August 3rd, 2022 by Sarah Miles

It can be an expensive business to keep busy in the summer holidays but, with a bit of planning and a few clever purchases, it doesn’t necessarily have to be. Here are a few things you can do that can be really fun and a great way of making some memories.

Have a picnic

Many summer activities like bowling, cinema, crazy golf etc are great but the cost of them for the amount of time that they keep you occupied is often prohibitive. With a couple of purchases, such as sunblock, a raincoat, and a cool box, you can go off for the day without it necessarily costing a lot.

Armed with weather-appropriate clothing and a picnic, you can go off to locations that are free or low cost such as the beach, some woods, a city with free events such as ‘seaside in the city’ or street entertainment etc and just stay out all day. Because the biggest cost is often keeping yourselves fed and watered, your picnic will save you a fortune. It’s also good for catering for fussy eaters or making sure you eat pretty healthily (because calories can stack up as well as costs!).

Have a look around and see what free events are being run, such as festivals, outdoor cinemas, or carnivals.

Seek out some treasure

Who doesn’t love a good treasure hunt? This could take a variety of forms such as geocaching, where you find ‘caches’ that use GPS in conjunction with a smartphone app (these tend to be more off the beaten track), some kind of trail where you seek out characters in sculpture or graphics form that can be found using an app or paper map (usually in city centres), or create your own by taking up metal detecting (go where you want – within reason!).

These can be really fun and even quite educational. Metal detecting, for example, is growing in popularity with around 30,000 ‘detectorists’ in the UK. Some do it very seriously, whereas lots do it for fun as it gets you out and about, it’s low cost (the only cost is really the purchase of the equipment and you can get a beginner’s kit for less than £45), and there’s the thrill of potentially finding something interesting/valuable!

Turn your gaze skywards

While many summer activities are focused on daytime activities, why not have a go at some stargazing? This can be a great thing to do when camping out as you tend to be in more rural locations where light pollution is lower and it can really help you maximise the great outdoors.

Spots such as the North Yorkshire Moors, areas in the Lake District, Northumberland, and National Parks around Devon and Cornwall are designated ‘dark sites’ so if you are visiting these areas, you can get some great stargazing in. Do some research about what you can expect to see when so you can look out for cosmic events like meteor showers or visible planets. Beginner telescopes are very inexpensive (less than £40) and can be packed up neatly for transport. Plus, this is a hobby you can take into the winter when you can take advantage of darker skies due to shorter days.

Soak up some culture

OK, we know that kids are not always great fans of museums and art galleries, but many lay on special events for children in the summer with free or low-cost activities for everyone from toddlers to teenagers.

Take a look around at what your local attractions are offering. This could include craft/art workshops, historical re-enactment displays, exotic animal shows, or something performance-based. With a bit of time to look around, you could build cultural, but entertaining, activities every week of the holidays and they might even learn something!