Summer


Free Summer Holiday Planner 3

Free Summer Holiday Planner is a paid collaborative post with Very designed to showcase their range of printers. Summer holidays, you either love them or hate them. Over the years I have veered from one camp to the other and the longer my children have spent in school the more I have come to love the time off over summer. However, I have one child that loves school routine and that is where the summer holiday planner came from.


Free Things to do in the Summer Holidays with Kids 2

These Free Summer Holiday Activities are perfect for helping your budget stretch over the summer and also show that you can have lots of fun without splashing out all the cash. Summer holidays can be expensive for parents and carers and it can be hard to say no to things that the kids want or want to do, but I have some great free things to do in the summer holidays with kids and tips to make your money go further.


Free Summer Planner and how keep the kids entertained over summer 46

Downbload your free summer planner and keep the kids entertained over the summer .  We love summer, have you guessed yet.  I adore spending the six weeks of the summer with my boys.  I am lucky in that I can juggle my work and spend a lot of time with them.  I also feel the strain sometimes at keeping the kids entertained over summer.


Over 101 Ideas for Summer Activities for Teenagers 2

Over 101 Ideas for Summer Activities for Teenagers is a paid collaboration with Goodfella’s Romano Pizza. As my boys are getting older I am finding that keeping them entertained over the summer is getting more expensive and it appears that I am not alone in finding it pricey,  A study by Goodfella’s Pizza discovered that during the six weeks summer holiday parents spend an average of £127 a child to stop their offspring becoming bored.  “I’m Bored” is one of the phrases that I have banned here, in fact over the years I have used it to my advantage with our Bored Jars.  So I have partnered up with Goodfellas and their […]


Over 150 Low cost and no cost summer activities 12

Summer holidays, you either love them or hate them.  I am never sure about which camp I am in.  I love spending time with the children but do worry about the cost of summer activities.  I relish not having to get up each morning and giving up the school routine, but I don’t like hearing the words “I’m Bored”  That is why I came up with the bored jar (about four years ago).


Free Summer Planner and Share your top family meal and win 39

It certainly feels like we are on the home stretch of school before the summer holidays now.  My boys only have five weeks of school left and I am excited about planning for the summer.  Earlier in the week I share with you how we customised a recipe book so that we can keep a record of all the family meals we cook and today I have a fab free summer planning calendar for you and a super competition.


Lightwater Valley – Top Tips 1

We had a fantastic time and refused to let the very angry, rude, offensive and classless man who decided to swear at Mini and threatened to “give him one” for bumping in to his child in the Angry birds park ruin our day. When I took him up on swearing at my child and asked that if he had any issues to come to me as his mother, he then threatened to hit me too and called me a fat bleep! It has come to something when a four year old turns round and feels the need to tell an adult that swearing is unacceptable!


Free summer printables from Pen and Paint Blog 2

Pen and Paint is Lindsay Hopkins and I first discovered her fab artwork on Instagram. We now have four of her prints around our house and we love them Everytime I look at them they make me smile and people always comment on them.

pen and paint blog bucket list

Lindsay also has a brilliant blog and every now and then she offers free printables on it and I just had to share the summer ones with you. I have printed out the bucket list one for my boys to colour in and fill in, but Lindsay also have one that is pre coloured in.

pen and paint summer

Both my boys had the Spring version of the seasonal print in their rooms. I love the fact that you can make children aware of such fantastic art and they love it and have been waiting for the summer one.


The Ultimate No Spend or Low Spend Bored Jar list 6

Let’s play – Read a book
Go on your DS for 30 minutes
Research the Romans on the computer
Let’s cook – Biscuits
Let’s cook – make pizza
Tidy your room
Pick a flower and paint a picture of it
Go swimming
Call on a friend
Do the washing up
Make music
Go to the library
Make rocky road or fridge cake
Hopscotch
Make an obstacle course
Groom the dog
Colour in a book
Clean your bedroom
Learn how to skip
Help pair socks
Draw round your brother
Write 5 things you love about each member of your family
Play with Lego
Do a jigsaw
Paint rocks
Scoot round the block
Make fingerprint animals
Feed the ducks
Put up the play tent
Play with the toy cars
No electronics for the rest of the Day
Make cards
Have a bath
Write a story starting with “David had to find out where Rocky had gone…………………”
Draw a map of our house
Find out how many bones are in the human body
Have a shower
Draw a robot and label all his parts
Pretend you are a knight
Sort the laundry
Make paper aeroplanes
Have a tea party with your friends
Empty the dishwasher
Jump up and down 20 times
Let’s cook – cupcakes
Let’s cook – you choose
Put on a DVD
Go out on your Bike
Get the paint out
Go to a park
Water the plants
Make homemade bubbles
Have an ice-cream
Make hot chocolate
Vacuum the stairs
Craft with Mum
Set the table
1 chore of Mums choice
Draw a comic
Play with Playmobil
30 minutes on the Wii
Make Jelly
Feed the ducks
Make a bird feeder
Build a den
Science time
Draw a picture of our house from the outside
Time for a Science Experiment
Make a rain water collector
Climb a tree
Make wooden spoon people
Spend 30 minutes on Moshi Monsters
Let’s cook – muffins
Make’/fly a kite
Let’s cook – Make popcorn
Go out on your Scooter
Board game
Roll down a hill
Go to the beach
Sort out your shoes
Borrow the camera
Find five toys to give away
Go for a walk
Sweep the ground floor
Do some stitching
30 mins with Mum
Wash the car
Football match upstairs
30 Minutes on the Xbox
Go to a Museum
Make a volcano
Plan dinner, write a menu, help cook and serve
Have a race
Wash the pots
Plan a bean in a jar
Make finger puppets
Find shapes, animals and objects in clouds
Write a poem
Watch Phineas and Ferb
Pretend you are a cowboy
Make a family tree
Empty the dishwasher
Make a treasure map
Make a paper plate monster mask
Pretend you are a pirate
Learn how to use the washing machine
Go to soft play
Steam mop the bathrooms
Steam mop the kitchen
Make a paper boat
Take dog for a walk
Write to your penpal
Make a card
Prepare dinner


The ultimate summer holiday bucket list 13

have a water balloon fight
make journals and update your scrapbooks
Make memory stones
make homemade jam
prepare a family meal
Collect pinecones and make things from them
Make a den
go bowling
have a neighbourhood waterfight
go to the zoo
colour some more fabric
family bike ride
go to Beamish
make a rain catcher
go to a park you’ve never been to before
go swimming
go bird watching
learn how to play a new board game
visit local art gallery
mail a letter to a penpal
bake cookies
fly a kite
make pavement or sidewalk paint
go on a road trip
have a water balloon fight
go to the airshow
go camping
make a bird feeder
play hopscotch
make paper airplanes and race
have a cricket match
make sail boats and race
play mini golf
make cupcakes
learn to sew
make smoothies
go to a museum
have a family talent show
go to the woods
make friendship bracelets
create sidewalk art using chalk
make some shrinkydinks
make homemade bubbles
go to an amusement park
do a jigsaw puzzle
make a dream catcher
play mini golf
camping in the backyard
make sand castles at the park or beach
make a volcano
homemade marshmallow guns
make a video
make homemade instruments
decorate cupcakes or cookies
have a treasure hunt
play Frisbee
make sun catchers
visit a nature center
go to the beach
eat fish and chips at the beach
collect sea shells
go a local farmer’s market
go on a minibeast hunt
make soda floats
have an ice cream party with lots of toppings
go to the skate park or a skating rink
make paper mache air balloon models


Weekending 12

This weekend was the start of the holiday for us. Unfortunately MadDad will not be able to take any time off with me and the boys until the last week of August, but that is the price we have to pay for having him around when I was in hospital and converlessing.

We have spent this weekend having fun and enjoying time together as a family and it has involved, eating, cooking, baking (recipes to follow)), building, gardening and generally having fun spending time together.


Summer holiday Love it or loath it 13

I took the boys to school this morning, which calls for a celebration in itself. But I was shocked to hear the amount of parents bemoaning the holidays and saying “roll on September”, even more so as there children could hear them say this. I appreicate not everyonbe enjoys the holiday time as much as I do, but really why would you be so misaerable to spend time with your children. I judt don’t understand why people would have children if they didnt like spending time with them.


Ambling at Amble

Amble is a real gem, a small fishing village on the Northumberland coast, with a brill rocky area, which is great for playing, rock pooling and jumping on and a small secluded beach too. We had the whole beach and rock area to ourselves and enjoyed a pleasant morning.  I had a great time taking photo’s of the rocks, the wonderful amazing patterns that the sea makes on them.  Next time I will be taking paper and crayons to take rubbings of the rocks.