Half term is almost up on us, the children need entertaining, here is my own personal list of suggestions for the week ahead (depending on weather, etc…). Many places to visit are closed this time of year. We certainly will not be able to do all of these things: there are only so many museums we can visit and, of course, if we go out every day it does get quite expensive.
Sunday 17th - FREE! A 26 minute film by Andrew Cross commissioned to mark the opening of St Pancras International Droit House, Margate screenings every hour from 10.30 until 15.30.
Visit the Thanet Museums:
www.margatemuseum.org.uk Mon- Fri 9.30-4 £1.50/75p
Ramsgate Maritime Museum Thursday- Sun 11-4 (small fee) www.ekmt.fogonline.co.uk/page7.html
Travelling further afield:
Near Canterbury
if the weather is good? £9.50/£7.50 www.wildwoodtrust.org/
At www.discountbritain.net/ you can get money off vouchers for many places including our local zoos (Howletts) which open at 10am every day and Chislehurst caves.
Wed or Thursday: £6.50 www.sciencefestival.org.uk/
A day out visiting the museums of Canterbury? Consider: museum passport for discounted entry to Canterbury Roman Museum, Museum of Canterbury - with Rupert Bear Museum and West Gate Towers! Full price £6.20 Concessions £3.70, Family £15.00 www.canterbury.gov.uk/buildpage.php?id=120
I have heard that there is a week of golf lessons for children. 10am every day £75 for the week at www.manstongolf.co.uk
I think we will go swimming, perhaps to the park, for a walk, and riding his bike… and, of course, we will stay in. I’ve invested in some new paint and paint brushes!
Any other suggestions are welcome.
P.S. I have just read in the Thanet Gazette that the Quex Powell- Cotton museum at Birchington is open - with special stuff going on. The website says it opens in March…
xxxxx
Another holiday is upon us! I made the stupid mistake of thinking the two week break started this morning. I got Ethan up and ready, made him a packed lunch and trundled off to Holiday club with him. The staff looked a little confused to say the least….. “The holidays start next week” they said!!!
Doh!!!
Chucked the boy back in the car, sped home, ironed some uniform stuck some dinner money in his book bag and just managed to get him to school before they closed the door!
Your son’s 6 too, so I suppose he’s into the same things as mine …. Lego Starwars, Play Station, Lego Starwars, Playstation and oh yeah did I mention Lego Starwars? We have Ethan enrolled in Kumon (Maths and English Tuition – Highly recommended http://www.kumon.co.uk) and as a reward for completing his daily homework, which takes about an hour, he is aloud to play the playstation for thirty minutes. So on a typical weekend he gets to play it for about an hour, we usually also go to some sort of zoo, castle or theme park, eat out in a nice restaurant, go for a bike ride if the weather is good and play loads of games as a family. So when Ethan goes to school on Monday morning and the teacher asks him what he did at the weekend guess what he says? “I played Lego Starwars on the Playstation”!!! Children, who’d have ‘em?
Anyway, of the fun things we do I might be able to give you a few ideas for the holidays ……
1) Farming World – It’s close, cheap and fun! They do tractor rides, displays with birds of prey, pottery painting and all sorts of other cool farm animal things. http://www.farming-world.com
2) The Enchanted Forest Groombridge – Fun walks around an enchanted forest with rope bridges, tree swings and dragons!!! http://www.groombridge.co.uk
3) The Snow Park – Digger Land in Strood have a real snow park where you can toboggan, ski or snowboard http://www.thesnowpark.co.uk
4) Leeds Castle – You only have to pay once and that covers you for a years entry! Take a ball and play on the lawn near the entrance, the adventure park is fun and everyone loves the maze. http://www.leeds-castle.com
5) Gillingham Ice Bowl – When Ethan got invited to a birthday party on ice I thought it was a stupid idea …. My son is a strong contender for clumsy boy of the year, but after ½ an hour he was skating on his own and we had a great time. http://www.theicebowl.co.uk
6) Lego Land – Ethan is Lego mad since he discovered Lego Starwars, so this is a treat that’s on the cards for the near future (if he keeps up with his study). http://www.legoland.co.uk
Anyways, there are my suggestions of fun things to do when you have a six year old lad to entertain.
Farming World - I agree good value for money for youngsters - I think it wasn;t open when I wrote this blog (closed for winter?)
For younger children Chessington world of Adventure is also good.
Just to reply to some of your other comments:
We don’t have a playstation.
Son is not much into lego - but perhaps that will cange - I loved it as a child.
Son has never seen star wars - Mr T.P. and I love it and spend 1 week last watching all the films on DVD in one week.
I know we are in a minority here but Mr T.P. and I both believe the Star Wars is not suitable for a 6 year old. I think I was 10 when it came out in the 1970’s nd I saw it at cinema. This seems like a minimum age. I notice the DVD box set classification is 12.
I have to disagree with regard to Starwars – I don’t see why it would be any more acceptable for a 10 year old to watch than it would a 6 year old? I think at six a child should be just as capable of distinguishing between fact and fiction, there is no bad language, whilst there is a lot of fighting there are no gory blood scenes or anything that would cause nightmares or corrupt a young mind and there are no sex scenes. It’s a romantic story about the fight between good and evil in which good prevails.
We watch every new kids film as they com out in the cinema and I thought this weekends viewing of the Spiderwick along with the Harry Potter films and basically anything else involving fictional characters are far more scary and graphic than these old 80s retro films.
Six is just the right age to get them started on Lego. I grew up with Mechano and Lego sets and I was thrilled to see my six year old son building kits that are designed for 12+ - He literally takes a brief glance at the instructions and builds it without any trouble at all
I know there are mixed views on youngsters playing the Playstation, but in my experience it works really well as a motivator/special treat and I have noticed a great improvement in my sons hand eye coordination, problem solving skills (common sense) and concentration. Emma and I also use the Singstar game when we have people round which makes for a great karaoke night. We also have a Wii, which is great fun for playing Tennis and the like. Don’t get me wrong, I am against these parents who let their kids play violent games all day every day, but a little treat for achieving well academically is all good.
I don’t know anything about PS.
Our son has been playing games over the internet for quite a few years.
I think he was about 3 when he regularly played games off the CBBC website.
These games are excellent and easy enough for a pre-school child to play on their own.
He has good computer skills now.
Now he is older - I would recommend for any child aged approx 5 -11 http://www.clubpenguin.com.
You have your own penguin and igloo and a whole world to explore. Games to play and secret things to find. Most of it is accessible for free. But to buy clothes and objects for your penguin you have to pay up - it is about £3 pcm.
I certainly thing the games that I know on the computer are educational as well as fun. For example, our son has become very good at maths over the past few months because he is motivated to understand his score.