The summer holidays are long – and when the rain never seems to stop, they can be even longer. If the cost of living crisis has meant that you have been unable to book a holiday away, and need to fill your days with different activities to stop the kids becoming addicted to their screens, then some of the activities below might help to fill the time and create some memories.
AT the foundation of all these suggestions is the encouragement to fall in love with your local area and seek out resources and venues that might be forgotten behind the big brand names.
Rediscover your local museum
No matter how small, most towns have a local museum. And these museums tend to be free of charge to visit. Supporting your local museum is a wonderful pastime and will allow you to explore your local history, and learn some weird and often obscure facts that add colour to your local knowledge.
Local museums are often top of the list when it comes to local councils cutting budgets. Supporting your local museum will add to a real sense of belonging, as well as contribute towards maintaining an important local historical attraction.
Get your little kids swimming
You might not be able to get your kids swimming in a luxurious hotel swimming pool, but there are local providers who can give your children essential swimming lessons at a reasonable cost. Learning to swim is an essential life skill, as well as being life saving, and an investment in learning to swim should never be ignored.
Indoor camping
If the weather and lack of decent equipment means that you cannot get out into the fields for a bit of real camping, then why not do a spot of indoor camping. It’s drier, cheaper, and you can have great fun recreating the joy of tent life.
Okay, it might be better for young kids. That sense of adventure when using every available sheet, duvet, sofa cushion and table tent feeds their imagination in the creation of cosy spaces, but if the kids are happy, then so are the parents. Indeed, for many parents it gives them the perfect excuse to shed their mantle of sensible responsibility for once and revert back to their own inner child!
Family movie night
We are not simply talking about a night in front of the telly here – but full on popcorn in abundance, moving the furniture around to mimic a cinema salon, sitting in the dark and having the sound on, oud enough for all other distractions to be effectively muted.
Rediscover your local library
In the same way that your local museum is a much under utilized resource, so is your local library (if you are lucky enough to have one). Set you yourself and your family reading goals for the summer – a book a week (or more). Your local library will have a massive selection of every different type of fiction and non-fiction to suit every one’s different tastes.
Have a good clear out
A wet and rainy afternoon is the perfect opportunity to go through any drawers or cupboards that have long been bursting at the seams. Doing this with your children may mean that it is not done as quickly and efficiently as usual, but it does give you all the perfect opportunity to take a ittle trip down memory lane – you’re never too young to be making memories.
Take a random bus ride
If the family car is the main focus of all your outings, maybe it’s time to change things up a bit. Suss out your local bus routes, sit on the upper deck of a double decker, and explore areas that you might not have been to before, or not properly noticed because you have always been driving.
