Janis P.
When I was little, our first assignment of the new school year was always the “My Summer Holidays” essay. My compositions always featured things like catching tadpoles in the local pond and watching them sprout legs, trying the “Devil’s Dip” trail on my brother’s hand-me-down BMX, or having a water balloon fight with my brothers and step-dad. I have particularly fond memories of going on a long-distance scavenger hunt in the depths of rural Ontario, looking for things like “a Brown-Eyed Susan with one petal missing”.
It struck me that the things I remember most weren’t just the carefully planned outings that my parents had saved up for… my memories are full of these little moments of spontaneous fun in our every day lives. They didn’t need to spend a fortune – they had only to say “Let’s get the sprinkler out” and we’d be grinning all day.
We’d like you to tell us (and other mums and dads) about the best value free family entertainment you’ve enjoyed over this summer holiday. Just use the comments box below, or post something on our Facebook page. If you’re a blogger, just do your thing, give us a mention, and paste the link to your blog post below.
Here’s one from MumVersusKids –
This summer we packed the car and drove down to Middleton-on-Sea to enjoy a long weekend with some friends and their two kids. Now I know what you’re thinking, the English seaside isn’t quite the south of France, and four days with four children under nine doesn’t exactly sound like a walk in the park. Not least because two of them refused to even dip a single toe in the water.
Something amazing happened though – the change of scene made even a trip to the local playground or corner shop feel exciting. Back at the cottage, the kids found a small “hill”. It was man-made, part of the little green space separating our cottage from the sea. It took three long strides to reach the top, and two strides down the other side. A foot-wide ridge ran along the top. Now to an adult, this may not seem like much, but the children were drawn to it and the four of them ran back and forth along the “ridge” single file giggling.
One of the Dads joined in and initiated a game of Silly Walks, getting them to traverse the ridge galloping sideways, hopping, tiptoeing, or shuffling backwards. And so ensued an entire afternoon of free family entertainment, peals of laughter ringing through the air and the crashing sea in the background.
Our Free Family Entertainment challenge has been sponsored by Pizza Hut, who are running a Kids Eat Free* promotion until January 9 2011. They are also offering all of their customers some incredible deals on family activities including holidays, theme parks, zoos and even SCUBA lessons. On the bottom of any Pizza Hut Restaurant receipt you will find an offer code. Simply enter this code at http://www.pizzahut.co.uk/familyadventures to claim your vouchers.
* For every adult main course or adult lunchtime buffet purchased, an accompanying child can choose from either a FREE 2 course kids meal (includes a drink) or a FREE kids lunchtime buffet (includes pizza, pasta and salad). Find more details about the offer at http://bit.ly/a1DhgJ
