Christmas is on its way and the school holidays will soon be upon us. The kids will need entertaining! As this is an expensive time of year, you may be on the lookout for some cheap children’s activities. I hope these eco-friendly suggestions help.

This is a guest post from Shoestring Jane who blogs about living a fun and frugal life at http://www.shoestringcottage.com. She writes about healthy eating on a budget, frugal gardening and growing your own food, making extra money and finding the best bargains. You can also find Jane on Twitter (@shoestringjane), on Instagram (@shoestringcottage) and on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/shoestringjane). I have added relevant affiliate links in places which are marked with an *. It won’t cost you any extra to purchase something through an affiliate link, but will help to support the blog!

Leaf printing

This is a lovely old fashioned autumn activity.  Leaves are easy to find wherever you live. It is really two cheap children’s activities in one as you will need a fun walk in the fresh air to collect the leaves first! Choose plenty of different shapes of leaf and don’t pick up the brittle ones as they will crumble too quickly.

Try to choose an eco-friendly paint* or have a go at making one yourself!  Simply paint the leaves in different colours and press them onto card or paper. Very simple and effective.

Pond dipping

I loved doing this with my kids. Obviously you need to pay attention when you mix kids with water. All you need is a body of water – your own or a neighbour’s pond is a good starting point – a sieve, a jam jar and a large light coloured tray. There are some very good instructions on the Freshwater Habitats Trust website. so take a look and get pond dipping!

Recycled crafts

Save toilet roll tubes, sweet wrappers, bits of wool, wrapping paper, foil, fabric, etc and make a craft box. Invest in some eco-friendly glue*, some edible glitter* and any other craft supplies you find at reasonable prices. On a cold, wet day your craft box will come into its own, allowing your children to be messy and creative.

You can take a more organised approach to what you are making and have a look on Pinterest. It is a fantastic source of inspiration and there are loads of ideas for children’s crafts for every occasion.

Geocaching

The modern day treasure hunt, geocaching is hugely popular and very addictive. You used to have to purchase a GPS device to take part, but now there are apps available for your smart phone very cheaply. Some are even free. There is a great beginner’s guide to geocaching on the Ordnance Survey website.

Beach combing

If you are lucky enough to live near enough to the sea, beach combing is so much fun. Finding little treasures such as shells, sea glass and pretty stones costs nothing and kids love it. They can explore the wildlife in the rock pools whilst you are there. I always like to take a spare carrier bag to pick up any rubbish on the beach as well. I find this maddening!

Charity shopping/boot sales

I love a summer boot sale. You can buy pretty much anything at a fraction of the as new price. Charity shops aren’t as cheap, but you are supporting a charity, of course, and they are still great places to find bargains. Both offer an inexpensive opportunity to teach your children about money and budgeting. Buying second-hand is also good for the environment as you extend the useful life of the items you buy and stop them going to landfill. I used to give my daughters five pounds each and let them spend it as they wished. However, they weren’t allowed to go on the very expensive inflatables you tend to find at the boot sale these days! This was a pleasant way to while away some time and their finds entertained them back at home too.

Visit your local wildlife trust nature reserve

Joining and visiting a wildlife trust is a superb way to encourage an appreciation of nature in your children, as well as supporting the preservation of wild spaces. They offer the chance to run around and let off steam as well as to learn about the wildlife in your area. The Trusts are a campaigning organisation and have huge influence. At the moment they are publicising the impact that Brexit might have on our wildlife protection laws. Find your nearest Wildlife Trust reserve here: Wildlife Trusts.

Delve into a museum

One of the best decisions this government has ever made was to make entry to our national museums free. They are a fabulous way to teach your family about art and history. One of our favourites is the Natural History Museum in London, but there are lots of smaller local museums that may be free too. Have a look on your council website. We have a lovely little toy museum and a natural history museum locally, both of which have free entry.

Have a cookery session

Children love to cook! There are so many reasons why you should teach yours this essential life skill. At its most basic level, it is fun and will while away an afternoon or two. However, it also gives you the opportunity to discuss where food comes from and slip in some information about good nutrition. Cooking from scratch is cheaper and healthier than buying packaged meals and allows you to avoid excess packaging. You could let your kids plan a meal and buy the ingredients as well, so that they get that food costs money. If you want to read about more reasons for teaching your children to cook have a look at this blog post I wrote on the subject five reasons you should teach your children to cook.

Plant something

You don’t have to have a garden to grow things with the children. Cress is so easy to grow on your windowsill, along with various herbs. You can also attempt to sprout avocado seeds or try Zoe’s instructions on how to regrow celery.  If you are fortunate enough to have a vegetable patch, involve your children and give them a bit of earth to grow a few bits in. They will get the same satisfaction as you do from growing their own food.

Having fun with your children doesn’t always have to involve a huge amount of expense, and you may find the most enduring memories you make are those that cost very little.

* where there is an asterisk affiliate links have been used.

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It’s the Easter holidays and the kids are home. They don’t want to sit around all day though, they want to get out and do stuff and have fun! Luckily we have access to loads of free entertainment and we made the most of it last week! I highly recommend looking at free facilities in your local area! You can save so much money and have lots of free fun! Here are 4 days worth of free activities for kids;

4 Days of fun with kids

1. Parks and playgrounds

There are lots of great playgrounds for kids these days. In Brighton and Hove we are lucky to have such a great choice of brilliant outdoor play spaces to visit. In fact there are so many there are loads we haven’t explored yet. One thing I really like about them is that they are all so different.

Although some play equipment is repeated each playground has its own original features and interest points. There are also some cool skate parks. Even though my heart is in my mouth watching my kids whizz around. I’m so impressed how they have taught themselves to go up and down the ramps. Last week we arranged to meet up with friends at a different park each day for 4 days. We drove to the parks we went to and all but one of them had free parking. The one that didn’t have free parking cost us £6.20 because it was fairly central to the city. If you don’t know where all the parks are in your area, take a look at your local council website. You might be surprised how many you have to choose from! To find out more about the parks in Brighton and Hove take a look here.

Museums

Museums are often free and are great for a rainy day. Lots of them are geared up to cater for young visitors and are extremely child friendly. We visited Hove Museum one afternoon. It is free to get into. (We paid £2 to park) They often have kids activities going on for a small fee. Even without specific kids activities we found they had booklets which encouraged the kids to look in the different rooms of the museum to find certain objects and then draw a picture of it or answer a question about it and so on.

They also have bags with postcards, torches and magnifying glasses in them and the idea is the kids look for the things on the postcards around the museum with the aid of the torch and the magnifying glass. At the moment they have a Star Wars memorabilia exhibition on and there are various toys and figures on display. There is a small dress up area with Star Wars costumes for the kids to try on. If you haven’t already sussed them out, I definitely recommend finding out about what is going on for kids in the museums in your area for a fun free educational couple of hours with the kids! To find out more about Brighton and Hove museums take a look here 

Libraries

Another fantastic source of free entertainment are libraries. In our city we have lots of libraribes and again there are so many that we haven’t visited them all! I used to take my kids to baby sessions at the library. Then I took them to story time in Hove library. Nowadays we go to the library most weeks and we borrow a small fortune in books on a regular basis! We have a few libraries that we can walk to from our house. This whiled away one afternoon with a walk to the library and back.

Lots of the libraries have dedicated sections for kids with play equipment, some have computers and most have comfy chairs. I relaxed for a bit on a comfy chair while the kids looked for books they wanted to borrow. I’ve been enjoying the books they chose to borrow as some of them were books that I loved when I was a kid. Recently we have been reading the Indian in the Cupboard and the Faraway Tree! It is well worth looking up what is going on in your local libraries as aside from offering books to borrow often activities are free or very cheap and it is a great way to meet people in your local area. Look on your local council website for more info and find out more about Brighton and Hove libraries here.

Food and drink

To keep costs down we either ate lunch at home or took packed lunches. As well as snacks and water in reusable bottles with us to the parks, library and museum. In total four days of entertainment cost us £8.20. Which I think it is pretty amazing for the amount of fun we had! The kids were happy as they had friends to play with and I was happy because I had adults to chat with. We all got some free exercise, free entertainment and had a really nice few days.

So why not give it a try. Make the most of what your local area has to offer for free instead of visiting expensive out of town attractions and take a packed lunch!

You stand to save a lot of money. It’s less stressful as you don’t feel pressured to enjoy the experience, and your kids are likely to be just as happy playing with their friends in a local park as they are anywhere else.   What’s your area like? Would you find enough entertainment locally to spend under £10 on 4 days of activities?

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It would be so easy to spend a small fortune on kids activities during the Easter holidays. These easter holiday activities will keep you busy for a few days. Plus not only will they not cost you money, they could actually save you money!

5 activities for kids in the Easter Holidays

1. Visit some local working farms!

Kids love going to farms. Instead of paying to go to one, you could take them to some local working farms. They get to see the animals and learn about where their food comes from. You might be able to walk through the farm along public rights of way.

Farm shops can be expensive. Look out for farms which sell product from the farm gates. It can work out cheaper than shopping at the supermarket. Our local egg farm sells trays of 30 organic free range eggs for £4, which is a brilliant price. If you find a product at a good price but the farm is too far to visit regularly, you could create a buying group. Find a few friends and take it in turns to go and buy it. I do this with eggs. Although it does take a bit of organising it has worked really well and saved me lots of money!

2. Do a toy swap!

Spring is traditionally a time for cleaning and having a clear out. Get your kids to join in by sorting through their books, toys and games. Once they have decided what they no longer want host a toy swap party. They will feel like they will have gained some new toys and you haven’t had to pay for them! I recently wrote an article for the Mirror on how to get toys for free.

3. Grow some vegetables.

It’s a great time of year to get the veg garden going. I have lots of tips for how to do that on a budget. It is easy to get the kids involved with planting seeds or planting seedlings out in the garden. It won’t cost you much and in a few months time you will have food to eat! If you don’t have a garden, plant some herbs instead!

More low cost activities

4. Go charity shopping.

Fun aside, the holidays are also a time to do practical things! Eg, buy new shoes or clothes for the kids. You will be spending money on this one, but the savings will be worth it! As long as you stick to your shopping list! Plus charity shops are usually very child friendly. Most have a toy section and generally no-one minds the kids fiddling with all the toys.  If you give your kids a bit of pocket money they can spend their own money on toys, or books. Meaning you can peruse the kids clothes section.

5. Get a haircut

Another practical activity. It takes up a bit of time and they love it. It doesn’t have to cost anything though if you can find a salon who wants models to practise on. There is a website which will help you find places looking for models local to you. Read more here.

How do you keep the kids entertained on a budget in the holidays? 

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We also perused the charity shops in Portslade and found this great set of books (pictured above). Everything was half price in the shop and usually they sell 3 books for £1, but today it was 3 books for 50p. They are all about being good and include titles such as ‘Being Wasteful’, ‘Being Selfish’, ‘Being Destructive’ and so on.  We (i.e. my husband and I) thought they were brilliant and had to adopt them.   They are actually pretty educational.  I now know all the reasons why I really shouldn’t be as messy as I am and my husband now knows what he should do next time he feels like complaining   As an added bonus I think they are probably quite good for the kids too

My husband and son between them paid £4 for 24 books – 22 of which were part of this set. You can buy them through Amazon here – but they aren’t cheap – we got ourselves a pretty good deal today!

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My kids are 3 and 5 and there were plenty of toys which were suitable for both of them there.  The story bags in particular are brilliant. They include a story or two and a sheet with jokes or poems and so on related to the stories. Plus most bags include some kind of relevant toy, possibly a dressing up costume and maybe a game.  They are all different but really good.  Today we got ones out related to knights and maths.

• A space station set which came with figures and space buggies etc (which counted as one toy),
• A marble run set including marbles, 
• A snappy crocodile game
• A pretend postbag and parcels set
• The pirate set again which comes with playmat, 5 pirates and a raft, 
• A peg set – where you make patterns out of pegs on a wooden base.

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1. Raystede – this is an animal welfare centre.  It is free to enter, although they do ask for a donation. There is a cafe and outside picnic benches with a play tractor which we make use of all year round (as pictured above).  There are all kinds of animals there from hamsters to horses – it is a great day out! Watch out for the parrots that can say hello and look out for their summer and Christmas fairs when there are all kinds of things going on.
2. Roundstone – this is a large pick your own farm with lots of fruit and vegetables.  There is a tractor there which you can get on and off at various points around the farm.  There is no entrance charge and no fee for the tractor.  There is a cafe and a farm shop on the site and on Sundays there is a car boot sale in the car park.  My kids love picking (and eating – shhh don’t tell anyone) the strawberries and the raspberries there and they would be quite happy to sit on the tractor for hours going round and round the farm as well!
3. Woods Mill – this is part of Sussex Wildlife Trust and is a great woodland nature trail.  At the right times of year you can go pond dipping and bird watching.  There are picnic tables and toilets there, but no cafe.
4. Ditchling Common – This is another nature trail just past the village of Ditchling.  There are no facilities there other than a few picnic benches.   It is just a nice walk through woods, past a small lake/ large pond and across a field.  
5. Walking by the river in Shoreham.  We always park in this car park and cross over the bridge to the east side of the river.  It is a nice walk, with some interesting sculptures alongside the Ropetackle Centre. If you keep walking further up there are picnic tables with great views across the river to Shoreham airport.  A perfect place to keep our two little boys entertained while they are eating their lunch.  At the right time of year there are lots of blackberries to be picked and you can cross over the river and walk all the way back to the car park via a playground (although watch out the path back is pretty narrow)!  There are car boots sales held in that car park sometimes though, so occasionally we get so sidetracked by that we don’t get round to doing a river walk!

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1. Rock, paper, scissors
2. I spy
3. Thumb war – you never know one day they make become a champion thumb wrestler! 
4. Blow football – if you are in a cafe or restaurant ask for two straws, tear off a bit of a napkin, scrunch it into a ball and have fun!
5. Clapping games such as pat-a-cake
6. String games
7. Tell them to count the blue (or pink or stripy or square or….) things in the room (or on the table or out the window….)
8. Have a chat – ask them what their favourite food, colour, shape, animal, story, song, toy etc is
9. Sing a song together (if it is practical)
10. Play noughts and crosses

If none of these ideas float your boat there are some more ideas here!

How do you entertain your kids when having to wait somewhere when out and about? Let me know in the comments below!

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Cut the pictures out from the torn books

If you have books with pages which you can cut i.e. ones that don’t have hard pages throughout, then you can cut out the pictures. One of my sons books had sturdy plastic coated pages, which were easy to cut. It had lots of pictures of animals in it and I cut them out neatly. Then I stuck them to my son’s wardrobe with blue tack. I think it was quite a nice way to brighten up his cupboard!

Mount the pages from the torn books

Another book I found that had seen better days was a lovely board book with a story about what a teddy wanted to eat.  I trimmed the edges. Then I mounted one of the pictures on a cover from another broken book, after covering it in red card and then stuck them all to the wall with blue tack.

Frame the torn book pages

You could take things one step further and frame the book pages. To save money use frames that you already have or get them secondhand if you can. It’s better for the environment doing that too. Another option would be to use the leftover bits of the book(s) to make your own frames like in the video below

Depending on their age, this could be a fun rainy day activity to do with your child. Maybe they could help with blue tacking and choosing where the pictures will go.

What do you do with your kids torn books and what do you think of turning broken books into wall art?

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