{Updated for 2016}
This is the time of year when all of us bloggers are sharing our top tips on how to get the most out of the Summer Holidays and to be fair, if you’re anything like I was when my two were younger then you can do with all the help you can get to fill your days with fun and avoid the dreaded ‘I’m Bored’ words being uttered.
Anyway this morning when I woke up, the sun was shining and the clouds in the sky weren’t grey and angry for a change so I thought today would be a good day to share my ideas with you all. But then it occurred to me that over the years I’ve been blogging, I’ve shared so many ideas with you that it might be better to get all of them into one place rather than write a new post.
So, here’s a round up of as many of my ‘How to have an AMAZING Summer holidays’ posts as I could fit into one post starting with my free printable planner which I strongly recommend using to plan your days. Last year I printed out six of these and popped them on a clipboard so I had one for each week. I then split up what we wanted to do so it was spread through the holidays and wrote on any special events that we knew we wanted to go to or that we had planned in. I put the current week on the front of the fridge so we could all see what was going on. My two are at the age now where they want to do fun family things but also want to make plans with their friends so this helps them too as they know when we have family plans.
I don’t know about you but I HATE hearing the words ‘I’m bored’ so we have a few things to reduce the chances of boredom in our house. We’ve had a homemade bored jar for years now which is filled with ideas for things for them to do when they’re bored and we’ve also adapted that a bit as they’ve got older so we also have a A bored jar fit for a tween which has some slightly more grown up suggestions in (Pinterest DIYs are fab in here). Finally, we have a list of things that the kids need to do before they come and tell me that they’re bored although I think they may feel they’re too old for it this year.
Now’s also a good time to sort our your Summer Bag if you have one. We keep ours in the back of the car over the Summer months and I actually just wrote about this year’s contents the other day if you want to see what’s in ours!
So, you’ve got your fun planner all sorted and you’ve sorted out the boredom issue which means it’s time to actually plan what you’re going to do over the Summer. You don’t have to plan your days obviously but I’ve always liked to because it helps with budgeting, meal planning and just generally making sure that we spread everything out over the holidays.
These two posts cover exactly how I plan our holidays to make sure we don’t miss out on anything (Planning the best Summer Holidays ever – Part 1 and Planning the best Summer Holidays ever – Part 2) and they’re well worth a read before you start planing your time. I also love these two posts from Becky because they’re filled with ideas on what to do and her 50 Thrifty ideas for the Holidays and 50 fun things to do at the seaside on a budget posts are top of my list when I’m planning. This one from Jen is another great post for inspiration.
We tend to plan a few bigger days out over the Summer and usually plan at least one at the start of the holidays and one nearer to the end (two different paydays ;-)) but these ‘big’ days out can cost a fortune. I’d recommend have a look at these this post and this one to see if you can save yourself a few pounds when you’re planning your day. Also this post might save you some money if you’re heading to a theme park this Summer. Here’s a few other posts filled with ideas for frugal and fun places to go….
Make a local history tour for kids
35 ideas for family fun at the beach
We have as much fun at home as we do going out over the Summer so I’m going to end this post with a list of our favourite things to do at home….
Encouraging reading and writing through the Summer Holidays
DIY fruit ice lollies
School Holiday fun on a budget
Camp out in your garden (or even in your living room)
Five science experiments you can do at home
And some more science experiments for kids
Low cost ways to keep the kids active this Summer
10 cool things that kids can do with stones
Movie afternoons – with homemade popcorn
30 things to do with pavement chalk
Crafts to keep you busy all Summer
And finally, where to look when you’re out of ideas
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