So the summer holidays are near, and if you’ve got little kids, you're going to want to read this - it is jam packed with ideas.
It's likely your children follow a routine, up at a certain time, fed and dressed and out the door all in a predictable manner and off everyone pops to school, work or their equivalent. When the summer holidays arrive, everything and everyone can feel a bit lost without any of their usual structure.
So here is The Ultimate Mother & Baby Summer Holiday Bucket List 2022, designed to give you a bit of summer holiday structure, routine and activity ideas.
I’ll also be guiding you through how I developed our Summer Holiday Bucket list so you can create your own.
Summer holiday ideas based on theme:
To begin, I split our weeks up into themed days to help us be more structured and to ensure we have a well-rounded set of activities to do each week so it doesn’t get boring.
Mondays: adventure and exploring days
Each week I’ll plan trips outdoors to new places we have never been to before. This novelty will keep all of us on our toes and excited for the new things we will learn. Activity ideas:
• Go forest bathing.
• Go buy the best ice-cream in your local area.
• Build a tent at the beach / have a beach party (this was my 4yo suggestion)
• Visit some new parks and playgrounds.
• Go on a scavenger hunt - free printables can be found here
• Pretend to be a tourist for the day, and point out things in your area that you have never paid attention to
• Visit a museum and learn something new
• Go apple and or berry picking
Tuesdays: craft and create days
Each week we will dedicate some time to craft and create. We are going to create a visual diary with paintings and cuttings of our Monday adventure days.
• Make a blanket fort and spend the day in it
• Paint a pet rock
• Make a cosy reading corner at home
• Build a tent at the beach
• Tie-dye some old t-shirts
• Make a scrapbook to keep all of your 2022 summer memories
• Press flowers and make a summery flower collage (extra points if you can research and learn new things about the flowers you find)
• Make a movie. Spend the day creating a video to tell the story of one summer day spent as a family
• Create something abstract and spend time just getting lost in the process together
Wednesdays: sports days
Each week we will focus some time around exercise and sports. We will head to the pool and some local fountains and let the kids splash until their hearts are content.
• Go for a run together
• Go for a bike ride
• Do an online workout class
• Have a dance party in the kitchen
• Visit a gym (you may need permission to show kids around)
• Go swimming
• Spend some time learning new skipping techniques
• Go rollerskating
• Let the kids lead a stretching class
• Arrange a sports day competition with friends
• Have an egg and spoon race
• Learn about exercise and host a quiz
• Play tennis
• Try a new sport
• Teach your children about a sport you used to love
Thursdays: foodie-movie days
Each week we will whip something up in the kitchen and then sit and enjoy eating it together while watching a movie.
• Make popcorn at home
• Make smores
• Make Angel Delight and decorate with fresh fruit
• Bake cookies
• Make a smoothie
• Make Ice-cream or ice-lollies
• Make homemade lemonade
• Make a pizza from scratch
Fridays: lessons in life admin days
Each week, we have to get stuff done. We’ve got the groceries to buy, the house to clean, the laundry to fold, and planning and preparation to get done for the following week.
• Write a to-do list together
• Clean together
• Declutter some toys together
• Organise your wardrobes together
• Post your mail together (even if your just wrote a letter for fun)
• Do the grocery shop together
• Cook dinner together
Having a structure like this may seem a bit rigid or strict to some families and that’s okay, it is important to remember that you do not have to put pressure on to stick to it, you may have friends visit or prefer to have more Adventure and Explore days instead of Foodie-Movie Days, it is totally up to you. It simply is here as a guide and saves you from those days when you really haven’t a clue what to do with the kids.
Or for a slower and more relaxed pace you could theme each week so you spend a whole week focused on Adventure and Exploring, then next week on Crafts, the following week on Sports and so on.
Summer holiday ideas based on price:
Visit Whatson4kids.co.uk you can type your postcode in and find out what’s local to you.
Here are some general ideas...
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Go out for ice cream or frozen yoghurt
You can make a whole day of ice cream. Start the day drawing pictures of ice-cream along with favourite toppings. Get some cash out and talking about how much you will need to spend and how much change to expect back, allow your child to buy their own ice cream and receive any change. Eat the ice cream somewhere really nice.
Go to 3 new playgrounds you’ve never visited before
Visiting playgrounds is the best free activity for families with small children. You can make it even more interesting by visiting some other play grounds you don't usually go to.
Have a tech free day and see what happens
A lot of us rely on movies and shows to entertain our children. Agree with your child to have a day without any tech and see what you come up with. Whenever we do these days, we reach the end of the day and are surprised by how much more we get to do.
Take a meal to eat outside, breakfast, lunch or dinner picnic
Going out to eat can be affordable if you are cooking for yourself. Fill your tupperware boxes and set up a picnic in a nice sunny location. You and your children will love the change in environment.
Learn about and feed the local ducks
Feeding the ducks is a common activity parents do with children. Be sure to spend some time learning about water birds before you go, pack some chopped fruit or veggies and head out. You’ll notice so much more now that you know a little more about these beautiful creatures.
Have a cultured day
Okay, evidently I am obsessed with learning. So I am going recommend learning about a culture, order a takeaway (extra points for finding and following a recipe) from your chosen culture, then sit down to watch a show or listen to some music from that culture.
Getting outside is time well spent, and you really don't have to spend loads on an activity for your kids to have fun. @1000hoursoutside has loads of great ideas.
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Go to the zoo or a farm.
This is a great place to go and spend the day. It’s brilliant for children to discover new animals.
Host a summer party
Pick a date, prepare some food and invite friends over, it is important for your child’s development to be around other kids and it is important for you to ensure you are socialising with other adults too.
Visit a theme park
Okay this is great fun for everyone. My top tip would be to get yourself an express pass and/or go with other adults so everyone can get to go on some rides. Peppa Pig World at Paultons Park is a brilliant theme park to take the kids too.
Take a boat ride
We love randomly getting on the boats on the Thames river in London, it's a short train ride from where we live and they girls love being on the water. We have never taken them on a rowboat, so that is on our bucket list. We’ll most likely spend some time learning something about boats before we go and drawing boats after we finish and we will most certainly be taking some snacks with us too.
Arrange a soft play date
Invite some friends and take your kids to a soft play, this is great for those inevitable rainy summer days we are certainly going to get in the UK.
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Go on holiday.
Many parents have dreams that they feel are much further out of reach because they have children or because of the pandemic. Take that family holiday and show yourself that it is okay, you’ve got this. Each time you embark upon a journey you learn new things about yourself and your children. They too will learn so many new things. Just Do It! (note to self: since I have been nervous about travelling again since the pandemic and all of the restrictions).
Switch up your environment.
If you usually live in the city, why not rent a cabin in the woods and experience life that way for a few weeks. If you live in the countryside, why not head to the city for a while. Their change in environment will be enough entertainment for everyone.
Take some classes as a family.
From baby massage, to cooking, to Taekwondo, to parasailing, the world is full of many new things to learn. Why not dedicate this summer to learning a new skill as a family, it will be a great time to really bond, and it'll give you a lifetime of memories to be grateful for. @circusmash host family circus classes.
There are a ton of ideas here for you to use as a guide during the summer holidays. The general idea of all of them is to use your energy spending time together learning and having fun. I hope you have the best summer holiday!