Keeping children occupied for free

Where are my glasses?  The monster ate them!  This was the response my children gave me once we had got into the car after a fun morning fruit-picking.

Now the children are back at school, I have had time to reflect back on the holiday period and on how my challenge has been going.  Generally, I find the holidays a good time to stay away from spending as entertaining the little ones keeps me busy, and I have no time to even think about self-indulgence!  So apart from a bargain that I could not resist - a picture of a beautiful beach in West Dorset where we have just returned from our summer break (£10 for a nicely framed A3 sized photograph!) - I have kept away from treating myself!

Instead, my mind has been busy working out ways to keep my 3 smashers busy for 6 weeks!  Some holidays I find run relatively smoothly, with them happy working on creative craft projects they've dreamt, as well as running around the garden, parks and the beach.  This summer was not one of those!  This was one of those holidays where I was kept challenged with groans and whines of "what are we doing today?" and so fruit picking and lunch at the cafe in the nearby garden centre was one of the first outings that proved successful!  The middle section of the back seat our the car lifts up as a storage space, and this rapidly became a monster which ate everything (including my C.D.'s and driving glasses!)  This is a sign of a good day out!  Very simple - a couple of punnets and plenty of fruitful raspberries canes and they were off...

Fruit Picking

The other great successes  of the summer mainly seemed to involve water: from crabbing off the harbour wall to fishing for minnows in a river to fossil hunting on the beach.  What more could two boys ask for than rocks to chuck on the beach to discover whether there is a fossil in the middle?  My husband and daughter meanwhile were busy collecting crabs while I looked for pretty little pebbles!  Chesil Beach is a great place for pebbles, my kids spent hours sorting the little pebbles into colours - whites, blacks, reds, speckled... and then off for a break by racing the waves and getting completely soaked!

Waves on Chesil Beach

All with very little money spent and lovely memories to keep...