Thanks to Sarah Thake – friend, crafting supremo and deviser of a 101 rainy day activities – for these great ideas.

13 cheap and cheerful summer holiday activities

Picnicking: house, garden and even the car!

We have the routine of eating dinner at the table so a chance to have a picnic is always exciting. The kids love helping me prepare the picnic then we pack it up and grab a ball or frisbee and visit a different park. You might find a new playground or daisies to make a daisy chain or the perfect place to make a den. My children enjoy a car picnic just as much, and it’s great if the weather isn’t playing ball. I fold the seats down and we sit in the boot.

You don’t even have to leave the house. Mine rarely get to have a TV lunch or dinner so a picnic rug in front of a film is a treat. You could even watch a film at night in the garden or make your own film and have a red carpet unveiling.

Treasure hunts, scavenger hunts and escape rooms

Treasure hunts around the house are another family friendly activity. I don’t have to write all the clues as the children like making them up as well. Alternatively, there are loads of online resources to provide a helping hand.

Scavenger hunts are a spin on this. Provide a list of items that everyone has to find in a certain time. The person who finds the most is the winner.

If the kids like solving problems then try an escape room. There are plenty of box sets online. Why not try geocaches – there are 8,391 around London alone?

Get busy in the kitchen or on an open fire

Try out a new recipe. This is a great opportunity to make something new for dinner. The children love getting involved, even better if they have been somewhere to pick their own. If you prefer being outdoors, cooking sausages or meatballs on the fire is a great option. You can follow with a s’more made with marshmallows and digestive biscuits.

Set a challenge

Children love a challenge so use whatever they enjoy and make it more exciting with a competition for all the family. Set a theme and off they go. We’ve done everything from an animal Lego challenge and dress the Barbie using newspaper to making a house for a Guinea pig, cake decorating and make up/face painting competitions.

Starry, starry night

Enjoy the sky! There is nothing like enjoying the starry sky on a clear summer night. Download a star app on the phone to find out what you’re looking at or be the first to spot a satellite. If you live in the city perhaps take a drive (with a flask of hot chocolate) and find an alternative spot near open fields away from the light pollution and see what you can find.

Board games and quizzes

Enjoy some family time and gather around the table for a fun board game. Play an old favourite or borrow a new one from someone else. You could even make your own!

Alternatively, make a quiz or get the children to make a quiz. Mine also love dressing up from famous films, songs and art and taking photos for our family quizzes.

Water play

My kids love water and spend hours playing in it on a hot day. Pack up your swimsuit, towel and sun cream and drive to a beach, river or lake. If sand puts you off try a free splash park, babbling brook or paddle in a stream or visit a local lido. Alternatively turn the garden into a water park with water guns, water balloons, sprinklers and a paddling pool. If the weather is rubbish put on your wellies and get them to jump in muddy puddles!

Arts and crafts

Get creative, encourage your children to use their imagination and have an arty afternoon. Pick up cheap supplies or use things you may ordinarily throw away and up-cycle them. Play with playdough, paint canvases, make cards, build sculptures from recycled rubbish, make beads from paper, do rock painting, create papier-mâché masterpieces, make soap/bath bombs or take fun photos that play with perspective and make an album.

Giftmaking

Have fun making gifts; it’s never too early to get ready for Christmas! Make Christmas cards and wrapping paper by decorating brown paper. You could even make christmas pressies such as candle holders, calendars and bookmarks.

Plan a day

Get the children to plan a day. It could be a spa day with face packs, a yoga session, massage and nail painting or a sports day with obstacle races, jumping and throwing competitions. You could even hold a pyjama day party and raise money for charity at the same time.

Visit a museum

There are hundreds of museums up and down the country many of which are free. You could spend your day learning about a topic you don’t know much about or finding out more about one you do. It’s worth checking out the website before going as many have family events, activities and interactive exhibits scheduled to take place in the holidays.

Check out your local library

Local libraries are a great source of information and offer the chance to find a new favourite book. Many also provide a programme of free activities over the summer as well as their annual reading challenge.

Get close to nature

Get closer to nature: try a sensory walk, go on a mini beast hunt or build a bug hotel. Make a bird feeder for seeds and fat and get bird watching; all kids need are their eyes and their ears. However, if you want to help your children get the most out of it then a pair of binoculars and a bird identification book from the library will help.

What are your favourite summer holiday activities that don’t break the bank? Feel free to add below in the comments

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The Summer Reading Challenge

The annual challenge encourages primary school children to read for pleasure over the summer holidays. During the challenge, participants collect prizes and stickers, play games and, of course, discover a world of great books.

Taking part is simple

Once signed up, children receive their packs and can start collecting special materials, which relate to this year’s theme: Gadgeeters.

Your child simply needs to read six books to complete the challenge and these can be anything that takes their fancy: fact, fiction, poetry, comics, audio books… They log each book completed on their poster and receive a medal and certificate if they successfully finish the challenge.

There are also plenty of activities to extend the fun online including plenty of games: https://summerreadingchallenge.org.uk/games

Meet the Gadgeteers – 2022’s Challenge

This year, The Reading Agency has joined forces with Science Museum Group for a science and innovation-themed challenge. The aim is to inspire children to be imaginative and creative and discover the science that’s all around them in everyday objects.

During the Challenge children join six ‘Gadgeteers’ on a journey of discovery. These fictional characters explore the science behind a host of interests from fashion and technology to cooking and music.

With resources from the Science Museum Group, the Gadgeteers Summer Reading Challenge also features lots of ideas for great experiments and activities. 

Additionally, there’s an accompanying book collection curated by the team. These fun, science-themed recommendations are packed with facts and tales of innovation and creativity to make science and reading accessible to everyone.

The challenge is taking place now and finishes on September 17th, 2022. For more details visit: https://summerreadingchallenge.org.uk/.

Taking part in The Summer Reading Challenge, is just one of my Summer Holiday Challenges. You can read about the rest here.

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However, I’m all for them keeping their brains ticking over and learning during the holidays. Enter the Summer Holiday Challenges. These are simple ideas for things to do, which stimulate, encourage creativity, teach a new skill or provide an experience.

Here are our Summer Holiday Challenges…

Go for a walk in the woods

Get back to nature, go on walks, identify flora and fauna (you could even get an i-SPY book on wild flowers and see how many you can spot). We’re huge fans of the National Trust. Visits to NT venues always stimulate a lot of discussion and they usually have a lot of activities on during the school holidays. However, local woods will do just fine.

Go for a journey on public transport      

We walk or go by car for most journeys so a trip on public transport can be a bit of a novelty. Get children to check timetables, help plan the journey, purchase the tickets and then check the progress of the journey on maps. Keep the tickets to include in a scrap book or journal of the summer holidays. Check out Zip Oyster Cards, which provide free or heavily discounted London travel for children 5-10 & 11-15.

Sew some salad or vegetable seeds to harvest in autumn   

Buy some seeds that are suitable for planting in the summer months and – crucially – are easy to grow. Let your children prepare the ground, sew them, label them and care for them. They’ll enjoy harvesting them, and are usually more open to eating/trying things they’ve grown themselves.

Visit a museum

There are so many free museums to visit. They might not all be on the scale of the British Museum, but you’re bound to find something that’s of interest and they usually have activities specifically for children.

Do something to help nature

Planting some wild
flowers for bees, helping with recycling, feeding garden birds and picking up litter are just a few ideas. Its a great opportunity to talk about nature and learn more about the ecosystem.  

Create an instrument with household items

From matchbox or cereal box guitars to homemade drums, maracas and even carrot recorders; anything that makes a noise is usually a winner.

Join the summer reading challenge at your local library

The Summer Reading Challenge, organised by the Reading Agency, is a great way to encourage reading over the summer holidays. It doesn’t have to be just ‘reading books’, it can be information books, comic books or even a joke book!

Sign up today for the 2024 Summer Reading Challenge at your local library. This year’s theme is Marvellous Makers, so get creating, get reading and get stuck in!
https://summerreadingchallenge.org.uk/

Make a pavement chalk masterpiece

Get the chalks out and get creative. Perhaps take inspiration from Bert’s drawings in Mary Poppins! It’ll all wash away when it next rains so take a photo of your art.

Join the Big Butterfly count

The Big Butterfly Count begins on Friday, 12th July 2024 and will run until Sunday, 4th August, 2024. You can download the identification chart and find out more details here: https://www.theparentsocial.com/the-big-butterfly-count-2024/ Simply count and identify butterflies for 15 minutes during bright weather at a park, your garden, fields, forests or anywhere else butterflies hang out. You can take part multiple times. Not only is it a nice activity, but your data helps assess the health of our environment.

Build a den

Who doesn’t enjoy building a den? If the weather is rubbish, build a fortress inside. If the weather is good, get outside and use nature to build your den. Den building is one of the National Trust’s 50 things to do before you’re 11¾ and they have some good tips: https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/50-things-to-do  

Press some flowers or leaves

Find some flowers and leaves to press (make sure they’re flowers you are allowed to pick). You don’t have to buy a flower press; a very heavy book will work fine. Just place the leaves and flowers between two pieces of kitchen towel before putting them inside the book. Patience is required as it’ll take at least two weeks for them to be properly pressed. The pressings can be used to make cards, bookmarks, art or to decorate something.      

Organise a family games night

Dust off the board games, find the matching pairs set, get Kerplunk and Hungry Hippos out and even improvise with homemade targets/target golf. It doesn’t have to be a three-hour game of Monopoly; it can be a host of simpler games/games for younger children played in quick succession.

Write a letter or a postcard to someone

In this digital era people are putting pen to paper less often. It’s always lovely to receive some ‘nice’ post so get scribbling. Just ask someone how they’re doing, tell them what you’ve been up to; they’ll really appreciate it.

Try a new food

Get them to be adventurous and try a new food or dish. If you’re on holiday in another country, it’s a great opportunity for kids to try something different. It doesn’t matter if they don’t like it, just encourage them to give it a go!  

Try a free maths app

Find a maths app together that they can play. A few you could try include: DoodleMaths, King of Maths and Pet Bingo.

Find a recipe and make a shopping list of ingredients

Get children involved in the meal planning. This gives them the opportunity to make decisions about what they’d like to eat and also shows them the process of getting food to the table! For some inspiration check out my post: Family Meal Inspiration for 2019

Learn to count to ten in another language

Get the kids learning a few words of another language, it could come in handy! There are plenty of online resources and books from your library that can help. There’s also the BBC’s The Lingo Show for younger linguists.   

Spot and identify birds visiting your garden

We’re big fans of our feathered friends. We have the i-SPY Birds books to help identify visitors to our garden and make a bit of a challenge out of it (check out other i-Spy books here. They’re great boredom busters). The RSPB also has a section with lots of information, games and activities: https://www.rspb.org.uk/helping-nature/what-you-can-do/activities

Prepare a simple meal for the family

Help choose something age appropriate that your child can make independently. They’ll love doing it and will be proud of themselves. They will also be more inclined to eat it! My children are big fans of Matilda and The Ramsay Bunch: Tilly’s Kitchen Takeover. There are lots of simple recipes and sweet treats in there.    

Learn how to play a card game

This could be a game that’s new to all of you or one to teach your child. Some of our favourite ones are Beat your Neighbour, Knock and Pig. Solo card games are also good to learn as are any of the Rummy variants. When my daughter was eight, we taught her how to play Crib. She loves it.  

Here’s some inspiration:

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Summer activities

Park and garden summer activities 

Make sure you’ve got a few inexpensive outdoor toys etc up your sleeve. The big supermarkets stock a wide range of good value items. A few that are popular in this house:

• • Bubbles/bubble wands
  • Football
  • Badminton set
  • Skittles set
  • Quoits
  • Cricket set

National Trust membership

I bang on about this quite a lot. However, it is so cost-effective when compared to other days out. Whether heading for somewhere new or visiting an old favourite, my girls love it. There’s always a new trail or activity to do even for seasoned visitors and they put on a lot of summer activities.

National Trust ahoy!

Picnics

There’s something about a variety of cold picky foods eaten from the comfort of a picnic rug that seems to pique the appetite of the kids. They can’t eat enough and never get bored of them. Be warned though, picnics aren’t usually an easy meal option. I always find they can take a while to prepare. If I’m not driving I add in a bottle of Prosecco. Holidays are for mums and dads too Wisley Gardens are a favourite place of ours for picnics.

The Pub

Check out your local family-friendly pubs. It’s a win win really. Many have great outdoor stuff for the kids; one of my locals – The Woodman – has a massive sandpit and outdoor games. Others in the area have climbing frames etc. Here’s a great list for those living in Surrey.

Paddling pools and water features 

Lots of parks have paddling pools and water features. Check out your local ones as water is always a massive hit. We recently headed to Tooting Bec Lido in South West London and had a great time (children under five go free). Also pay a visit to the local duck pond; there’s usually a cafe nearby.

Hidden gems

Do a bit of research to see if there are any attractions/hidden gems near you. I recently discovered that we have beautiful lavender fields on our doorstep. We’ve now visited three times in the space of five weeks!

Dens and gazebos 

In the height of summer our garden is a suntrap all day long, which isn’t as good as it sounds. Last year, we were in desperate need of shade so I bought a £20 gazebo from Homebase along with a few cheapo cushions. Old toys get a new lease of life if played with underneath the gazebo and eating there sat on cushions on the floor is ‘like camping.’ Last year, the girls even enjoyed just relaxing under it with a drink (and they never relax). Alternatively, you can just make a den with sheets and table clothes.

H2O

From running in and out of a sprinkler and playing with water pistols to aqua tents, paddling pools and simply floating things in it and tipping it from one container to another, water never fails. Get them cleaning the car, watering the plants and generally cleaning stuff. If it involves using a hose they’ll be all over it. Try not to completely waste it though. One of my friends sings the praises of the Crazy Daisy. I’m yet to purchase one, but it’s a matter of time…

Outdoor messy play

• • • Footprint pictures with paint
    • Chalk pictures on the patio.
    • Sand play – Great fun and brilliant for aiding your toddler’s development. Make sure you invest in the slightly more expensive play sand. You can get 10kg for £3 at Sainsbury’s. It’s totally safe and doesn’t completely stain clothes (I’ve heard some horror stories about builders’ sand!).

Cooling off  

Invest in some ice-lolly moulds. They’re cheap as chips, toddlers, pre-schoolers and older children love making them and eating them, they’ll be a lot healthier than shop-bought ones (we do pure fruit juice watered down a little) and you’ll save an absolute fortune in the course of the summer!

Please share any of your summer activities below and don’t forget to check out Diary of 43 Days of School Holidays and my Summer Holiday Challenges for more inspiration.

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