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Hey Beauty!!

I can’t believe how quick the year has gone so far!! How is it even the summer holiday’s already??

With spending most of the year so far in lockdown I’m sure that by now we are all pretty much pro’s at keeping the sprogs entertained. But with restrictions being eased, now is the perfect time to stock up on idea’s for the summer.

The sprogs have been amazing throughout the whole of lockdown and I am sooo proud of them for how well they have adapted to everything!! That being said, they’re very eager to be able to go out and about again. As many of us have been affected by a huge cut in our income, I thought it would be a good idea to share activities that are free so those extra pennies can start to build back up!!

Being in the UK there is no guarantee with the weather, in fact, in Wales, it’s more likely to absolutely piss down all year long than to get a long hot summer!!!!

With that being said, let’s start off with dry day’s and then we can look at wet day’s.

Dry Day Idea’s

Beach Day

Everyone loves a beach day!! It’s completely free and there is plenty to do. Granted that it’s more fun if the weather is warm, but even a dry day is a good day to visit the beach. Whenever we go, we take a football, make some goals with rocks in the sand and see who can score the most goals. Find a stick or even a rock and write name’s in the sand or spend hour’s exploring the rock pool’s and see who can find the most crabs. Don’t forget to pack a munch and a drink, but watch those cheeky seagull’s, the one’s in the UK are on steroid’s these day’s and won’t think twice about fighting you for that last bite of bread!!

Here are 2 of the fave beaches that we like to visit and spend the whole day having fun that also have toilets and places to get food/snacks –
Porteynon
Bracelet Bay

Teddy Bear Picnic

Here’s one for the younger sprogs. Make up a picnic of all your faves, grab a blanket and a few teddy’s and head off to your local park for a teddy bears picnic. I used to absolutely LOVE doing this as a child!! It also give’s them a chance to explore their imagination in a different environment which is great for development with their social and interactive skills!!

Here is some of our handy picnic must haves!!

Scavenger Hunt

This is such a simple activity that everyone can enjoy. You can make it as easy or as hard as you want depending on age and ability and obviously your surrounding’s. I do thing’s such as eye spy when we go on walks to make it abit more interesting for the sprogs and keep their mind’s working. You can get a free download sheet of both an indoor and outdoor scavenger hunt list on a previous post HERE. They can be viewed on your phone or printed out!!

Did You Know…

Now this next one work’s for both dry and rainy day’s. Did you know that alot of museum’s have a free entry?? Also, during school holiday’s they often have special event’s on. Obviously with social distancing still in place it’s alway’s best to check with which ever one you’re planning on visiting in advance to make sure it’s open and still free!! But a museum can be fun whilst learning about history. If you know about the exhibits’ that are currently being showcased, why not create a scavenger hunt to take with you based on what’s there?! It get’s them reading and taking in knowlage without even knowing.

One of our fave museum’s to visit is Swansea’s National Waterfront Museum.

Rainy Day’s

Here in Wales you can guarantee that we will have ALOT of rain whenever the kid’s are off school. So indoor fun is a must have skill for us welshies!!

Fort Building

Fort building is a must activity. I used it alot throughout lockdown so I could get some work done in peace!! Get the chairs, pillows, blankets, whatever you can find in the middle of the room and build that epic fortress!! My 2 took book’s, pen’s, pencil’s and their tablet’s in their fort and they played for HOURS!!!! We even shut the curtains so the room was dark and told creepy stories.

Camping and Picnic’s

Yep you read right and no I haven’t lost my mind (well that part is negotiable). Have you ever had the meltdowns because you promised that next weekend you’d go camping or out for the day but the rain has come and destroyed your plans?? As a child if it rained, my mam would make the picnic still and put a blanket on our living room floor and we would have an indoor picnic. Some of my best memories are from those day’s and I do it now with my own sprogs. Again as a child my bestie would come stay over and we would put the tent up in the living room, get the torches and marshmallows and ‘camp’ in the living room for days on end. The excitement my 2 get when we put the tent in the living room is nuts. But remember… We’re still camping so there’s NO TV!!! They have to treat it as if they’re outdoors and use their imaginations to tell spooky stories and entertain eachother.

Home Cinema Day

We all know how expesive the cinema can be!! Before now, it’s cost us over £50 for the 4 of us to see a film!!!! It’s insane. So now we chose a film off Netflix, Disney+ or an old fave from our DVD collection and get comfy on the settee with our fave snacks and munchies. Snack idea – Warm your popcorn (Homemade is even better!) and top it with your fave chocolate, it make’s an extra yummy treat!!!

Here are some of our fave film’s for cinema days –

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Hopefully this has given you some idea’s to save some money this summer!!
Mrs Slee-Jones xx

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