12 Classic Family Activities – Part 1

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This is Part 1 – to see the next 6 – head over to Part 2

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Summer hols are here! If you are like me, you are looking for ways to entertain and create memories over the holidays. Yes – trips away are great, day trips are brill and memories are definitely made. But that doesn’t always cover the whole time off – so what do you do?

Sometimes the classic ones are the best and here are some of mine:

1. Get Outdoors

Whether it’s on a bike, on a scooter or even just walking – getting out and exploring is great. Exploring new areas, exploring your town, village or the local countryside.

In Germany everyone seems to be out on their bike, much more than in England. There are many more cycle routes and paths.

Once kids know how to cycle, they generally love it!

As a family we are making biking more of the normal in our life. We bike around our village, take the bikes on the train (much easier in Germany as the local trains have space for many bicycles) and bike around cities using their cycle routes.

We did a great park cycle around our village.  There are 4 parks in the village, so the challenge was to visit them all, cycling between them. The visiting of the parks was also lots of fun – and expended loads of energy!  

In many cities they are now bike hire or rental schemes which are easy to use and a great way for touring round new cities while exercising!

Our Score: 9/10

Great for exercising, great for exploring and can be an adventure for the kids.

Did you know there are twice as many bicycles in the world than cars!

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2. Swimming

Our Score: 8/10

Great for exercising, brilliant on warmer days and many memories made playing in the water. On many of the pools though – there may be a cost.

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3. Fruit picking

We are so so fortunate to have some fruit trees in our garden.

Fruit picking is a fun few hours of entertainment and again encourages kids to be outdoors.

They are local farms that have fruit picking times for the kids to go and fill up a punnet or two for a small cost. Usually it’s strawberries at the start of the summer – but some do raspberries and blackcurrants. You will probably find that the kids will eat as many as they pick.

The fruit can be used for great summer deserts – or made into jam.

Our Score: 6/10

Great summer activity – limited if in a city – and very weather dependent.

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4. Talent Show

One to do when the weather takes a turn for the bad….

Kids love to perform, sing, try magic tricks, tell jokes and lots more.
The box that has sat since Christmas maybe get it out and set the kids a challenge. They could learn a card or magic trick, learn a dance, a song or make up a play. They can get some ideas from YouTube.

What costume can they make, what props do they need – get the craft and the paints out.

Make a stage, invite the neighbours, practice for the next family get together. At the next BBQ or family get together it’s a great way of having a fun evening’s entertainment – especially if everyone has been told they have to have a party trick or a karaoke song ready to perform.

Make pretend buzzers – but you may just get surprised at the talent!

Our Score: 7/10

This is great fun and a must do – for when the weather isn’t great. But we all hope for the good weather where we can be outdoors!

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5. Cinema Trips

When we say the word cinema to our son his face lights up and he nearly explodes with excitement. He loves going to the cinema and the experience of it. It has become a great prize for good behaviour.

We don’t go that often because of the cost but when we do go, we make it an experience and we do order drinks and popcorn.

Look out for offers at your local cinema. Saturday mornings are good in England as they have the £1 showings – many cinemas have family showings and family tickets. If looking for the showings in Germany we look for the OV ones (Original Version) as this means it’s in English – this is for us to enjoy, as generally the little man can understand them better than us in German.

Our Score: 8/10

For us this is a brilliant option – because he loves the big screen. We keep it as a treat day / a prize and try to get the family offers.

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6. Mysterious Adventure Tours

Get on a train, a tram, a bus and just head somewhere…. You might know where you are going – but it can be a ‘mystery tour’ for the kids.

Trains and trams are magical to kids!!

If kids are used to going, around in a car going for a train or tram ride can be a real experience and feel like a treat. Look for family tickets and many times kids travel free.

We enjoy going on train trips.

Check out your local trains. We use a train app!

It is great for kids to see where they are going and work out which stop you are all getting off. If you are travelling in another country it is also helpful for you all as a family hearing the language.

Our Score: 9/10

We love our train rides – finding the station, the platform, how long to the train, translating the German and letting the little man sort the ticket.

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This is the first 6 ideas – I will be posting the next 6 tomorrow! Please comment and give me your thoughts on these and any ideas you have for fun activities – to keep the kids entertained over the summer. We obviously love the ones where there is a lot of energy expended!