The Spoonie Mummy

So a couple of weeks ago I shared a post about places children could eat for free or £1 during the Summer holidays – read that by clicking here.

Today I thought I would share some activity ideas that are free, low cot or good deals, I recently did a poll on my Instagram stories and 60% of people said they were worried about finances during the Summer holidays. There can often be a real pressure for parent’s during the holidays to be spending money and doing lots of things with the kids – but that doesn’t need to be the case and time spent together is definitely more important than what things cost!

As we get closer to the end of the Summer, I hope that this will help those who need to find some low cost activity options and for those that are running out of ideas after five long weeks!

Geocaching

I have been meaning to try this with the boys for a while and we have finally done it this Summer. Geocaching is like a huge, global treasure hunt and it brings a fun element to your walks.

All you need to do is download the free app – follow the map and look for the caches. Some are simple containers with paper in which you add your name and the date you found it to, while others are bigger and contain items that you can take and swap. There are extra clues if you are struggling to locate a cache, unfortunately some go missing so it is wise to check the comments of the people most recently looking for them too.

We took a pen, tweezers (as some of the paper can be hard to remove from the containers) and something to leave in the larger caches when we took an item – small toys and stickers for us. There is also a paid option to the app, but as we get used to it, we have been able to do plenty with the free version so far and haven’t needed to do that. A fun activity for all the family where you get some exercise and the chance to explore some new places.

Tenpin Tuesdays

The boys both love bowling so we often go to our local Tenpin. They have a range of different offers throughout the week (not just in the school holidays) and we often do Tenpin Tuesdays where both the bowling and drinks are 50% off, meaning we get two games for the price of one.

It is also worth downloading and booking through the app, as you can collect points which equal vouchers that you can use to save even more money.

Local Museums

Often there are local museums near to where you live that are free to visit – for example Pickford;s House here in Derby. Sometimes they ask for a donation or you might want to purchase something at the gift shop to support them, but this can be a different and interesting day out idea with little to no cost involved.

Odeon Cinema

I obviously needed to see the Barbie movie but the boys weren’t interested, so we went with some friends and they went with their friends to see the new TMNT movie and we went to watch Barbie. Odeon currently have Summer Saver tickets which can make it as little as £5 or £6 a ticket. Take your snacks with you as it is allowed and it will save you a fortune and enjoy! I highly recommend the Barbie movie by the way!

Yearly Passes

A few places do this now including the Black Country Living Museum and Twycross Zoo in the Midlands – pay your entry and you can use your tickets for a whole year.

We took the boys to the Black Country Living Museum and had a great day – there is so much to explore that we will definitely be heading back and making the use of the yearly pass.

Gaming Cafes

A café local to us has opened up a gaming room which Riley was excited to try – unfortunately it wasn’t open when we paid a visit.

So we headed into town to our local Game and after signing up for their loyalty card I was able to pay £5 to let him play in their gaming area for an hour. They have a wide range of different computers and consoles and a good choice of games. As he was under 13, I had to stay with him – I definitely should have paid a visit to Starbucks beforehand and will do next time!

You can also pay to access the area all day and have a monthly pass option which run s form the 1st of each month, so is worth getting as close to the start of the month as you can get it to make the most of it. The staff were friendly and helpful and Riley absolutely loved it – £5 definitely worth it!

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I hope this has given you a few ideas to try – I wanted to steer away from the traditional picnic, park, baking and arts & crafts style list but we have obviously done lots of that during the holidays too!

I’d love to hear if you have any other ideas – please pop them in the comments so I can add them to the list! Take care and keep safe,