I have a buy one get one free voucher from Sainsbury's for Alton Towers/Chessington Zoo/others if anyone is interested....PM me.
"If you rebel against high heels, take care to do so in a very smart hat.'' George Bernard Shaw
MODERATOR AT YOUR SERVICE
"If you're going to do something tonight, that you know you'll be sorry for in the morning, plan a lie in." Lorraine
Hehe. The assistant looks a little bored of it all, while you 3 are screaming your heads off!
I took mine to Adventure Island at Southend (Essex) a few weeks ago, and if you book online you can save about £30! Plus, once you're registered, every future online booking is half price. Needless to say, my 8-year old daughter dragged me on Rage, their latest pant-wetting rollercoaster. I almost soiled myself and she laughed all the way around!
Took them all to Pleasurewood Hills in Lowestoft (Suffolk) last weekend. We spent 7 hours there and it was a great day out. 1 adult & 3 kids cost about £50 and you get discount tickets for future visits.
The only disappointment there was that I had to pay full price for all of us, because Emma's now tall enough for the most expensive ticket, then she got turned away from their newest scary roller-coaster for not being tall enough!
After cr4pping myself on the ride with the other two, I had to spend 15 minutes consoling a tearful 8 year-old because she wanted to go on it. Of course I complained and of course I got the usual shrugged shoulders and "sorry, but tough".
Apart from that, I would recommend Pleasurewood Hills to anyone. Plenty for all ages, not too expensive and you can easily waste a whole day there without getting bored. Oh and we didn't queue for more than 20 minutes on any rides, most of them we went straight on.
Entertaining a visiting five-year-old today, we visited the Natural History Museum & V&A.
Top tips: go to the NHM when it first opens - and use the Exhibition Road entrance - the queues are shorter than the main entrance on Cromwell Road and will mean that when you get inside, if you want to see the dinosaur exhibition (moving t-rex and such), you aren't queuing again - or not much. The NHM's web site gives you tips on what to see (the blue whale in the blue section was interesting for its size) - & can help you plan some kind of strategy ahead of time if you're so inclined.
The V&A was completely fabulous for kids. They had badgemaking and you can borrow activity backpacks (leave a driver's licence or credit card as a 'deposit' - but they are free to use) on about six topics. We did the ones on an Indian feast and glass. Think they were designed for 5 & older - parts were slightly dull for 5-yr-old, but probably more interesting for those a couple of years older.
If you're taking a packed lunch, there is an area inside (with the badgemaking) to eat or choose outside in the garden square. It has a very shallow paddling pool (about six inches deep) - proved to be very simply, great fun. Perhaps take a small towel?
Greenwich Park also has puppet shows this week (think they are free) - events are listed on the Royal Parks website. Canary Wharf often has free activities as well - think it was circus skills a week or so ago.
Have fun.
Well, the Scottish (Angus anyway!) holidays finished last week and we are back in the thick of term time already. At least that means the rain should stop sometime soon and the heat wave will begin
Reporting back on the use of the Tesco vouchers:
Macdonald Crutherland Hotel was great but not very child centred. Great food, lovely leisure facilities and generous room sizes
We went to M&D theme park near Glasgow on Tesco Vouchers and had a great day on a variety of rides. Fortunately a friend of mine was with me so that we could split the children up when some were too big or too small for particular rides and wanted a adult with them. Food was rubbish though and not a decent coffee in sight :frown:
Amazonia (a small amazon rain forest themes attraction) was also enjoyed by my girls who got to handle tarantulas and a python
Macdonalds Hotel - Aviemore Resort was fab The room was not as good as the Crutherland but the resort is very geared to children and families. The leisure pool was fun, the food in the main dining area was very good quality for a buffet/cafeteria style diner and there was also an entertainment team.
I don't think I have ever experienced hotel entertainment before but these guys were fabulous. The first night they had a kids hour from 7pm and then did a two hour show (with a break) of show tunes. The perfomance was simply excellent (one of the young women was very like Catherine Zeta Jones!!) They could all sing, dance and interact with the crowd. The show was enjoyed by adults and children alike. The second evening was kids hour followed by disco and karaoke and was well attended.
Every morning the same team was up at 9.30am offerring arts and crafts, activities , treasure hunts etc to children 7 years and over. Children younger could stay with adult supervision. My girls want to visit again whilst this team are still contracted (until next March, I believe)
We also spent our Tesco vouchers on the Landmark activity centre where I discovered that the most girly of my girls appears to have climbing abilities I had never thought of!
So another summer gone and I am expecting my next grocery delivery from Tesco on Friday!
Last edited by Freudian Hips; 21st-August-2007 at 02:11 PM.
Took my kids (8, 12 & 14) into the city on Sunday with the intention of visiting the Science museum. As we walked through the subway, they saw the sign for the Natural History Museum. "Dad, we want to go to that one instead!".
So we did, short queue, easy to get in and after one trip around the dinosaur exhibition "Dad, this is boring, can we go home?".
So we stopped for lunch and I dragged them into the science museum. Funnily enough, they loved it and didn't want to leave when it was time to go home.
It's a good thing these museums are free, or I might have been a little annoyed.
Took myself(37) to the science museum and the Natural History Museum. The Natural History is perhaps not suited to younger kids. But the Science museum is much more hands on. Also it's the way things are shown.. NH museum.. it's quite traditional and reserved. Sci Museum is more colourful and aimed at a younger audience.
that said.. I loved them both. And a big YAY! for them being free (being a Scot that's my favourite price)
Ok, I'm bumping this thread. Please give me some lovely cheap ideas for days out with the kids. It's only been a week and my purse is empty and the valium is running low.
We recently went to Blair Drummond Safari Park and got 1 free child per car vouchers - of course its only 20 mins from our house
Nothing near you that is an "everything in one place" venue ?
They were giving away 1 child per car - for free? It's not really going to solve DT's problem though, is it? She has problems enough with three...
Where are they all coming from? Is there a secret surplus of children oop north?
NB how many have you collected in total?
Recently went to Aviemore with my niece and found that the forestry commision were running events for kids throughout the summer, one was butterfly hunting, where we made crafty things related to butterflies and then all got nets to catch and identify them, then on another day we went on a treasure hunt looking for a beasty guarding the treasure. Both days were free and although a parent had to be with them it was all organised and fun.
Most large parks have a ranger service that run similar events.
Last edited by Battlecat; 28th-July-2008 at 07:24 PM. Reason: spelling
No friendly Norwegian potters in your neighbourhod?
If you lived up here I'd invite you and the kids to come and have fun making pottery in my studio.
We're overrun by them, the kids have had enough of making pottery with Norwegian potters (or is that potty Norwegians? ). If we're ever in Dundee...
Personally I think it's the age ranges that makes things difficult for most stuff. 6 & 8 year olds are easy enough because they like the same sort of stuff and an 11 year old that doesn't like very much at all.
I've booked the older 2 into StarTrack for a couple of days each week . It's an Athletics day-camp for 8-15 year olds and runs at Stadia all over the country.
It's about £8 a day each, but it's a lot of fun, good training for potential athletes and like all other group activities helps them develop social skills and fight off boredom and obesity.
BTW, it's not all running, jumping and throwing, there are thousands of fun games for the younger ones that have been developed/adapted because they exercise the same muscles as they use for events. The idea is that the kids have fun and don't even realise that they're training.
For parents, it's a great feeling watching your kids develop their skills, having fun and keeping fit and sociable. It's why I became a coach.
I still don't understand why kids can't start Athletics until they're 8, but they can start Rugby from 6? but that's a whole different rant .
Hi Double Trouble - where do you live? How old are your children? I find that it's harder to take them to amusement parks and the like, then it is to take them out to our local park. Of course this depends on the person and how old their children are. Having said this, I'm toying with the idea of taking my ones to London Zoo ZSL London Zoo - ZSL .... Apart from this one excursion, they'll have to make do with the trampoline! (it did cost me a fortune, but so far it's proved to be worth every penny!)
Peace
Hi Bibi - I'm in North London and my kids are 6, 8 and 11.
I have to say, Gav has been absolutely wonderful with ideas for my lot while I've been at the office (the joys of being your own boss and working from home). He's erected a badminton court in the garden, arranged athletics days for my boys, taken them all swimming, bought a massive ice box on wheels for picnics to save money on eating out all the time.
I don't want to tempt fate, but I think I might get through this years summer holiday without treating myself to a mini breakdown at the end of it. I can't say the same for Gav though.
Hi there,
This Gav - is he your special person/other half/hubby? I'm new to the forum and with limited time on my hands, I often don't have time to peruse through the very interesting / funny posts and get to know folk! Yeah, so Gav seems to be well trained and very hands on, doesn't he?!
True true. But I think (I don't know this coz I'm not a man), men don't get 'driven mad' in the same vein as mums eh?! Do you think? Its our genetic make-up and all our MEN - problems (MENstrual cycle, MENopause, etc)
Peace
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