During the holidays I find days in are fine spread out. There is plenty to do but for my sanity I often find it better to go out and do something. Also at home, at the moment, it is just me and my daughter (and the cat - the child fearing cat) so it's good to go out and do something social and days out are better at burning the abundance of energy so many 3 year old's have.
We are lucky in that we live by a few different play parks ...but as a mum there are only so many times in a week/month you can go to the same old playgrounds!
Finding days out/outdoor events to keep my 3 year old active and entertained that are 1. financially viable for us and 2. are within reaching distance (with me not being a driver), could have been a bit of a challenge, but luckily living in Stockport it has been fairly straight forward the past two years.
Last year Stockport (and surrounding areas) had a lot on and I took my then just turned 2 year old to every local free/low budget event that was going. I felt like we'd had a really good run for the holidays but I ended up admitted to hospital by the end of it.
This time this year I am coping better, but also not made it to quite as many events. We have missed a couple either due to the crazy mood swings of the UK's weather stopping play, limited funds or me not pushing myself as much. Also not all events were annual.
This summer we have made it to a few that are annual including National Play Day and Handforth Paddock Fair. Luckily both were free entry and rain free.
Dig in the City was on again this year and I was hoping to make the final day but the stormy weather once again returned.
Some of the other local low budget possibilities this summer are/were:
- the open to all holiday sessions held at Jumpspace,
- special offer £1 sessions at the Playhouse - a small local indoor play center we hadn't yet tried. The £1 offer continues this week. Lovely and clean but best for small children with being a small play area.
- Some free weekly local craft sessions which started last Wednesday at the Stopford open learning center
- A day trip to Llandudno Friday just gone organised by St.Matthews Church - I will be doing a seperate blog post on this.
- Spinningfields Free Family Film Club on Saturdays - free outdoors cinema screen showing Disney films, deckchairs to sit on and free face painting & balloon sculptures.
- A few fun days at local pubs with bouncy castles, face painting, Peppa Pig, Queen Elsa etc
- The Here's one we made earlier exhibition at the Lowry in Salford ...90 years of childrens TV, it's free, looks fun and is great for anymore rainy days.
- An upcoming funfair at Woodbank Park
- Stockport Summer Festival 29th to 31st August. The 31st being the best day for children.
Some useful online places for getting ideas for days out include new page Happy Days Out which I'm part of on Facebook. Family Link who have a very useful Summer activities booklet which can be accessed online and FamiliesOnline.co.uk's What's On section. Many events I have found out about by just being part of local mum's pages on facebook and your local councils events page can be helpful too.
Next year I'm thinking of publishing my own list of things to do at the start of the summer if I am up and running by then! I also will be doing a post of general days out rather than one off events, these generally are further to travel to, so look out for that.
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