An Autumn of Fun for Free in your Local Area

Autumn is such a beautiful time of the year, and it should be enjoyed by people of all ages and of all abilities too. But as the cost of living goes up again with our need for heating on and more food, not to mention the loom of Christmas… most people will vote to stay in, worrying they cannot afford to go out.

Well I’m in the same boat as all of you again this season, knowing that money will be tight but I also want to make the most of weekends I have my son. School takes up so many hours of the week, and the majority of children don’t really want to be stuck inside (unless the weather is gale force and torrential rain!). So it’s important to come up with some cheap ideas that will suit everyone and that can be fun of course, so here’s what I do.

See what can you do for free in your local area. Where do you begin to look?

Start off by writing down on a piece of paper the people in your household, their ages and abilities.

Do you need toilets frequently, baby changing facilities or access for a pram or wheelchair?

Once you have established the type of place you need to find you can look up on an online map what is available for free in your area.

Check local free magazines in supermarkets, check out social media by searching in events local to you by so many miles radius.

Some of these things can include;

Public Footpaths.
Canal Routes or Designated Walkways.
Parks and Gardens.
Local Heritage Sites.
Castles or Stately Homes.
Farms with Free Entry to look at Pumpkins, Flowers or do Maize Mazes.
Nature Reserves with free car parking so you can do a Nature Walk to collect leaves.
National Trust (some people will already be members, sometimes they have reduced entry fees).

What Can You Do While Out?

Enjoy a walk together as a family, don’t forget to take some photograph’s!
Gather items to take home and make art and craft pieces another day.
Go for a Nature Walk and talk about what you can see and hear (great for young children).
Nature Bingo where you make a list before you go and then tick off the items as you find them.
Discuss the life cycle of trees with older children and the importance of renewal each year.

(If you don’t mind spending a little money)
Pumpkin Patch Picking
Maize Maze or Woodland Trails
Local Trust Properties or Heritage Sites

Sabrina’s Top Tip: Take a picnic or packed lunch with you, and drinks for everyone too which will save you money, even if you have to eat it in the car then it won’t matter because it’s still family time.

✩✩✩

Thank you for reading this blog post today, I do hope that I have given you some good ideas.

Have a great day and lots of fun if you take on board any of my tips!

 Sabrina 

Fun Ways to Spend Quality Time with your Children both Indoors and Outdoors this Easter

Sometimes we are all guilty of spending too much time on technology, and now that the weather is improving we should all be putting down our TV remotes and phones and getting outside! (I know that you’re thinking about doing that now, as you read this blog post on a piece of tech, but please bare with me as I have some great activities you’ll want to be inspired by I’m sure!)

So where to begin! If you’re not naturally adventurous for the great outdoors it can seem a bit overwhelming! So how about we just start small! I have come up with a range of things to suit everyone, outdoorsy types and not so much! All you need to do is choose one of these to do each day during the school break or even at the Easter weekend and voila you have some outdoor fun, nature related or outdoor activity to enjoy!

Here are my 15 “Things We Can Do” of Fun Ideas to do Indoors and Outdoors… Weather Dependent!

🥚 Use Nature in a Painting – Use sticks or leaves to paint with!

🥚
Spot a Bird of Prey – Look up and see what is flying above your head!

🥚
Find Some Minibeasts and Draw Them from Memory – Bugs can be colourful and interesting!

🥚
Take a Walk in 4 Different Types of Weather – No matter what the weather it can be fun to take a walk!

🥚 Go For a Walk and Find Some Puddles to Jump in – Who doesn’t like jumping in a puddle! Wear wellies!

🥚 Have a Musical Morning, Listening or Playing – Music can help you relax!

🥚 Do Some Finger Painting – Draw the trunk of a tree and make the leaves with your fingers!

🥚
Play Eye-Spy on a Family Walk – Eye Spy is great for a range of ages!

🥚
Do a Jigsaw on a Rainy Day – Jigsaws can be a fun family activity on a rainy day or a board game!

🥚 Build a Den or Fort Together – Who doesn’t love building a den! Cushions and Throws work well!

🥚 Draw and then Colour in something you’ve seen in Nature on your Walk, a Rainbow, Tree, Flower etc

🥚 Design your own Dream Car or Dream House (for older children to imagine)

🥚 Create Post for a Loved One and Walk to a Post Box to Send it – Draw a Picture or Write a Letter

🥚 Have an Afternoon of MESS with Messy Play or Fun with Paint or Food items – Paint and Rice Crispies…

🥚 Read More! Read as a Family, decide on what your Favourite Book is and why Books help you learn!

🥚 Nature Hunter GatherersCollect some things from in your local area to look at when you get home such as leaves and pinecones, things that have fallen from trees and bushes. Don’t deliberately destroy nature though! Fallen Leaves are great, discover what tree they come from by looking at the shape!

The image above is from when my son and I did a day of Nature Hunter Gatherers. It was a lovely warm day and we spent six hours outside having fun, games and walking. This activity is great for learning about where things come from such as pinecones and feathers. Make sure you do this on a dry day. We took a long walk through our village and picked up things that we found on the ground. Leave them somewhere cool and dry for a few days to dry out and make sure there are no creatures living in them before you handle them again!

I highly recommend getting some coloured trays like these, they were only £3 for a pack of 3 from

The Works. Perfect for both Art and Craft and collecting things too!

✩✩✩

Picking Up Litter

If your children are a little older than mine you might want to pop gloves on when you go on your walk, take a plastic bag with you, and do a litter picking up hour in your local village or town. This helps the environment and the animals and birds in your area from getting injured.

🥚 Easter Ideas 🥚

You could also do Easter themed Drawings, Colouring In and Games such as an Easter Egg Hunt in your house or garden this weekend.


Check out my previous Easter blog posts for Art and Craft ideas and Baking fun… Here

Thank you for reading this blog post today! I hope that I have inspired you to do at least one of these activities with your own family. Let me know in the comments section or on my social media if you get up to anything fun in the next few weeks!

✩ Sabrina ✩