Free Summer Holiday activities at home  

Are the kids getting bored yet?  If you have already had your summer holiday, or with the cost of living crisis getting worse you’ve decided to stay at home this year, this article is for you. Free summer holiday activities are few and far between, but if you dig around a bit, you will have all you need at home.

Activities for kids can be really expensive, and now is the time to save your money, so here are some great ideas that your kids will love – without spending any money!

There are many ways to keep the kids occupied without spending any money.

One way is to play with them. You can play games like hide and seek, you can build a fort or create a game board out of cardboard boxes.

 You can also do an activity like drawing. Drawing is a great activity because it doesn’t take up too much space and it’s easy for the kids to do on their own.  If you have a spare roll of wallpaper in the garage gathering dust, roll it out and let the kids go mad!  Get the paints out and have a fun day of arts and crafts.

Another way is to teach them how to make something themselves. You could teach them how to make a paper airplane, or how to fold origami animals. This will keep them busy for hours!  You could use YouTube videos for this.

There are many free activities online for children that parents can do with their kids. These activities are fun and educational, and they will help children develop skills such as creativity, problem-solving, and teamwork.

One of the best we have come across are the games on Calculators.org  This great website started out with maths games that range from easy to difficult, and are for all ages.  Depending on your child, you can pick maths quizzes like the self explanatory Maths Test; or if your child needs a bit more of a gaming activity, try Quick Math Practice which is set up a bit like space invaders.

Teens and adults aren’t left out – try Ultimate Sudoku for a grown up game.  Although, to be honest, the games I have played on the site can be changed from easy to hard – and the hard is hard!!  Some really great learning opportunities for us and for our children, all wrapped up in some really fantastic fun games.  The fact that this great platform is free, with no need to sign up to anything, is also a great benefit.  Make sure you check it out!

Once they have trained their brains, why not make some playdough with them out of store cupboard ingredients?  This is a great activity as you can then use the playdough to make figures from stories – read a favourite book first, then make a playdough version of the story.  You could even make numbers from your online maths games.

While store-bought play dough is quick and easy to find, making it at home has many benefits. You can make your own unique colours with natural ingredients and adjust the texture to suit your needs. The only drawback to homemade play dough is that it will not last as long as store-bought varieties do because it lacks the preservatives found in commercial varieties of the product.

Making play dough at home is a lot easier than you may think.

The first thing to do is get your hands on some flour, salt, and water. You can also add in other ingredients like food colouring.

 Mix them together in a bowl until the dough is nice and smooth.

Next you need to roll out the dough onto a table or countertop so that it’s about 1/2 inch thick. You can use a rolling pin to help you if you’d like.

Once it’s ready, take your cookie cutters and cut shapes out of the dough. You can make anything from stars to hearts!

We hope these activities have really helped make your summer holidays fun, and most of all, free!