Collaborative post by another author. The summer holidays are approaching fast, heralded by the sudden onset of spring and the barrage of early-May bank holidays we’ve already experienced. Keeping the children entertained for one day can sometimes be exhausting enough, let alone six weeks!

Luckily, help is at hand. If you’re worrying about how to give your kids a summer holiday to remember, look no further. Here are some essential tips for entertaining your children this summer.

Keeping kids entertained in the summer holidays is easy with a bit of planning

Set a Budget

Any summer holiday plans you intend to make need to start with a budget. Otherwise, the sky could be the limit for activity ideas, and you could either find yourself scraping pennies together or disappointing your children. Start with exactly how much money you can afford to spend on summer, and work back from there. 

You might think to split your budget in advance, too. How much will you put aside for things like meals out? A separate kitty for travel costs, be they petrol or rail tickets, can ensure you don’t encounter difficulties in getting anywhere, while also illustrating how much you have left for tickets to events and experiences.

Explore Nature

Luckily, there are a great many things you can do with your children that cost very little upfront. The summer is an extremely inviting season and can be great for encouraging your kids to explore the great outdoors. National Trust parks and nature reserves can be found all over the country, and can sometimes cost nothing to enter. You could take your children around several of these, talking them through the different wildlife and ecosystems that each plays host to.

Organise Some Special Events

Fun should be the first priority for any summer holiday plans, especially if you hope to keep your children’s attention for more than five minutes. As such, big events like a trip to your nearest theme park, or a waterpark trip to make the most of the warm weather, can be amazing ways to spend time together.

While red letter days like these don’t necessarily come cheap, their costs can be subsidised with some careful and shrewd spending. For example, healthcare workers can make the most of a McDonalds NHS discount to bring down the cost of lunch on a day out in town; meanwhile, theme parks and zoos are always offering special discounts for particular dates or occasions.

Encourage Learning

The summer holidays are absolutely a time for play, but they can also be used to great effect as a time for learning. On down days between excursions, you could take your children to the local library; on the face of it, this might sound dry, but there is so much to discover together in libraries. Besides, many libraries and local councils run programmes of free events, from storytellers to interactive sessions, that could captivate your children while still encouraging them to learn.