We know that being a parent can be difficult at times, especially when it comes to keeping children entertained during the long days of summer. We’ve put together a paddling pool full of easy ideas that we hope will inspire happy holidays for the whole family – parents included! Read on for our simple summer activities for kids…
Pop to your local park
FREE – ALL AGES
A trip to the park is the go-to solution for many of us when we’re on a budget or pressed for summer activities for kids – and there’s a reason why! There’s something there for all ages – from toddling around on the grass to playing in the park/recreation area or having a game of football.
Consider taking a football or frisbee with you for older children. If money’s tight, take a picnic or at least water with you so you don’t get caught out by the often high cost of cafés.
Keep Britain Tidy manage the government’s “Green Flag” scheme which recognises well managed, accessible green spaces. This interactive map lists the Green Flag parks in your area, as well as what facilities are available.
If money’s tight, take a picnic or at least water with you so you don’t get caught out by the often high cost of cafés.
Catch a movie on the big screen
TREAT – ALL AGES
As a special treat, a trip to the cinema is always popular activity for kids and parents alike. We know it’s often expensive, so only an occasional option for families, but most cinemas often offer cheaper sessions during the holidays for younger children and families, so be sure to look before you book!
Just because your child is very young it doesn’t mean you can’t get involved in some big screen action. Many cinemas across the UK run baby screenings where the child usually gets in free. Even better, films tend to be a little more adult friendly in baby screenings – so it’s a treat for you too!
Many of the larger chains run promotions for families where parents can pay the same price as a family ticket – again check before you go.
Make sure you take younger children to the toilet beforehand – no matter how many times they tell you they don’t need it!
Build an indoor den or secret base
FREE – PRE-SCHOOL AGE PLUS
Building a den in your front room (or children’s bedroom) is always popular with younger children. They really enjoy the sense of building their own world – as well as flouting rules about what’s normally acceptable inside their real home!
Children can turn chairs to face each other and lie larger sofa cushions between them to make roofs and tunnels, which saves you work.
Children love to sit inside their creation, so encourage and help them to design something with a viable ‘indoor’ space.
This is another great chance to engage children’s imaginations. Prompt them to consider what kind of base they’re building. Is it a castle? Pirate ship? Space station? Superhero headquarters? You can then help with exciting suggestions. For example, “every space station needs a radar”, even if this is only a paper plate with a pencil pushed through it!
Building a den in your front room (or children’s bedroom) is always popular with younger children. They really enjoy the sense of building their own world – as well as flouting rules about what’s normally acceptable inside their real home!
Chalk drawings
CHEAP – ALL AGES
One of those summer activities for kids that we all remember. This is great fun and can be surprisingly engaging for older children, as the idea of drawing on the floor or walls outside can feel a little like breaking the rules! That said, it’s worth pointing out the law is unclear regarding the use of chalk in public spaces. As such, it’s safer to stick to your own backyard. And don’t worry – a little rain or a full kettle will wash away even the most ambitious masterpiece!
You can often find money-saving multipack sets of chalk in pound shops or discount stores. Save sibling arguments about colours and get two sets (or snap chalks in half), so everybody has all the colours they want – and none of the rivalry!
Although this isn’t real graffiti, why not take inspiration from some of the better examples of graffiti art and become your own mini Banksy. For instance, try using a few bold colours.
Build an obstacle course
FREE – ALL AGES
We’ve all been there – excitable children running round and round the house, shouting and screaming. In times like these, you can often harness all that energy by building a simple obstacle course. This can be done inside – or outside on a nice day. Even better, it’s one of those summer activities for kids that costs nothing!
Try to make it work on different levels. For example, have children run along the sofa or a low wall. (Whatever you do, please make sure it’s safe first.)
A good addition is adding something they need to go under. A blanket makes a surprisingly effective ‘net’!
Try and work in skill challenges. Examples include making a basketball or football shot, or walking with an egg and spoon. The repetition artificially makes the course last longer, which means you don’t have to come up with as many obstacles!
If you have more than one child, get them to time each other using a stopwatch. Then they can try and beat each other’s times!
We’ve all been there – excitable children running round and round the house, shouting and screaming. In times like these, you can often harness all that energy by building a simple obstacle course.
Visit your local library
FREE – PRE-SCHOOL AGE PLUS
If a trip to the local library isn’t already near the top of your holiday to-do list, it should be! As well as fuelling your children’s imagination through an almost magical variety of books for all ages, modern libraries host a range of fantastic and often free group activities – from singing sessions for babies and toddlers to theatre performances and even brass bands!
Top tip: plan in advance! Most libraries host a varied programme of summer activities for kids, so check out your local council’s library website to find out exactly what’s happening and when.
If you don’t fancy any of the activities listed, remember that your library can still be a great place to pick up some new books for bedtime – just be sure to challenge your children to try something different by exploring the shelves (in the appropriate section), as that’s half the fun of a library!
If your child has particular (read expensive) interests, they’ll often find books on current trends like Minecraft or Pokémon.
For those of us with memories of late fines, most libraries in the UK now offer reductions on overdue charges for children’s books, or have done away with them entirely. Alternatively, you could even make an afternoon or day of it and read the books in the library – so no need to worry about spilling tea on them or loosing them.
Create your own egg-cellent masterpiece
CHEAP – PRE-SCHOOL AGE PLUS
Not just for Easter, this old fashioned craft activity is a lovely summer activity for kids. It offers plenty of yucky fun while the eggs are blown (you’re required to break at least one under the parent’s code!) and a good creative outlet once they’ve dried.
If you’ve never done this before, check out this simple guide to blowing an egg to get you started. You’ll have to let your eggs dry for at least a couple of hours after you’ve blown them, so maybe have another activity planned while you wait – or you’ll have some disgruntled artists in waiting! Then you can either decorate your blown eggs with things like tissue paper and pipe cleaners, or just use paints and markers.
This activity is great for exploring children’s other interests as they can decorate their eggs as superheroes, comic characters, princesses or even footballers (although if they’re going for the whole team you may need a baker’s dozen or you can sometimes find polystyrene eggs cheaply in pound store, craft store or online.)
As well as fuelling your children’s imagination through an almost magical variety of books for all ages, modern libraries host a range of fantastic and often free group activities
Build a shelter
CHEAP – PRE-SCHOOL TO TEENAGERS
A close cousin of den building in the front room; building a shelter outside can be a lot more fun – and the added outdoor element should even inspire more adventurous older children, making this another fantastic summer activity for kids.
Not sure where to start? Ask the experts! The National Trust offers some great den-building advice (and guided sessions).
Don’t be shy! Dive right in and make it up as you go along! You might just choose to gather some wood and make your den in the back garden, using sheets rather than the more ‘professional’ methods recommended by the National Trust. The important thing is to have fun!
You’re likely to be outside for quite a while, so dress accordingly as you could get either very hot or very cold!
If you take the garden option and you’re feeling really adventurous, try sleeping in your new den on a warm summer night! (You may only wish to stay until your children fall asleep before you can take them and yourself inside!)
Scavenger hunt
FREE – PRE-SCHOOL PLUS
A scavenger hunt is another simple and popular summer activity for kids; it’s also a fun way for children to safely explore when you’re having a picnic – whether it’s in your own garden or out and about. They typically last around 15 minutes.
Types of hunt you can try: a nature hunt – for things you’re likely to find outdoors, like a pebble, daisies, seeds, leaves or feathers. A rainbow hunt – where you find an object for each colour of the rainbow (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet); or an alphabet hunt – where you seek something that begins with each letter of a word.
Don’t forget: you’ll need something to write with and something to collect the items in. Or, you could take a camera and take pictures of what you find instead!
Leaf, crayon or chalk rubbings
CHEAP – ALL AGES
Things with an interesting texture make great crayon rubbings. For instance, challenge children to find different shapes and sizes of leaves on the ground. Next get them to place the leaves they’ve found between a hard surface and a piece of paper, before rubbing the crayon gently over the paper until the shapes and textures of the leaves show through. How well do different leaves work? Do the rubbings look like anything familiar (other than leaves)?
Some quick tips…
- Gentle sweeps using the side of the crayon work best, building up the colour gradually.
- You could make a game of it by setting a timer (start with a minute) for children to find as many leaves as they can.
- Encourage children to test out lots of different surfaces.
- What you’ll need: paper, crayons or chalk and somewhere with leaves.
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