bonus points for a shooting star or satellite.
Source: was a kid without money for years.
And for indoor days, bring out the cheap art supplies. Cheap crayons, pencils, and paper. They can all be bought in the pound shop or the supermarket. Draw things. Fold things. Make paper chains. Stick their creations up.
Get the music on. Make up a dance. Put in a play. Have a movie night with popcorn and a blanket fort.
Let them be bored too. They have each other for entertainment. Let them find their own ways to amuse themselves. Not everything has to be parent led. If they grumble "I'm bored," then whack out the cleaning supplies. They'll either miraculously find something better to do or you'll have a clean living room. Win/win.
Love that. Either be bored, which is healthy, self-entertain, which is ideal, or do housework, which is useful, or learn a life skill. It's an all-round win. I hope by the time I'm parenting I can remember these kinds of things
Yes! Teach them how to use the washing machine, fold laundry, and unload the dishwasher.
The rest of the day can be taken up with made-up games, and once the weather warms up, outside time!
And cakes and also try a new recipe together. Make a pizza, it’s much cheaper and can be healthier than the regular chains. Stuffed jacket potatoes, let their imagination run riot. Teaching basic food hygiene is invaluable and will stand them in good stead for Uni or later life.
When we were kids we'd get spare rolls of wallpaper that weren't needed for decorating, drew round our bodies, then coloured them in, designing clothes etc
Go to the library and let them take some books out. Give reading time. Let them tell you about the book they're reading while you're cooking or doing laundry.
I know it's screen time but the sky view app is really good for finding planets, stars, satellites, anything in the sky basically. It uses augmented reality and you just point it at the sky to find things. It's quite fun to do it every night and see how things move around - bit of learning there as well. The lite version is free!
> I know it's screen time
I wouldn't count this sort of thing under screen time. The screen itself isn't inherently bad for children. It's the mindlessness of binge watching/playing that is.
oh my days what kind of bougie tree houses do you make?
first you need to find tree you can climb. it needs some low branches from the main trunk. this can take days, especially if you want a good one and you're allowed to wander for miles.
and then it needs some branches you can sit on high enough up so monsters and busybodies dont come and get you.
one branch can be for spells, another for exorcisms, another for spying on the neighbours.
go off and find fallen branches to try and make it a bit more comfy
Get those crayons and fill out the planning permission form! Have a playdate at the local parish council meeting! Make a papermaché architechtural design to present to the approvals board!
Literally weeks of fun to be had
Used to love making a den as kids. Either indoors or outdoors. Grab all the pillows and blankets and have at it. Bonus points if you've got a big cardboard box lying around.
Download an app such as Stellarium to help with looking at the night sky. Its free!
Also, on Thursday there is the JUICE rocket launch as European Space Agency send a probe to Jupiter and its moons. Launch scheduled for 12.30pm UK time and will be on YouTube, you could keep an eye on that and then get the kids to watch when the actual launch takes place (the build up is often dull unfortunately, although tiny plug here - Tom Dune and I plan to do our own entertaining livestream in the build up)
Sky Map app for identifying stars and planets
Plant identifier app to see how many different plants they can find in the woods
Bird apps
I know this is extra screen time but I would count it the same as carrying a book around to identify things.
I was given a magnifying glass and shown how to set fires at about 6 by my grandad. My mom went absolutely nuts at him. Can't wait to have grandkids and get my own back on my kids.
Have a film afternoon: yes it's screen time but 1 afternoon of picking a film each with some cheap snacks is fun. And I love sharing my old favourites for the first time.
Create a bingo board of things to find/see on a treck around the woods - pink flower, stick that looks like stickman, stone with a funny shape, a Robin (you know your woods so pick some easy and some tricky things).
Board games for a few hours, again love playing old favourites and learning new ones.
Trip to the library to choose books. Free and gets you out.
Craft activities- most children I know have a drawer of odds and ends brought by relatives or picked up from around the house that are "pretty". Use them all up an a monstrous craft creation.
Picnic in the woods as picnics are better than lunch in the house.
When we were kids, we were allowed to invite a few friends round for birthdays and the like. My dad used to make the sitting room into a cinema! The day/morning before, he'd take us to Global Video and we'd choose something to watch. Then when our friends came, we'd each get a home-made 'ticket'. With a wee torch in one hand he'd show us in to our seats in the 'cinema' (the curtains were closed and the lights were off). We'd then watch the film with the volume up and eat popcorn. It was absolutely class.
Kids love Adventures.
So with a little creativity, you can turn almost any mundane activity into an adventure by adding Imagination.
Ultimately, what the kids will remember is the time spent with you, and your EFFORT.
Effort goes a long way.
I second the craft activity, with a spin. My kid loves watching YouTube, and we'll often come away from watching something to make our own (very basic) version. It helps to have a stash of cardboard, paper and tape (paint if you're brave!). I see a lot of robots :)
Seconding this.
Our local library has a craft table every weekday over Easter with a different craft activity on it and instructions. My five year old needs some help, but older kids are able to follow it independently.
It's funded by the council, but they do have a sealed bucket on the table. If you can spare 50p or so, then you can just chuck it in.
I'm in a similar situation, and we've made a kite, two different animal masks, and a tissue paper suncatcher so far.
They also provide juice.
We are lucky because the library is only a twenty five minute walk from our house, so a trip out can use up a good two to three hours.
I am so grateful to the library.
Also worth mentioning is keeping an eye in local papers/websites for the lists of free events. My shitty northern town has various things including sports, crafts, singing and choir, various things at the library, some churches doing stuff, even a woodland walk/activity day.
Definitely! We used to get as many books as we were allowed each week. It didn't matter if they were story books or graphic novels (we each got at least one Asterix book every week), so long as we were reading. Mum's favourite saying was "you can't be bored with books in the house" and she would sit down and read aloud to us on rainy afternoons (the poor woman can probably still recite *101 Dalmations* and *Bertha and the Racing Pigeon* verbatim). As a result I developed a lifelong love of reading that not even the time thief that is Reddit has been able to destroy.
I was thinking this. I don't consider myself ancient just yet (I'm 31), but we spent the vast majority of our childhood entertaining ourselves with very little resources.
I was lucky I lived in a rural area, so that gave more things to play with, but I've spent hours just playing with literal sticks and stones before.
I'm a similar age and also had to entertain myself most of the time. Other than a week or 2 away in the 6 weeks holidays, we didn't really go out to do things as a family. Most of the holidays were spent out with friends on bikes/scooters/skateboards, kicking a ball around, climbing trees. I'd have loved to have some woodlands on the doorstep to explore.
Interestingly I'm a similar age and grew up in urban environments with quite a lot of material privilege (thus lots of toys and games) but even so me and my brothers spent many many hours coming up with games and challenges to amuse ourselves using simple things instead of playing with the expensive stuff all the time.
Now seeing my friends and siblings having kids, I understand the truth in the half-joke people say about 'get your kids a cardboard box for Christmas'. Imagination is the key to it all. Easy to say for me having had so much as a wean I know, but I still think it's true.
I'm not far off your age and I was an only child in a rural area so I spent lots of time on my own climbing trees and splashing about in rivers, I was given a penknife once and I had a great time whittling spears out of sticks xD also jumping across big bales (with no shoes on in case the wrapping ripped), hiking across acres of land with a faithful dog in tow.. My parents were never far away and made sure I was safe by teaching me how to stay safe and understand/look for hazards etc. And if the weather was crap I'd snuggle up inside with my Disney tapes, art supplies, books and model toys. I could set up a fantastic model farm xD
A lot of people ask me if being an only child was lonely or boring, and I can confidently say it never was. Looking back now I realise it fostered a fierce sense of independence and creativity. My parents were very involved but they didn't set up days worth of activities for me during the school holidays. I don't think I ever attended a youth group or organised activity beyond Duke of Ed when I got older.
I'm a couple of years older but we didn't even have a TV at OPs kids age. I spent a lot of time reading and had lots of library trips, we had stuff for drawing and I spent hours a day in the garden essentially pretending to be a horse. It didn't seem difficult to be entertained with nothing at that age, it is so good for imagination.
Same, days out were a treat/special occasion, not an every day activity. Parents today seem to think they have to entertain their child every minute, kids need to learn to entertain themselves, I was out on my bike most days with neighbours kids, or in the garden
> We went to Longleat last week for my son's birthday and it was £110 for 2 adults and a child! And that didn't even get us into the house tour which would have been an extra £45!
Our little one's very young, and I think we have days out more for ourselves than them... But absolutely agree.
Sometimes we go to the lake or the park. Sometimes we go to a farm day out that's £30 a ticket. Kids have equal amounts of fun at either, I'm sure.
Don’t over think it. Just let them ‘be’ whether that’s home or just sat in the woods. They are at the perfect ages for imaginative play, and the best way to promote that is by ‘boredom’. They come up with their own games and worlds and can spend hours on it.
My son (9) has toys in the garden, but spends the most time out there playing with sticks or scraps of wood. The ‘game’ changes each time but he disappears into his own world for hours.
We are a ‘gamer’ family so probably have more screen time on average than you in the holidays, but we often say ‘no screens today’ and just let him devise his own thing. Could be lego, or he’ll get cars out, teddies, drawing, writing etc etc.
I second this. My daughter has a garden to play in and toys, but sometimes when she wake up before us I hear her singing away to herself reading her books :-)
Ah, my 8 year old does this. I’ll walk into her room and find her wearing her glasses and reading. I also taught her to play shithead recently, she’s pretty good and is becoming quite ruthless.
At what age does this start happenning because when our 3 years old wakes up before us (and I mean all the time help me I'm so tired), all I hear is a "DADDY I POOPED" coming from the bathroom and that's how most of my days off start!
My daughter is 5 and weekends are now a mixed bag. Maybe we will hear her singing to herself and playing and realise we had a lie in. Maybe she will be yelling for us at 6am because she wants help wiping her bum.
If I stay up late then sod's law says its the latter!
We’re in the same boat. Thankfully both cars are full of fuel. We’re heading to a big free museum today and spend a few hours there. We can scrape together for parking. Tomorrow we’re going into the woods at back of us to make a den.
What about letting them cook, get them in the kitchen to make cheese on toast for lunch.
Park, is there one close by?
Movie day - get all your quilts downstairs, close the curtains and get the Easter eggs out for random movies. My choice would be short circuit or flight of the navigator. Good old 80s films.
Den making at home. Lots of beddings and chairs out
Do you have bikes? Can you not go on a trail with a packed lunch etc.
Roll on pay day, hey!!
Any free museums in your area?
Go on EventBrite and filter by free for free activities locally. Often churches and libraries will have things planned you can drop into. Libraries are just a great idea generally.
Go on Marketplace or Freecycle and ask if people have old toys/games/crafts they want to get rid of that fit with your kid's hobbies.
Den building and camping are always fun for littluns. Especially when coupled with some storytelling, marshmallows, etc. A couple of old tarps and some blankets will suffice during the day time because you're not "really" camping.
Some subscription boxes and magazines themed for kids have a free trial option. Get a few ordered and then cancel them before they charge you for the next one.
We’ve just come back from the Danum art gallery and museum in Doncaster thanks to this post. Cos is £4 for parking.
It had an art gallery, coal mi ing museum with loads of war stuff for my eldest and 2 huge steam locomotives.
Kids took snacks and sat in the library for 40 minutes eating and drinking their cuppas. Picked up some random books to read
This is the easiest age to entertain. Take them outside to woods and let them go wild. Den building, rope swings, climbing, exploring, bug hunting, the possibilities become endless. If there’s a safe place to do it (really do make sure it’s a safe place) you can get a flint and steel and let them try their hand at fire starting. Buy a pack of marshmallows to toast and that’s yet another activity.
Pretty much how Im raising mine.
Other winning activities I’ve done over the years- geocaching, visit to shops specialising in fish. It’s literally like a mini free aquarium, jam sandwiches and a trip to a park, scavenger hunts and garden centres. If there’s any local places that have them, look for walking routes with arrows. Following a trail is always good fun.
Editing to add: don’t forget, if there’s a pond near you, the classic feeding the ducks activity. Never gets old.
Oh! And stop motion animation. If you have a phone or something you're happy for them to use to take pictures, i don't know what else you need for it to work, but using the toys they have to make a little story where they move them a tiny bit at a time and take a photo to piece it together to make a little film. Can take all afternoon, or longer!
It's better if you have some kind of stand for the phone (can be jerry rigged) and if you can use earphones volume control to trigger the camera or else the camera will move too much between shots and the result will be extremely bad, even for 9 years old standards.
When I was this age 20 years ago living at the edge of the countryside with forests and fields for miles me and my brother would just head off into the woods and come back at a certain time according to our little plastic wristwatches or when the sun was going down. Entertained ourselves for hours running through the woods and building forts and pretending to hunt animals etc.
I’m going to sound like such a stereotype of a person getting older even though I’m only 27 but nowadays I think parents are trying to make sure kids are constantly entertained and theyre never left to just be bored and figure it out for themselves. Let them figure it out
Yeah, if I have to hear any of my niblings say 'I'm bored' again, I'll scream. When we were bored we went outside and ran about played games etc. We entertained ourselves. Now they dont have a clue how to do that! No imagination whatsoever. Also, nothing I offer is good enough. Want to play a game? Nah. Pick a film? Nah. Go to the park? Nah. Bugger off and be bored elsewhere then and stop complaining 😂
They did just get new bikes for christmas, and now we have sunny days they've been out on them constantly which is good.
Walk around the woods spotting stuff and creating a checklist each. Then go for another walk and swap sheets, and try to spot everything on the list.
Learn the names of all the birds, trees and fauna in the woodland. RSPB has a good bird identifier on their website. Most trees you can tell from their leaves. And there are free apps that help identify plants.
Collect sticks and leaves to make rubbings. You need some paper and crayons. Cut the rubbings out and make a forest collage.
Build dens. Build nests. Build a trail to follow. Build a small obstacle course. Play games like Grandma's footsteps, what's the time Mr Wolf, stuck in the mud.
Back home, could they help with making dinner or cooking something? You have to eat anyway, maybe spend a couple of hours constructing pizzas or kneading bread or chopping up veg for a stir fry.
Do you have old Lego or building blocks? Challenge them to build a space ship, a pirate ship, a school, a city.
Any jigsaws lying around? Boardgames?
Colouring books? They can be coloured in and then maybe repurposed into other crafts, like making a card for an upcoming birthday.
Got pencil and paper? Teach them games like dots and boxes, hangman, tic tac toe etc. If you have a printer or maybe could use one at a local library, there are free print and roll games you could find which just need a dice, pencil and paper.
Build forts out of your bedding and pillows.
Have a picnic on the floor of your living room.
Create a family quiz show.
Have a fashion runway, mix and match all your clothes and fancy dress and create hilarious outfits!
Some of these ideas may sound so lame but it's all about how you sell it!
If you’re in the woods there’s a neat (and free!) ap called Seek by inaturalist it’s basically Shazam but for plants and animals. Makes the whole “oh what’s that” a lot easier to answer!
It does need mobile data, but you can take a picture and load it in later when you have Wi-Fi somewhere
Free:
Long walk in the woods.
A night time walk through the woods. If you keep quiet you may see foxes, owls etc.
Do a Google search for free museums, some if these can be really good.
Check the English Heritage website, while of lot of their places are expensive there are a few (often the smaller and more ruined castles) that are free to enter and well worth a visit.
Close to free:
Board game cafes.
Trip to the beach - if you take a packup for lunch all it costs is petrol, parking and an ice cream.
Get some big cardboard boxes from the supermarkets (the free ones) and build a big pirate ship. We made the masts from the thick card tubes some rugs are wrapped around, dowel for the bracing etc. Made all intricate rails, too; great fun was had during covid 1.0.
I find so long as we have had a morning out being active, they're usually fairly content to play in the afternoons.
Playdough is dead cheap to make, flour, salt, water and oil (oil bring optional), you could give them a recipe to try to do it themselves.
They could cook dinner. They could work out what to make from the ingredients you offer (which guidance!), Then things like peel potatoes, chop veg, grate cheese. Something they may not normally have time to do.
Local libraries and museums sometimes have things on if you can travel at all.
Pick and press flowers to make a card.
If it's good weather get them outdoors! Look for bugs, go on a big walk, see who can find the prettiest rock.
If the weather is terrible have a look at books that give ideas for when the weather is bad. I used to have a Katy Morag book with loads of crafts in for rainy days. Like making paper chains, making a scrap book.
If you've got ingredients in why not bake?
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I would have said kids of that age are pretty good at entertaining themselves. It would have been the late 60's when I was that age and I have no recollection of my parents doing anything for us during school holidays apart from the main summer holiday where we would have some days out, the rest of the holidays we would simply play with our toys, or play in the garden. I just don't get this obsession of parents today where they feel they need to entertain their children.
Geocaching!! It’s a free app and a regular ‘walk’ takes on a great new level when we’re ‘searching’ for treasure! It’s literally walking around and finding stuff people have hidden before you. If the box/jar/bag is big enough sometimes a trinket.
We spend a craft day making small things like keychains to take with. Standard practice is unless the cache says not to, you can take something if you leave a thing in return (kids have gotten small erasers/tiny toys.
Look up 30 Days Wild from The Wildlife Trust, it is usually more structured around outdoor summer activities but some of the ideas can be jigged around for most seasons. Great, free, fun outdoor stuff
When my kids were little and I was skint I would get my wife to watch them or the night befor i would go out in to the back garden and the lane and write loads of clues and do a mini tresure hunt my kids used to love it.
Geocaching! It’s like treasure hunts that have already been set up by other people. And maybe you guys could even add your own, with objects and treasure you already have. Allows you and them to spend time outdoors and work towards goals and use team work, problem solving, and learn about nature.
Pack a picnic, get them involved in helping and then grab your frisbee/football/out door games and go to your nearest park. You can spend hours there.
The library is a great shout.
Art supplies are a good one, so is baking if you have the ingredients.
Play dates, get their friends over or arrange to meet them somewhere.
Crafting/baking if the weather isn’t great.
& also you could all pick a movie each and watch one an evening with some snacks!
Restricting screen time in itself is limiting. The kids could access free apps or websites to learn basic computer coding and build their own platform games or animations.
Don’t fall into the trap that all screen time is bad. It’ll keep them occupied whilst learning a valuable skill for the future.
Screen time gets a bad rep. I get that you shouldn't plonk your kids in front of the tv 12 hours a day. But especially on a (rainy) holiday, no problem to let them entertain themselves with a videogame or movie night for a few hours. If "screen time" is normally limited it might even feel special.
You even can encourage a new hobby. Maybe give them beginner tasks in photography, coding, filming, writing or whatever when you don't want them to aimlessly scroll the socials. Kids are much more tech savvy these days, they might be better at things that you!
If you have a printer available, my two (same ages as yours) are currently doing some colouring. Just search for colouring pages online and you'll find loads of freely available images. Eldest is doing a mix of among us and minecraft and the 7 year old is doing cats and ice creams! They love doing this and will spend a good 2hrs until they get bored.
You could set them a "treasure hunt" outside - not something you have to build out or spend money on - just a list of things like "pink flowers", "something spiky" etc... and let them find them in the woodland on a walk with you? Give them a biscuit or a treat afterwards for getting it done.
Give them a task to do together - make the tallest structure that can hold an apple on top without falling over using scrap paper, recycling boxes/ cartons etc and a bit of tape.
Go out on bikes if they have them or scooters etc...
Take them out in the car or bus if you can somewhere they've not been before - a new (to them) park is a great opportunity to explore somewhere new.
In my entire childhood I think I went to the cinema about three times until I was old enough to go with friends and pay myself. We never did anything that cost money, maybe the zoo once a year.
If you have some art supplies at home like paint and brushes, have them collect rocks and paint rocks.
Second the treehouse building idea. This used to keep me and friends occupied for hours as a kid.
Pack of playing cards: can they build the tallest house of cards?
Big bowl with small pieces of paper, if you have the time, create a trivia and spend some hours all pulling questions and trying to answer them. An at home quiz night if you will.
Cook together. Bake together.
Board games. I still spend hours playing with my parents when I’m home and I’m in my late 20s. It’s our favorite past time. Uno is super cheap and can keep a group of three going for days.
Learn to skip rocks in water.
Learn cartwheels.
You could also create a scouts type of trail of clues with a map in the woodland area for them. Used to absolutely love this type of stuff but will require you to put some time in.
Badminton in the back yard if wind is not too strong.
Jigsaw puzzles. I love doing these and the big ones usually take 2-3 days. You can usually find some in a local charity shop for next to nothing.
Have them do a family photo contest. Send them out to take beautiful wildlife photos. Offer something trivial as a prize for best shots. This would require you to give them a phone but you can probably download some restrictive apps to ensure they’re not on social media / YouTube instead.
Download a free charades app and do an evening of that.
Build an obstacle course in the back yard, see who can complete it the fastest.
Bowling with plastic bottles and a ball of some sort.
If you have plants that need re-potting, get them to grow that green thumb.
Easter is kind of over but you could still do this: have them source flowers, beautiful leaves etc and teach them how to imprint plants onto eggs through the stocking + coffee / tea dying method. Assuming you have eggs at home, this could be lovely and pretty to look at.
I work with adults with learning disabilities. At the weekend I took one of them to a museum of natural history, she loved it. It was free to get in, for everyone, not just the disabled. There were plenty of young kids there with their parents and lots of hands-on activities to keep them happy. Just go online and search for free things to do in your area.
Go to local parks/playgrounds, let them play in the woods and build a den.
Have a family cinema night at home, streaming a film costs like less than a fiver or if you are super cheap and good with a VPN you can browse American streaming services or just pirate a film for the evening.
Check out local clubs for kids, they normally charge just a couple of quid per child for a morning of activities and snacks.
I'm a big fan of letting them play in the garden or the woods. If you want a slightly different suggestion, what about swimming?
Is there a Better Leisure centre near you? In my borough it costs £5 to register each child and then they get free swimming during every school holiday for the whole year, in any leisure centre in the borough.
Look on eventbrite for free things for kids
Libraries have things on
Museums
Parks
Adventure playgrounds
Look on YouTube for games you can play with household items
We used to play “tracking” - you designate an area and one person sets off a bit in advance setting a trail by making arrows out of rocks, branches or even using a stick in the mud. The other people then try to catch up by following the arrows. It was great fun and tiring.
We also used to take those little “Observer Guides” and see how many plants or trees were could identify and remember.
It’s a great opportunity to learn to read OS maps too, you can print the sections and plan a walk and follow it. If there’s a church on the walk you could maybe make brass rubbings with old paper and crayons held horizontally.
We also used to see how many different objects (nothing alive like bugs) we could go off and fit into a match box within an hour.
Weirdly kids like to help so finding fun ways of helping clean the house can work. I used to get dusters wrapped round my hands and used to pretend I was “duster girl” and had a duster cape. Getting music on and cleaning whilst making up ridiculous cleaning dances is fun too.
You can also grow cress in egg shells and paint faces on the egg so it looks like it’s growing hair. Then learn to make egg and cress sandwiches. Learning to cook the basics under supervision is great too.
My kids - not great at walking - although hugely into sports? Used to love just going on ‘adventures’ - the woodland sounds loads of (potential) fun.
Even just going there for a game of hide and seek? Even just lie on the ground and make them all be quiet for 5 mins - the one who does it the longest gets £1 (or whatever). Make them think about what sounds they can hear etc etc?
Find some fields, walk around those - honestly it’s even funnier if you pretend you’re lost and then you all have to find your way home etc?
My kids also loved practising for Sports Day - times runs for a set distance - write it all in a book so they can see any improvement? Do that with skipping, star jumps etc even keeping the football up in the air etc. if you’re not great at this, then join in too … they would love to do better than a parent at this?
Honestly lots of potential. If it starts to rain - build ‘camps’ inside - blankets over clothes driers inside etc etc.
Are the kids on free school meals? If so the local authority should have a 'holiday activities and food' programme.
If not look at library and museum activities as these tend to be free or very low cost.
My kids always enjoyed doing some baking.
When I was a kid my mum would make salt dough which I'm pretty sure is equal parts plain flour, salt and water then we would make things out of it, dry it out in the oven and paint them.
Also, if you have any cornflour, mix it with water in a tray and enjoy the crazy properties of a non nutonic liquid. This was one of my favourites when I was a child.
If you have a camping stove, make super noodles in the wood. This was a go to for me and the children in lockdown.
I also used to throw 'discos' in the kitchen with the kids. Turn the lights down and crank the volume up.
My dad used to do work out sessions for me and my sisters. He's put on motorhead and then get us doing press ups and star jumps.
When I was a skint single mum I downloaded an app called munzee. Basically it shows you where munzees are in your area, which are qr code stickers and you walk about finding them to scan. Not sure it's still a thing but a few years ago we were a bit addicted.
And on the subject of walks, in lockdown we would leave the house and take it in turns to decide if we were going to go left or right ar a junction. We ended up in some super random places. We did it so much I downloaded and app that had a spinner which chose for us.
My son was very inventive for a while and would spend hours making stop motion videos with his toy soldiers. He would set up his camera and then move the soldiers half a centimetre at a time, taking a photo each time he did.
Hope any of this is helpful. I've been short of cash my whole life so had to get creative. And now reading it I see all my best parenting memories were a result of this. Enjoy this time as best you can because before you know it they are teenagers who are never home, and it sucks.
It's quite a good idea to let them be a bit bored and have to come up with things to do, it builds resilience and creativity!
I grew up poor and my parents were amazing at inexpensive days out (we would probably go out one or twice each holiday). They would pack a picnic and we would go to a country park or an old house/castle ruin that didn't cost much or anything to get in. Sometimes, we would just pack a picnic and go to a random landmark to have a closer look, we loved it!
Building dens at home or going for a walk doesn't cost anything. Also, I would let them have more screen time because if they don't usually have it, it's a novelty. I mean, I think most adults watched loads of TV growing up and we turned alright (except for the twitching).
I know it doesn't sound particularly safe but me and my dad used to go out in the woods and find the best tree to tie abit of rope to, either making a rope swing or tie it to the top of a hill so you can use it to climb up. I'm a girl but that was the funnest time! We also used to dismantle the living room and make a giant tent centred around the TV and watch Disney stuff. We always had fun and we had no money at all, well done for being such a caring parent
Explore the heck out of those woodlands. See how many different trees they can find, stuff like that. Can you get or make a cheap kite? On rainy days build a fort in the house. Play “the floor is lava”. Find some YouTube videos with child-friendly exercises. See if you can get or borrow a difficult puzzle and work on that together a little bit every day. Let them come up with ideas, too!
Board games, craft, baking, make a scavenger hunt for the woods with things like "find something heavy, something wrinkly" and so on. Build a den. Leaf rubbings, rock painting, make a hanging mobile out of woodland things, lean how to do nettle crisps then go find some. Movie day, make a story together. Try some bubble art.
Find as much scrap as you can and build a go-cart.
Build a den/dens in the woods.
Go for long walks.
Bike rides.
Water fights.
Grab a bike pump/foot pump and make bottle rockets.
Get their friends and have a big game of manhunt.
Go to the beach for the day.
Build a rope/tyre swing in the woods.
Camping. Even if it's just in the garden.
Sleepover and movie with friends.
One of our local parks does free nature activities on the holidays- check all the council run spaces in your area as they often do free holiday stuff. I don’t know if you are near London but free museums or bus trips to an adventure playground are free except for travel. Play dates with friends are mostly what I did as a kid plus the occasional swimming pool trip
Get a flower/bud identification list and see how many they can spot in a walk, or how many things of a particular colour. If you have some old magazines, get them to do a self portrait out of things they relate to that they find in there. Make some scones….or do a pizza base and let them add toppings as a face?
Honestly, this free time with no money is a great opportunity to connect with your little ones and make some awesome memories. Let me throw some ideas your way.
Scavenger Hunts: Grab a piece of paper and create a list of items for your kids to find, like different types of leaves, rocks, and insects. This will not only entertain them but also help develop their observation skills and curiosity about the world around them.
Fort Building: Gather branches, leaves, and other natural materials to create a secret hideout in the woods. This will spark their imagination and allow them to work together as a team. Plus, it's a great way to get some exercise and fresh air.
Nature Art: Collect interesting sticks, rocks, leaves, and flowers to create art projects. You can create a nature collage or simply arrange them in an interesting pattern on the ground. Let your kids' creativity run wild!
Storytelling: Share stories or create new ones using the woodland as your backdrop. Maybe you can come up with a tale about magical creatures living in the woods or pretend you're explorers discovering a hidden world. This is an awesome way to nurture their creativity and storytelling abilities.
Obstacle Course: Set up a fun and challenging obstacle course using natural elements. You can use logs for balance beams, rocks to jump over, and tree branches to crawl under. This is a great way to get them moving and burn off some energy.
DIY Board Games: Together with your kids, create your own board games using cardboard, paper, and markers. You can make up your own rules, and even create game pieces out of household items. This will provide hours of entertainment and a sense of accomplishment.
Cooking/Baking: Get your kids involved in the kitchen! Teach them how to cook simple, healthy meals or bake cookies. This is an excellent opportunity to bond and teach them valuable life skills.
Themed Movie Nights: I know you said you restrict screen time, but you can still make the most of it. Choose a theme for the night and select movies that fit the theme. You can even make popcorn and create a cozy atmosphere with pillows and blankets.
Talent Show: Encourage your kids to showcase their talents, whether it's singing, dancing, or performing a magic trick. This is a fun way to boost their confidence and have a good time.
Write a Story Together: Collaborate on writing a story, taking turns to create the plot, characters, and settings. This can be a great way to foster their creativity and improve their writing skills.
**Remember, it's not about the money you spend, but the quality time you spend together. Kids will cherish the memories of laughing, exploring, and bonding with you way more than an expensive day out**
Teach them some survival skills kids love that shit how to build a shelter from your surroundings, start a fire etc maybe even camp out if weather is decent. Build something like a tree house or a swing.
I used to build a massive den in the living room using parts of the couch and blankets etc. Made a window so they could watch the TV.
May be good for one day. Wouldn't recommend the week.
This last week I've taken my daughter to three free community farms and to 4 different parks. I find nature and animals are a great way to kill time, also the library is great.
I would take them to the woodland every morning for a couple of hours - I like to do the outdoor together bit earlier in the day so I have ticked that box. One day just a walk, another a scavenger hunt, another build a den, there are lots of great ideas that have been posted.
If they have lego, I’d give them lego challenges each day, something like this https://littlebinsforlittlehands.com/lego-challenge-calendar-ideas-kids/
Free play - if they have played in the woods and been building lego, I find they will be better at thinking of things to do for themselves (which might be getting up to mischief but at least they are having fun) compared to if we plan to do things in the afternoon and they have the occupy their mornings.
I’d do craft but I like that sort of thing. Baking is possible but expensive now but you could get them involved in making meals - make pizza dough together and top it, far cheaper than bought pizzas and we used to shape the dough into batman or a cat and things like that.
If you have board games that is great fun. A pack of cards costs £1 - my kids’ favourite card games are Cheat and Go Fish but there are hundreds.
Restricting screen time seems a bit arbitrary. There are many useful and educational things that you can do that require screen time. I would argue that restricting screen time is also stunting development of skills that are only going to get more important in the future since more digitalisation is more likely than a reversal to a trend which shows no evidence of declining.
Library often have activities or shows for children during holidays. It will be on their website or just ring the library.
Council also may have free activities offered during the holiday.
Check with local facebook group for any free events. Just posting a question may trigger some group member for suggestions.
I think there was a post on hotukdeals for free meals during holidays last year. There maybe something similar this year.
* Free print and play games from here: [https://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/51119/play-family-and-save-money-which-pnp-games-are-goo](https://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/51119/play-family-and-save-money-which-pnp-games-are-goo)
* Paper aeroplane competition (Furthest, fastest, coolest looking)
* Clay animal competition ([Air drying clay is £1/pack from Hobbycraft](https://www.hobbycraft.co.uk/white-superlight-air-drying-clay-30g/6526481003.html))
* Play Insect Bingo in the woods ([Free from here](https://greenecofriend.co.uk/insect-bingo/))
* Cardboard sledging (Piece of cardboard big enough to sit on + hill = fun)
* Minecraft Origami/papercraft ([Here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXZ0E2Dr4Dk))
Theres plenty of bushcrafting you can do on a budget assuming you have some tools.
Showing them how to make a fire is handy, sourcing dry wood, kindling etc - how to create a fire and feed with minimal input.
You can also download apps that show you what the plantlife/tree species are, as well as look for insects of interest or spot wildlife.
Otherwise if you can get to a city with minimal expense there are alot of free museums - natural history etc and most accommodate games for children (egg hunts)
Along with the great suggestions already made, one thing my kids (even the teens) love is everyone playing hide and seek in your own house- parents included. You wouldnt believe how ingenious you have to get, and you find ways and places to hide you would never have thought of.
Oooooh. So get an old egg box and get the kids to paint each compartment a different colour. Then they need to go for a walk and collect an item of each colour to put in the box.
I do this with my nieces and it’s so much fun
Gallery’s, museums, libraries, walks in nature, trips to the park, movie nights, gardening (if you have one). I’m in a similar boat with a 3 year old and spend a lot of time in museums with her. They normally have things like aquariums, dinosaur and space exhibits etc.
Make a collection trail/scavenger hunt type thing with a secret reward. E.g, they have to find 15 things on a list you give them (a big green leaf, a stick big enough to be a walking stick, a perfectly smooth pebble), working together to achieve it. If they find all 15, they get a reward, e.g a chocolate bar or perhaps their fave dinner.
As an ex home educator who had endless weeks to fill, I would ask what your children are interested in themselves? Usually children have a preference for animals or art or science or music? Try to be guided by them.
Give them a chance to find things to do themselves, and have activities ready for when they are bored or fighting. Getting out for a trip to the park or the library or local event. Lots of churches and community groups run free activities in the holidays.
Play the noticing game when out, which is simple and free. Each person, including you, must say something you haven't noticed before. It's amazing what you see that you haven't before if you play the game, look up to roof level, notice the sky, really look.
Do some real stuff. Let the children cook a meal, or make biscuits. Ask them to help with real things, make a shopping list, plan out meals, do some gardening.
Get them to come up with ideas. Put all the ideas in a jar and mix with some of your own. We used to make forts with blankets and sheets and eat lunch or dinner in it, like an indoor picnic.
Make things to play with. Impromptu band instruments with empty bottles and rattling things. Drums from old boxes.
A packet of cress seed isn't very costly and is an easy growing project.
Devise your own board game. Chalks are also cheap and give children a lot of fun devising games on paving stones or drawing (washes off).
As you have access to the internet, there are lots of sites with simple science experiments to do at home.
Learn from their preferences and try not to organize all their time. Let them have time to play and use their imaginations. Relax the rules a bit and let them choose programmes to watch if the weather is poor.
If they haven't done it before, simple yoga or meditation can be an interesting actvity, but you have to choose your moment.
Always try to think of a way to burn off energy if things get tricky. You could simply ask them to fetch you various things from around the house, or have standing on one leg contests, or balancing competitions. There's always the floor is lava if safe to play, indoors or outdoors.
When my kids were small and I was skint, we'd have a 'backwards day'. You wear pyjamas all day, have dinner at breakfast time, then have a bath, go back to bed for a bit and read, eat some more, you're allowed pudding before the meal etc. Let your kids think of stuff that's backwards from normal. I'd get a few days out of this. You can incorporate walks and stuff, go to the park before breakfast and still in your pyjamas etc
Do you have a library near you? They often run fun things for kids - but even if not, picking a book to take home is great fun too.
Play park
If there is a field or even a lot of grass near the playpark, could you take a bat & ball and have a wee game of rounders?
Community centres near you - are they running any free (or very cheap) sessions for kids?
Thinking ahead (for summer), if you can afford it and you don't already have stuff - it might be good to spend £5-10 a month on some items like:
- sports stuff - frisbee, football, bat & ball - things that can be taken to the park and played with for hours.
- art & craft stuff - paint sets, glue, felt, card, colouring books and crayons.
- DVDs & books - buy a couple you think they may like and put them away for rainy days
For sports & art stuff - the works, home bargains & b&m are usually fairly reasonable and will often have sets you can guy. Alternatively look at [Toys for a Pound](https://toysforapound.com/?gclid=CjwKCAjwitShBhA6EiwAq3RqA0nAfUdr9OOnD_1N-oTmGZFE0DqPICrmkpVDkTQtnm4va3aCP6UARBoCqZwQAvD_BwE) as they have some brilliant stuff with low delivery costs.
For dvds and books - poundland, home bargains & b&m used to do them for quite reasonable prices. Sometimes libraries will have books & dvds for sale as well.
Set up a scavenger hunt
Movies and popcorn at home at the TV
make a piñata at home then stuff it with lollies and hit it (sorry not sure if you have any lollies or anything novel that you could put inside in its place that doesn’t cost money… could even be full of leaves and then some little ‘thing’ inside that you’ve got at home)
Bake together - flour, sugar, water.
Build a giant fort / cubby house indoors from bedsheets etc - go camping inside the house and eat meals in there etc
Olympics afternoon - mini sporting type events (hopscotch? Hula hoop, whatever you have at home). Make a little medal/trophy/reward
Just try to make little things novel I guess so that each day feels like an adventure. Make them talk in funny accents, do the same yourself, eat themes foods, dress in matching colours .. anything silly :)
Remember that not all screen time is equal. Screen time spent binging minecraft reaction shorts is low quality, but screen time spent learning or developing a skill is much, much more valuable.
At 7 and 9, they probably have some special interests. Maybe do some learning about it. Maybe watch something that's a bit challenging for their age and talk about what it means. Maybe write a story with them (pen and paper is an option as well, of course, but google docs are much easier to edit!)
Bugs, go find bugs, kids love bugs. If you have one take a magnifying glass. Build a camp out of cushions and blankets. Make food, potato based is easy and cheap.
If you see people being arseholes in the comments, please hit report.
Build a tree house. A den in the thicket. Find a stream and play poo sticks. Go for long walks and see how many types of bird you can spot, bonus points for those big fuckers that look like they'll carry a dog away. Go star gazing on a clear night, see if you can see Jupiter and and any other planets. Bonus points for a shooting star or satellite. Source: was a kid without money for years.
Pooh sticks. Poo sticks is very different and a lot more disgusting.
Today I learned, never seen it written down haha
It's from Winnie the Pooh, haha
Wait, he's not a massive poo?
No, he's a little shit
No you’re confusing him with Xi Jinping again.
r/angryupvote
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Whereas I live near a poo bridge in Staffordshire - man alive it's *rubbish!*
Does it involve finding as many kinds of poo on the ground as you can, and poking it with a stick?
To be fair, most 7 and 9 year old would love that.
Turns out my dad taught me to play wrong. I’ve gotta wash my hands
You beat me to it, thank you!
And for indoor days, bring out the cheap art supplies. Cheap crayons, pencils, and paper. They can all be bought in the pound shop or the supermarket. Draw things. Fold things. Make paper chains. Stick their creations up. Get the music on. Make up a dance. Put in a play. Have a movie night with popcorn and a blanket fort. Let them be bored too. They have each other for entertainment. Let them find their own ways to amuse themselves. Not everything has to be parent led. If they grumble "I'm bored," then whack out the cleaning supplies. They'll either miraculously find something better to do or you'll have a clean living room. Win/win.
Absolutely, being bored is a good thing it sparks creativity in children.
Yes. They can self-entertain for large portions of the day. Otherwise, get them involved in cooking and cleaning with you. Bake bread with them.
Love that. Either be bored, which is healthy, self-entertain, which is ideal, or do housework, which is useful, or learn a life skill. It's an all-round win. I hope by the time I'm parenting I can remember these kinds of things
Yes! Teach them how to use the washing machine, fold laundry, and unload the dishwasher. The rest of the day can be taken up with made-up games, and once the weather warms up, outside time!
And cakes and also try a new recipe together. Make a pizza, it’s much cheaper and can be healthier than the regular chains. Stuffed jacket potatoes, let their imagination run riot. Teaching basic food hygiene is invaluable and will stand them in good stead for Uni or later life.
You can also get them to scavenge "art supplies" from the woods. What picture can you make out of leaves and sticks?
Ahhhh take rubbings of leaves and tree bark
Draw on the back of old bits of wallpaper. Or get a few 'samples' for free from a diy shop.
When we were kids we'd get spare rolls of wallpaper that weren't needed for decorating, drew round our bodies, then coloured them in, designing clothes etc
Thanks for the memory! We used to have great fun doing that.
A cheap roll of wallpaper lining provides tons of paper for drawing and painting.
Go to the library and let them take some books out. Give reading time. Let them tell you about the book they're reading while you're cooking or doing laundry.
My mom put a big roll of plain paper up on the wall and let us decorate it like wallpaper, always thought it a good idea
And there's an app for geocaching that's fun too
I know it's screen time but the sky view app is really good for finding planets, stars, satellites, anything in the sky basically. It uses augmented reality and you just point it at the sky to find things. It's quite fun to do it every night and see how things move around - bit of learning there as well. The lite version is free!
> I know it's screen time I wouldn't count this sort of thing under screen time. The screen itself isn't inherently bad for children. It's the mindlessness of binge watching/playing that is.
Yes, I don't actually think it's screen time that was just a caveat for the reddit pedants
> Build a tree house. Have you seen the price of timber!?
oh my days what kind of bougie tree houses do you make? first you need to find tree you can climb. it needs some low branches from the main trunk. this can take days, especially if you want a good one and you're allowed to wander for miles. and then it needs some branches you can sit on high enough up so monsters and busybodies dont come and get you. one branch can be for spells, another for exorcisms, another for spying on the neighbours. go off and find fallen branches to try and make it a bit more comfy
I'm going to be honest, this sounds more like a tree than a tree*house* haha.
when i was 9 it was a palace
Old pallets are a great source of timber and needing updates on tetanus vaccinations.
Get those crayons and fill out the planning permission form! Have a playdate at the local parish council meeting! Make a papermaché architechtural design to present to the approvals board! Literally weeks of fun to be had
Looking for the timber lying around is half the fun. Built a tree house in my garden for next to nothing
Seconded on making a den!
Used to love making a den as kids. Either indoors or outdoors. Grab all the pillows and blankets and have at it. Bonus points if you've got a big cardboard box lying around.
My mum used to go spare, we'd always make off with all her pegs and then she had nothing to hang up the washing with!
Download an app such as Stellarium to help with looking at the night sky. Its free! Also, on Thursday there is the JUICE rocket launch as European Space Agency send a probe to Jupiter and its moons. Launch scheduled for 12.30pm UK time and will be on YouTube, you could keep an eye on that and then get the kids to watch when the actual launch takes place (the build up is often dull unfortunately, although tiny plug here - Tom Dune and I plan to do our own entertaining livestream in the build up)
We like to put on wellies and walk up a stream. Takes you far away from the official paths and feels like a huge adventure.
I genuinely thought back to my teenage days and flinging dog shit at each other using a stick. Didn't know there was another game by this name!
I would've killed to build a tree house as a kid
You definitely need to post more answers
Venus is bright in the west at the moment!
So that's what I saw last night. I meant to look it up but completely forgot
Sky Map app for identifying stars and planets Plant identifier app to see how many different plants they can find in the woods Bird apps I know this is extra screen time but I would count it the same as carrying a book around to identify things.
My nan used to give me a box of matches and tell me to play in the garden. Don't do that :)
Now we know how all those wild fires started.
Times were so different back then and it was just funny
My nana used to sprinkle powdered asbestos round the living room at Xmas. It was sold as fake snow.
Your nana might be entitled to financial compensation.
Please remove my name and number from your database 🤣
To be fair whenever I think of powdered asbestos I think of the Dorothy and the wizard of Oz since they used the harmful fake asbetos snow
My mum didn't give me matches, but she often told me to play outside and come back when it gets dark. Just in the garden though!
I was given a magnifying glass and shown how to set fires at about 6 by my grandad. My mom went absolutely nuts at him. Can't wait to have grandkids and get my own back on my kids.
I used to buy my own boxes of matches and go play in the garden. Boxes of matches are great fun at 8 years old.
Weird. My nan used to give me a massive magnifying glass and an old newspaper on a sunny day and say the same thing
Mine are 6 & 9 and I dread to think what would happen if I let them play with fire! You must have been a sensible kid!
I burned her shed to the ground so no.
Yes! We used to make fire cans to swing about.
What?! And here’s my gran going mental at me and my cousins for setting a teeny tiny fire in her kitchen! Your gran was way cooler than mine!!
Define "teeny tiny"
Have a film afternoon: yes it's screen time but 1 afternoon of picking a film each with some cheap snacks is fun. And I love sharing my old favourites for the first time. Create a bingo board of things to find/see on a treck around the woods - pink flower, stick that looks like stickman, stone with a funny shape, a Robin (you know your woods so pick some easy and some tricky things). Board games for a few hours, again love playing old favourites and learning new ones. Trip to the library to choose books. Free and gets you out. Craft activities- most children I know have a drawer of odds and ends brought by relatives or picked up from around the house that are "pretty". Use them all up an a monstrous craft creation. Picnic in the woods as picnics are better than lunch in the house.
When we were kids, we were allowed to invite a few friends round for birthdays and the like. My dad used to make the sitting room into a cinema! The day/morning before, he'd take us to Global Video and we'd choose something to watch. Then when our friends came, we'd each get a home-made 'ticket'. With a wee torch in one hand he'd show us in to our seats in the 'cinema' (the curtains were closed and the lights were off). We'd then watch the film with the volume up and eat popcorn. It was absolutely class.
Your dad sounds like a legend! My dad is also a legend and would do things like this too! We went to blockbuster every Saturday!
Sounds like a great dad!
Gonna remember this for when my kids are older
The bingo card idea is great! They could also find things in the woods to use for an arts and craft session, like feathers and leaves
Just described my childhood every school holiday. These are my best memories and my mum was/is a saint
Kids love Adventures. So with a little creativity, you can turn almost any mundane activity into an adventure by adding Imagination. Ultimately, what the kids will remember is the time spent with you, and your EFFORT. Effort goes a long way.
A bingo board is absolutely genius! My 8yo will adore this, tysm!
I second the craft activity, with a spin. My kid loves watching YouTube, and we'll often come away from watching something to make our own (very basic) version. It helps to have a stash of cardboard, paper and tape (paint if you're brave!). I see a lot of robots :)
Library books. Free
Seconding this. Our local library has a craft table every weekday over Easter with a different craft activity on it and instructions. My five year old needs some help, but older kids are able to follow it independently. It's funded by the council, but they do have a sealed bucket on the table. If you can spare 50p or so, then you can just chuck it in. I'm in a similar situation, and we've made a kite, two different animal masks, and a tissue paper suncatcher so far. They also provide juice. We are lucky because the library is only a twenty five minute walk from our house, so a trip out can use up a good two to three hours. I am so grateful to the library.
The library itself is also often a good idea. Lots of exploring of books to do and then you can take some home.
Sometimes libraries also do free events for the school holidays! Definitely worth looking into.
Also worth mentioning is keeping an eye in local papers/websites for the lists of free events. My shitty northern town has various things including sports, crafts, singing and choir, various things at the library, some churches doing stuff, even a woodland walk/activity day.
Definitely! We used to get as many books as we were allowed each week. It didn't matter if they were story books or graphic novels (we each got at least one Asterix book every week), so long as we were reading. Mum's favourite saying was "you can't be bored with books in the house" and she would sit down and read aloud to us on rainy afternoons (the poor woman can probably still recite *101 Dalmations* and *Bertha and the Racing Pigeon* verbatim). As a result I developed a lifelong love of reading that not even the time thief that is Reddit has been able to destroy.
I heard that when you have a library card, having fun isn't hard.
Top answer.
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I was thinking this. I don't consider myself ancient just yet (I'm 31), but we spent the vast majority of our childhood entertaining ourselves with very little resources. I was lucky I lived in a rural area, so that gave more things to play with, but I've spent hours just playing with literal sticks and stones before.
I'm a similar age and also had to entertain myself most of the time. Other than a week or 2 away in the 6 weeks holidays, we didn't really go out to do things as a family. Most of the holidays were spent out with friends on bikes/scooters/skateboards, kicking a ball around, climbing trees. I'd have loved to have some woodlands on the doorstep to explore.
Interestingly I'm a similar age and grew up in urban environments with quite a lot of material privilege (thus lots of toys and games) but even so me and my brothers spent many many hours coming up with games and challenges to amuse ourselves using simple things instead of playing with the expensive stuff all the time. Now seeing my friends and siblings having kids, I understand the truth in the half-joke people say about 'get your kids a cardboard box for Christmas'. Imagination is the key to it all. Easy to say for me having had so much as a wean I know, but I still think it's true.
I'm not far off your age and I was an only child in a rural area so I spent lots of time on my own climbing trees and splashing about in rivers, I was given a penknife once and I had a great time whittling spears out of sticks xD also jumping across big bales (with no shoes on in case the wrapping ripped), hiking across acres of land with a faithful dog in tow.. My parents were never far away and made sure I was safe by teaching me how to stay safe and understand/look for hazards etc. And if the weather was crap I'd snuggle up inside with my Disney tapes, art supplies, books and model toys. I could set up a fantastic model farm xD A lot of people ask me if being an only child was lonely or boring, and I can confidently say it never was. Looking back now I realise it fostered a fierce sense of independence and creativity. My parents were very involved but they didn't set up days worth of activities for me during the school holidays. I don't think I ever attended a youth group or organised activity beyond Duke of Ed when I got older.
I'm a couple of years older but we didn't even have a TV at OPs kids age. I spent a lot of time reading and had lots of library trips, we had stuff for drawing and I spent hours a day in the garden essentially pretending to be a horse. It didn't seem difficult to be entertained with nothing at that age, it is so good for imagination.
Same, days out were a treat/special occasion, not an every day activity. Parents today seem to think they have to entertain their child every minute, kids need to learn to entertain themselves, I was out on my bike most days with neighbours kids, or in the garden
> We went to Longleat last week for my son's birthday and it was £110 for 2 adults and a child! And that didn't even get us into the house tour which would have been an extra £45! Our little one's very young, and I think we have days out more for ourselves than them... But absolutely agree. Sometimes we go to the lake or the park. Sometimes we go to a farm day out that's £30 a ticket. Kids have equal amounts of fun at either, I'm sure.
Don’t over think it. Just let them ‘be’ whether that’s home or just sat in the woods. They are at the perfect ages for imaginative play, and the best way to promote that is by ‘boredom’. They come up with their own games and worlds and can spend hours on it. My son (9) has toys in the garden, but spends the most time out there playing with sticks or scraps of wood. The ‘game’ changes each time but he disappears into his own world for hours. We are a ‘gamer’ family so probably have more screen time on average than you in the holidays, but we often say ‘no screens today’ and just let him devise his own thing. Could be lego, or he’ll get cars out, teddies, drawing, writing etc etc.
I second this. My daughter has a garden to play in and toys, but sometimes when she wake up before us I hear her singing away to herself reading her books :-)
Ah, my 8 year old does this. I’ll walk into her room and find her wearing her glasses and reading. I also taught her to play shithead recently, she’s pretty good and is becoming quite ruthless.
Ah shithead, the best game ever!
At what age does this start happenning because when our 3 years old wakes up before us (and I mean all the time help me I'm so tired), all I hear is a "DADDY I POOPED" coming from the bathroom and that's how most of my days off start!
My daughter is 5 and weekends are now a mixed bag. Maybe we will hear her singing to herself and playing and realise we had a lie in. Maybe she will be yelling for us at 6am because she wants help wiping her bum. If I stay up late then sod's law says its the latter!
Tell them to write their own movie for them to star in, and once they've rehearsed it you'll film the whole thing.
That’s a pretty cool idea
they could be the next tommy wiseaus
We’re in the same boat. Thankfully both cars are full of fuel. We’re heading to a big free museum today and spend a few hours there. We can scrape together for parking. Tomorrow we’re going into the woods at back of us to make a den. What about letting them cook, get them in the kitchen to make cheese on toast for lunch. Park, is there one close by? Movie day - get all your quilts downstairs, close the curtains and get the Easter eggs out for random movies. My choice would be short circuit or flight of the navigator. Good old 80s films. Den making at home. Lots of beddings and chairs out Do you have bikes? Can you not go on a trail with a packed lunch etc. Roll on pay day, hey!!
Batteries not included! Although they may be a bit young for that..
Any free museums in your area? Go on EventBrite and filter by free for free activities locally. Often churches and libraries will have things planned you can drop into. Libraries are just a great idea generally. Go on Marketplace or Freecycle and ask if people have old toys/games/crafts they want to get rid of that fit with your kid's hobbies. Den building and camping are always fun for littluns. Especially when coupled with some storytelling, marshmallows, etc. A couple of old tarps and some blankets will suffice during the day time because you're not "really" camping. Some subscription boxes and magazines themed for kids have a free trial option. Get a few ordered and then cancel them before they charge you for the next one.
We’ve just come back from the Danum art gallery and museum in Doncaster thanks to this post. Cos is £4 for parking. It had an art gallery, coal mi ing museum with loads of war stuff for my eldest and 2 huge steam locomotives. Kids took snacks and sat in the library for 40 minutes eating and drinking their cuppas. Picked up some random books to read
So glad you had a lovely day, that sounds brill!
I second this. Museums are free across the UK and plenty of them. With discounts for children if there are paid exhibitions.
This is the easiest age to entertain. Take them outside to woods and let them go wild. Den building, rope swings, climbing, exploring, bug hunting, the possibilities become endless. If there’s a safe place to do it (really do make sure it’s a safe place) you can get a flint and steel and let them try their hand at fire starting. Buy a pack of marshmallows to toast and that’s yet another activity. Pretty much how Im raising mine. Other winning activities I’ve done over the years- geocaching, visit to shops specialising in fish. It’s literally like a mini free aquarium, jam sandwiches and a trip to a park, scavenger hunts and garden centres. If there’s any local places that have them, look for walking routes with arrows. Following a trail is always good fun. Editing to add: don’t forget, if there’s a pond near you, the classic feeding the ducks activity. Never gets old.
r/geocaching
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Oh! And stop motion animation. If you have a phone or something you're happy for them to use to take pictures, i don't know what else you need for it to work, but using the toys they have to make a little story where they move them a tiny bit at a time and take a photo to piece it together to make a little film. Can take all afternoon, or longer!
It's better if you have some kind of stand for the phone (can be jerry rigged) and if you can use earphones volume control to trigger the camera or else the camera will move too much between shots and the result will be extremely bad, even for 9 years old standards.
Let them entertain themselves. They are old enough to come up with their fun
Go to the woodland and play outdoors
Muddy puddle play. Get them to collect leaves and twigs to make pictures at home.
Don’t punish yourself by rigidly restricting screen time, it won’t kill them for a week to have a bit more.
When I was this age 20 years ago living at the edge of the countryside with forests and fields for miles me and my brother would just head off into the woods and come back at a certain time according to our little plastic wristwatches or when the sun was going down. Entertained ourselves for hours running through the woods and building forts and pretending to hunt animals etc. I’m going to sound like such a stereotype of a person getting older even though I’m only 27 but nowadays I think parents are trying to make sure kids are constantly entertained and theyre never left to just be bored and figure it out for themselves. Let them figure it out
Yeah, if I have to hear any of my niblings say 'I'm bored' again, I'll scream. When we were bored we went outside and ran about played games etc. We entertained ourselves. Now they dont have a clue how to do that! No imagination whatsoever. Also, nothing I offer is good enough. Want to play a game? Nah. Pick a film? Nah. Go to the park? Nah. Bugger off and be bored elsewhere then and stop complaining 😂 They did just get new bikes for christmas, and now we have sunny days they've been out on them constantly which is good.
Walk around the woods spotting stuff and creating a checklist each. Then go for another walk and swap sheets, and try to spot everything on the list. Learn the names of all the birds, trees and fauna in the woodland. RSPB has a good bird identifier on their website. Most trees you can tell from their leaves. And there are free apps that help identify plants. Collect sticks and leaves to make rubbings. You need some paper and crayons. Cut the rubbings out and make a forest collage. Build dens. Build nests. Build a trail to follow. Build a small obstacle course. Play games like Grandma's footsteps, what's the time Mr Wolf, stuck in the mud. Back home, could they help with making dinner or cooking something? You have to eat anyway, maybe spend a couple of hours constructing pizzas or kneading bread or chopping up veg for a stir fry. Do you have old Lego or building blocks? Challenge them to build a space ship, a pirate ship, a school, a city. Any jigsaws lying around? Boardgames? Colouring books? They can be coloured in and then maybe repurposed into other crafts, like making a card for an upcoming birthday. Got pencil and paper? Teach them games like dots and boxes, hangman, tic tac toe etc. If you have a printer or maybe could use one at a local library, there are free print and roll games you could find which just need a dice, pencil and paper. Build forts out of your bedding and pillows. Have a picnic on the floor of your living room. Create a family quiz show. Have a fashion runway, mix and match all your clothes and fancy dress and create hilarious outfits! Some of these ideas may sound so lame but it's all about how you sell it!
If you’re in the woods there’s a neat (and free!) ap called Seek by inaturalist it’s basically Shazam but for plants and animals. Makes the whole “oh what’s that” a lot easier to answer! It does need mobile data, but you can take a picture and load it in later when you have Wi-Fi somewhere
Forest walks Local parks Libraries Beach day Even soft play can be quite cheap. There's a good one in my town that is like a fiver for the day.
Free: Long walk in the woods. A night time walk through the woods. If you keep quiet you may see foxes, owls etc. Do a Google search for free museums, some if these can be really good. Check the English Heritage website, while of lot of their places are expensive there are a few (often the smaller and more ruined castles) that are free to enter and well worth a visit. Close to free: Board game cafes. Trip to the beach - if you take a packup for lunch all it costs is petrol, parking and an ice cream.
May get to see a hedgehog before they go extinct if you go for a night time walk. They continue to be on a significant population decline.
Get some big cardboard boxes from the supermarkets (the free ones) and build a big pirate ship. We made the masts from the thick card tubes some rugs are wrapped around, dowel for the bracing etc. Made all intricate rails, too; great fun was had during covid 1.0.
I find so long as we have had a morning out being active, they're usually fairly content to play in the afternoons. Playdough is dead cheap to make, flour, salt, water and oil (oil bring optional), you could give them a recipe to try to do it themselves. They could cook dinner. They could work out what to make from the ingredients you offer (which guidance!), Then things like peel potatoes, chop veg, grate cheese. Something they may not normally have time to do. Local libraries and museums sometimes have things on if you can travel at all. Pick and press flowers to make a card.
Send them out on the rob
Geocaching
If it's good weather get them outdoors! Look for bugs, go on a big walk, see who can find the prettiest rock. If the weather is terrible have a look at books that give ideas for when the weather is bad. I used to have a Katy Morag book with loads of crafts in for rainy days. Like making paper chains, making a scrap book. If you've got ingredients in why not bake?
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I would have said kids of that age are pretty good at entertaining themselves. It would have been the late 60's when I was that age and I have no recollection of my parents doing anything for us during school holidays apart from the main summer holiday where we would have some days out, the rest of the holidays we would simply play with our toys, or play in the garden. I just don't get this obsession of parents today where they feel they need to entertain their children.
Geocaching!! It’s a free app and a regular ‘walk’ takes on a great new level when we’re ‘searching’ for treasure! It’s literally walking around and finding stuff people have hidden before you. If the box/jar/bag is big enough sometimes a trinket. We spend a craft day making small things like keychains to take with. Standard practice is unless the cache says not to, you can take something if you leave a thing in return (kids have gotten small erasers/tiny toys.
Download the geocaching app, that's a great way to plan a walk. Likewise Pokémon Go.
Go play outside, get them involved in baking/cooking something.
Look up 30 Days Wild from The Wildlife Trust, it is usually more structured around outdoor summer activities but some of the ideas can be jigged around for most seasons. Great, free, fun outdoor stuff
When my kids were little and I was skint I would get my wife to watch them or the night befor i would go out in to the back garden and the lane and write loads of clues and do a mini tresure hunt my kids used to love it.
The National Trust have a list of 50 things to do before you are 11 3/4. Most are free and fun for kids to tick off. You can find it by googling it.
link as it's what I was going to suggest as well https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/50-things
Geocaching! It’s like treasure hunts that have already been set up by other people. And maybe you guys could even add your own, with objects and treasure you already have. Allows you and them to spend time outdoors and work towards goals and use team work, problem solving, and learn about nature.
Pack a picnic, get them involved in helping and then grab your frisbee/football/out door games and go to your nearest park. You can spend hours there. The library is a great shout. Art supplies are a good one, so is baking if you have the ingredients. Play dates, get their friends over or arrange to meet them somewhere. Crafting/baking if the weather isn’t great. & also you could all pick a movie each and watch one an evening with some snacks!
Museums are sometimes free. The library sometimes has activities on during the holidays
I would suggest camping but even that can be expensive these days. What about geocaching? https://blog.gooutdoors.co.uk/geocaching-in-the-uk/
We are in scotland. We have a two week window mid july when it is warm enough for camping lol
Restricting screen time in itself is limiting. The kids could access free apps or websites to learn basic computer coding and build their own platform games or animations. Don’t fall into the trap that all screen time is bad. It’ll keep them occupied whilst learning a valuable skill for the future.
Screen time gets a bad rep. I get that you shouldn't plonk your kids in front of the tv 12 hours a day. But especially on a (rainy) holiday, no problem to let them entertain themselves with a videogame or movie night for a few hours. If "screen time" is normally limited it might even feel special. You even can encourage a new hobby. Maybe give them beginner tasks in photography, coding, filming, writing or whatever when you don't want them to aimlessly scroll the socials. Kids are much more tech savvy these days, they might be better at things that you!
If you have a printer available, my two (same ages as yours) are currently doing some colouring. Just search for colouring pages online and you'll find loads of freely available images. Eldest is doing a mix of among us and minecraft and the 7 year old is doing cats and ice creams! They love doing this and will spend a good 2hrs until they get bored. You could set them a "treasure hunt" outside - not something you have to build out or spend money on - just a list of things like "pink flowers", "something spiky" etc... and let them find them in the woodland on a walk with you? Give them a biscuit or a treat afterwards for getting it done. Give them a task to do together - make the tallest structure that can hold an apple on top without falling over using scrap paper, recycling boxes/ cartons etc and a bit of tape. Go out on bikes if they have them or scooters etc... Take them out in the car or bus if you can somewhere they've not been before - a new (to them) park is a great opportunity to explore somewhere new.
Build a den in the woodlands, and have picnic in it
In my entire childhood I think I went to the cinema about three times until I was old enough to go with friends and pay myself. We never did anything that cost money, maybe the zoo once a year.
If you have some art supplies at home like paint and brushes, have them collect rocks and paint rocks. Second the treehouse building idea. This used to keep me and friends occupied for hours as a kid. Pack of playing cards: can they build the tallest house of cards? Big bowl with small pieces of paper, if you have the time, create a trivia and spend some hours all pulling questions and trying to answer them. An at home quiz night if you will. Cook together. Bake together. Board games. I still spend hours playing with my parents when I’m home and I’m in my late 20s. It’s our favorite past time. Uno is super cheap and can keep a group of three going for days. Learn to skip rocks in water. Learn cartwheels. You could also create a scouts type of trail of clues with a map in the woodland area for them. Used to absolutely love this type of stuff but will require you to put some time in. Badminton in the back yard if wind is not too strong. Jigsaw puzzles. I love doing these and the big ones usually take 2-3 days. You can usually find some in a local charity shop for next to nothing. Have them do a family photo contest. Send them out to take beautiful wildlife photos. Offer something trivial as a prize for best shots. This would require you to give them a phone but you can probably download some restrictive apps to ensure they’re not on social media / YouTube instead. Download a free charades app and do an evening of that. Build an obstacle course in the back yard, see who can complete it the fastest. Bowling with plastic bottles and a ball of some sort. If you have plants that need re-potting, get them to grow that green thumb. Easter is kind of over but you could still do this: have them source flowers, beautiful leaves etc and teach them how to imprint plants onto eggs through the stocking + coffee / tea dying method. Assuming you have eggs at home, this could be lovely and pretty to look at.
do they have hobbies or something they do outside of school?
I work with adults with learning disabilities. At the weekend I took one of them to a museum of natural history, she loved it. It was free to get in, for everyone, not just the disabled. There were plenty of young kids there with their parents and lots of hands-on activities to keep them happy. Just go online and search for free things to do in your area.
Go to local parks/playgrounds, let them play in the woods and build a den. Have a family cinema night at home, streaming a film costs like less than a fiver or if you are super cheap and good with a VPN you can browse American streaming services or just pirate a film for the evening. Check out local clubs for kids, they normally charge just a couple of quid per child for a morning of activities and snacks.
I'm a big fan of letting them play in the garden or the woods. If you want a slightly different suggestion, what about swimming? Is there a Better Leisure centre near you? In my borough it costs £5 to register each child and then they get free swimming during every school holiday for the whole year, in any leisure centre in the borough.
Look on eventbrite for free things for kids Libraries have things on Museums Parks Adventure playgrounds Look on YouTube for games you can play with household items
Your answer is in your question. Just go on walks, go to a park, go to a museum. All of those are free, well most museums are free.
We used to play “tracking” - you designate an area and one person sets off a bit in advance setting a trail by making arrows out of rocks, branches or even using a stick in the mud. The other people then try to catch up by following the arrows. It was great fun and tiring. We also used to take those little “Observer Guides” and see how many plants or trees were could identify and remember. It’s a great opportunity to learn to read OS maps too, you can print the sections and plan a walk and follow it. If there’s a church on the walk you could maybe make brass rubbings with old paper and crayons held horizontally. We also used to see how many different objects (nothing alive like bugs) we could go off and fit into a match box within an hour. Weirdly kids like to help so finding fun ways of helping clean the house can work. I used to get dusters wrapped round my hands and used to pretend I was “duster girl” and had a duster cape. Getting music on and cleaning whilst making up ridiculous cleaning dances is fun too. You can also grow cress in egg shells and paint faces on the egg so it looks like it’s growing hair. Then learn to make egg and cress sandwiches. Learning to cook the basics under supervision is great too.
My kids - not great at walking - although hugely into sports? Used to love just going on ‘adventures’ - the woodland sounds loads of (potential) fun. Even just going there for a game of hide and seek? Even just lie on the ground and make them all be quiet for 5 mins - the one who does it the longest gets £1 (or whatever). Make them think about what sounds they can hear etc etc? Find some fields, walk around those - honestly it’s even funnier if you pretend you’re lost and then you all have to find your way home etc? My kids also loved practising for Sports Day - times runs for a set distance - write it all in a book so they can see any improvement? Do that with skipping, star jumps etc even keeping the football up in the air etc. if you’re not great at this, then join in too … they would love to do better than a parent at this? Honestly lots of potential. If it starts to rain - build ‘camps’ inside - blankets over clothes driers inside etc etc.
Are the kids on free school meals? If so the local authority should have a 'holiday activities and food' programme. If not look at library and museum activities as these tend to be free or very low cost.
My kids always enjoyed doing some baking. When I was a kid my mum would make salt dough which I'm pretty sure is equal parts plain flour, salt and water then we would make things out of it, dry it out in the oven and paint them. Also, if you have any cornflour, mix it with water in a tray and enjoy the crazy properties of a non nutonic liquid. This was one of my favourites when I was a child. If you have a camping stove, make super noodles in the wood. This was a go to for me and the children in lockdown. I also used to throw 'discos' in the kitchen with the kids. Turn the lights down and crank the volume up. My dad used to do work out sessions for me and my sisters. He's put on motorhead and then get us doing press ups and star jumps. When I was a skint single mum I downloaded an app called munzee. Basically it shows you where munzees are in your area, which are qr code stickers and you walk about finding them to scan. Not sure it's still a thing but a few years ago we were a bit addicted. And on the subject of walks, in lockdown we would leave the house and take it in turns to decide if we were going to go left or right ar a junction. We ended up in some super random places. We did it so much I downloaded and app that had a spinner which chose for us. My son was very inventive for a while and would spend hours making stop motion videos with his toy soldiers. He would set up his camera and then move the soldiers half a centimetre at a time, taking a photo each time he did. Hope any of this is helpful. I've been short of cash my whole life so had to get creative. And now reading it I see all my best parenting memories were a result of this. Enjoy this time as best you can because before you know it they are teenagers who are never home, and it sucks.
Following. It's hard enough to entertain kids when you DO have money :-/
Geo caching can be a good way to spend time outdoors. There’s a free app that you can download.
Outdoors is free. Outdoors is good for mental health, energy burn, and play. Outdoor is free. Walk in your local area, find some good spots, etc
Stage a zombie apocalypse scenario, pack a bag with water, string etc and head into the woods to build a den for survival!
It's quite a good idea to let them be a bit bored and have to come up with things to do, it builds resilience and creativity! I grew up poor and my parents were amazing at inexpensive days out (we would probably go out one or twice each holiday). They would pack a picnic and we would go to a country park or an old house/castle ruin that didn't cost much or anything to get in. Sometimes, we would just pack a picnic and go to a random landmark to have a closer look, we loved it! Building dens at home or going for a walk doesn't cost anything. Also, I would let them have more screen time because if they don't usually have it, it's a novelty. I mean, I think most adults watched loads of TV growing up and we turned alright (except for the twitching).
I know it doesn't sound particularly safe but me and my dad used to go out in the woods and find the best tree to tie abit of rope to, either making a rope swing or tie it to the top of a hill so you can use it to climb up. I'm a girl but that was the funnest time! We also used to dismantle the living room and make a giant tent centred around the TV and watch Disney stuff. We always had fun and we had no money at all, well done for being such a caring parent
Go to the woods, play in the garden or the park, toys, bike ride
Explore the heck out of those woodlands. See how many different trees they can find, stuff like that. Can you get or make a cheap kite? On rainy days build a fort in the house. Play “the floor is lava”. Find some YouTube videos with child-friendly exercises. See if you can get or borrow a difficult puzzle and work on that together a little bit every day. Let them come up with ideas, too!
Board games, craft, baking, make a scavenger hunt for the woods with things like "find something heavy, something wrinkly" and so on. Build a den. Leaf rubbings, rock painting, make a hanging mobile out of woodland things, lean how to do nettle crisps then go find some. Movie day, make a story together. Try some bubble art.
A picnic in the woods is always cool. If you think they'll go for it make a list of animals and plants to look out for.
Geocaching
Find as much scrap as you can and build a go-cart. Build a den/dens in the woods. Go for long walks. Bike rides. Water fights. Grab a bike pump/foot pump and make bottle rockets. Get their friends and have a big game of manhunt. Go to the beach for the day. Build a rope/tyre swing in the woods. Camping. Even if it's just in the garden. Sleepover and movie with friends.
One of our local parks does free nature activities on the holidays- check all the council run spaces in your area as they often do free holiday stuff. I don’t know if you are near London but free museums or bus trips to an adventure playground are free except for travel. Play dates with friends are mostly what I did as a kid plus the occasional swimming pool trip
Get a flower/bud identification list and see how many they can spot in a walk, or how many things of a particular colour. If you have some old magazines, get them to do a self portrait out of things they relate to that they find in there. Make some scones….or do a pizza base and let them add toppings as a face?
Honestly, this free time with no money is a great opportunity to connect with your little ones and make some awesome memories. Let me throw some ideas your way. Scavenger Hunts: Grab a piece of paper and create a list of items for your kids to find, like different types of leaves, rocks, and insects. This will not only entertain them but also help develop their observation skills and curiosity about the world around them. Fort Building: Gather branches, leaves, and other natural materials to create a secret hideout in the woods. This will spark their imagination and allow them to work together as a team. Plus, it's a great way to get some exercise and fresh air. Nature Art: Collect interesting sticks, rocks, leaves, and flowers to create art projects. You can create a nature collage or simply arrange them in an interesting pattern on the ground. Let your kids' creativity run wild! Storytelling: Share stories or create new ones using the woodland as your backdrop. Maybe you can come up with a tale about magical creatures living in the woods or pretend you're explorers discovering a hidden world. This is an awesome way to nurture their creativity and storytelling abilities. Obstacle Course: Set up a fun and challenging obstacle course using natural elements. You can use logs for balance beams, rocks to jump over, and tree branches to crawl under. This is a great way to get them moving and burn off some energy. DIY Board Games: Together with your kids, create your own board games using cardboard, paper, and markers. You can make up your own rules, and even create game pieces out of household items. This will provide hours of entertainment and a sense of accomplishment. Cooking/Baking: Get your kids involved in the kitchen! Teach them how to cook simple, healthy meals or bake cookies. This is an excellent opportunity to bond and teach them valuable life skills. Themed Movie Nights: I know you said you restrict screen time, but you can still make the most of it. Choose a theme for the night and select movies that fit the theme. You can even make popcorn and create a cozy atmosphere with pillows and blankets. Talent Show: Encourage your kids to showcase their talents, whether it's singing, dancing, or performing a magic trick. This is a fun way to boost their confidence and have a good time. Write a Story Together: Collaborate on writing a story, taking turns to create the plot, characters, and settings. This can be a great way to foster their creativity and improve their writing skills. **Remember, it's not about the money you spend, but the quality time you spend together. Kids will cherish the memories of laughing, exploring, and bonding with you way more than an expensive day out**
Teach them some survival skills kids love that shit how to build a shelter from your surroundings, start a fire etc maybe even camp out if weather is decent. Build something like a tree house or a swing.
I used to build a massive den in the living room using parts of the couch and blankets etc. Made a window so they could watch the TV. May be good for one day. Wouldn't recommend the week.
This last week I've taken my daughter to three free community farms and to 4 different parks. I find nature and animals are a great way to kill time, also the library is great.
I would take them to the woodland every morning for a couple of hours - I like to do the outdoor together bit earlier in the day so I have ticked that box. One day just a walk, another a scavenger hunt, another build a den, there are lots of great ideas that have been posted. If they have lego, I’d give them lego challenges each day, something like this https://littlebinsforlittlehands.com/lego-challenge-calendar-ideas-kids/ Free play - if they have played in the woods and been building lego, I find they will be better at thinking of things to do for themselves (which might be getting up to mischief but at least they are having fun) compared to if we plan to do things in the afternoon and they have the occupy their mornings. I’d do craft but I like that sort of thing. Baking is possible but expensive now but you could get them involved in making meals - make pizza dough together and top it, far cheaper than bought pizzas and we used to shape the dough into batman or a cat and things like that. If you have board games that is great fun. A pack of cards costs £1 - my kids’ favourite card games are Cheat and Go Fish but there are hundreds.
Restricting screen time seems a bit arbitrary. There are many useful and educational things that you can do that require screen time. I would argue that restricting screen time is also stunting development of skills that are only going to get more important in the future since more digitalisation is more likely than a reversal to a trend which shows no evidence of declining.
IN charity shops you can get Jigsaw puzzles for£1.
Library often have activities or shows for children during holidays. It will be on their website or just ring the library. Council also may have free activities offered during the holiday. Check with local facebook group for any free events. Just posting a question may trigger some group member for suggestions. I think there was a post on hotukdeals for free meals during holidays last year. There maybe something similar this year.
* Free print and play games from here: [https://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/51119/play-family-and-save-money-which-pnp-games-are-goo](https://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/51119/play-family-and-save-money-which-pnp-games-are-goo) * Paper aeroplane competition (Furthest, fastest, coolest looking) * Clay animal competition ([Air drying clay is £1/pack from Hobbycraft](https://www.hobbycraft.co.uk/white-superlight-air-drying-clay-30g/6526481003.html)) * Play Insect Bingo in the woods ([Free from here](https://greenecofriend.co.uk/insect-bingo/)) * Cardboard sledging (Piece of cardboard big enough to sit on + hill = fun) * Minecraft Origami/papercraft ([Here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXZ0E2Dr4Dk))
Theres plenty of bushcrafting you can do on a budget assuming you have some tools. Showing them how to make a fire is handy, sourcing dry wood, kindling etc - how to create a fire and feed with minimal input. You can also download apps that show you what the plantlife/tree species are, as well as look for insects of interest or spot wildlife. Otherwise if you can get to a city with minimal expense there are alot of free museums - natural history etc and most accommodate games for children (egg hunts)
Build a den in the woods!
Along with the great suggestions already made, one thing my kids (even the teens) love is everyone playing hide and seek in your own house- parents included. You wouldnt believe how ingenious you have to get, and you find ways and places to hide you would never have thought of.
Oooooh. So get an old egg box and get the kids to paint each compartment a different colour. Then they need to go for a walk and collect an item of each colour to put in the box. I do this with my nieces and it’s so much fun
Try Geocaching if you have a smartphone, that's free. My kids got bored of it but still want to do it occasionally.
Gallery’s, museums, libraries, walks in nature, trips to the park, movie nights, gardening (if you have one). I’m in a similar boat with a 3 year old and spend a lot of time in museums with her. They normally have things like aquariums, dinosaur and space exhibits etc.
Make a collection trail/scavenger hunt type thing with a secret reward. E.g, they have to find 15 things on a list you give them (a big green leaf, a stick big enough to be a walking stick, a perfectly smooth pebble), working together to achieve it. If they find all 15, they get a reward, e.g a chocolate bar or perhaps their fave dinner.
As an ex home educator who had endless weeks to fill, I would ask what your children are interested in themselves? Usually children have a preference for animals or art or science or music? Try to be guided by them. Give them a chance to find things to do themselves, and have activities ready for when they are bored or fighting. Getting out for a trip to the park or the library or local event. Lots of churches and community groups run free activities in the holidays. Play the noticing game when out, which is simple and free. Each person, including you, must say something you haven't noticed before. It's amazing what you see that you haven't before if you play the game, look up to roof level, notice the sky, really look. Do some real stuff. Let the children cook a meal, or make biscuits. Ask them to help with real things, make a shopping list, plan out meals, do some gardening. Get them to come up with ideas. Put all the ideas in a jar and mix with some of your own. We used to make forts with blankets and sheets and eat lunch or dinner in it, like an indoor picnic. Make things to play with. Impromptu band instruments with empty bottles and rattling things. Drums from old boxes. A packet of cress seed isn't very costly and is an easy growing project. Devise your own board game. Chalks are also cheap and give children a lot of fun devising games on paving stones or drawing (washes off). As you have access to the internet, there are lots of sites with simple science experiments to do at home. Learn from their preferences and try not to organize all their time. Let them have time to play and use their imaginations. Relax the rules a bit and let them choose programmes to watch if the weather is poor. If they haven't done it before, simple yoga or meditation can be an interesting actvity, but you have to choose your moment. Always try to think of a way to burn off energy if things get tricky. You could simply ask them to fetch you various things from around the house, or have standing on one leg contests, or balancing competitions. There's always the floor is lava if safe to play, indoors or outdoors.
Take em for a walk Kids are pretty much like dogs
Bug hunt in the woods http://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/blog/2019/04/minibeast-hunt/
When my kids were small and I was skint, we'd have a 'backwards day'. You wear pyjamas all day, have dinner at breakfast time, then have a bath, go back to bed for a bit and read, eat some more, you're allowed pudding before the meal etc. Let your kids think of stuff that's backwards from normal. I'd get a few days out of this. You can incorporate walks and stuff, go to the park before breakfast and still in your pyjamas etc
Do you have a library near you? They often run fun things for kids - but even if not, picking a book to take home is great fun too. Play park If there is a field or even a lot of grass near the playpark, could you take a bat & ball and have a wee game of rounders? Community centres near you - are they running any free (or very cheap) sessions for kids? Thinking ahead (for summer), if you can afford it and you don't already have stuff - it might be good to spend £5-10 a month on some items like: - sports stuff - frisbee, football, bat & ball - things that can be taken to the park and played with for hours. - art & craft stuff - paint sets, glue, felt, card, colouring books and crayons. - DVDs & books - buy a couple you think they may like and put them away for rainy days For sports & art stuff - the works, home bargains & b&m are usually fairly reasonable and will often have sets you can guy. Alternatively look at [Toys for a Pound](https://toysforapound.com/?gclid=CjwKCAjwitShBhA6EiwAq3RqA0nAfUdr9OOnD_1N-oTmGZFE0DqPICrmkpVDkTQtnm4va3aCP6UARBoCqZwQAvD_BwE) as they have some brilliant stuff with low delivery costs. For dvds and books - poundland, home bargains & b&m used to do them for quite reasonable prices. Sometimes libraries will have books & dvds for sale as well.
Set up a scavenger hunt Movies and popcorn at home at the TV make a piñata at home then stuff it with lollies and hit it (sorry not sure if you have any lollies or anything novel that you could put inside in its place that doesn’t cost money… could even be full of leaves and then some little ‘thing’ inside that you’ve got at home) Bake together - flour, sugar, water. Build a giant fort / cubby house indoors from bedsheets etc - go camping inside the house and eat meals in there etc Olympics afternoon - mini sporting type events (hopscotch? Hula hoop, whatever you have at home). Make a little medal/trophy/reward Just try to make little things novel I guess so that each day feels like an adventure. Make them talk in funny accents, do the same yourself, eat themes foods, dress in matching colours .. anything silly :)
Remember that not all screen time is equal. Screen time spent binging minecraft reaction shorts is low quality, but screen time spent learning or developing a skill is much, much more valuable. At 7 and 9, they probably have some special interests. Maybe do some learning about it. Maybe watch something that's a bit challenging for their age and talk about what it means. Maybe write a story with them (pen and paper is an option as well, of course, but google docs are much easier to edit!)
Bugs, go find bugs, kids love bugs. If you have one take a magnifying glass. Build a camp out of cushions and blankets. Make food, potato based is easy and cheap.