This is an incredibly long overdue post, but as it’s the last week of the school holidays you might be desperate for some inspiration, so I thought I would post it up anyway!
Many of these suggestions are free!
1. Swim in an outdoor pool.
You could investigate rivers, reservoirs, lakes or canals with towpaths as this will be a new landscape for your child to take in, e.g.:
Fleet Pond
Frensham Ponds
Basingstoke Canal
Lido’s in Hampshire
Splash pools
Or you could just play in the water at Festival Place (the big green phalic things!! lol) or check out the baby swimming pool and the stepping stones in Eastrop Park.
There is also a new splash park which was opened in May 2016, near the Spotlight centre. We are hoping to visit it soon!
2. Walk through the Woods
A trip to the woods can also be exciting – see the woodland trusts nature trails for inspiration – or bike rides. Don’t forget to check out my Basing Wood, Farleigh Mount, Basing Lime Pits, Micheldever Wood and Alice Holt reviews.
3. Visit an Ice Cream shop
We have some friends who live in Birmingham which has a fantastic ice cream parlour in the city centre. We always make a trip here, as the children really enjoy it. It’s become a bit of a tradition.
Sundaes Gelato is in Basingstoke and is perfect for an ice cream or sorbet!
4. Fly a kite
Crabtree has to be the best place for this in Basingstoke.
5. Pretend to be a pirate
My little one is obsessed with pirates at the moment. When she’s bigger, we hope to take her to the Historic shipyard in Portsmouth.
She was christened on HMS Victory, so I want to see if they have finally sorted out her plaque!
6. Play ball games
I never realised how much fun you can have with a football till my little one started kicking one!
7. Go on a bear hunt (or a Gruffalo hunt if your little one has read the book)
We are very lucky because we live very close to some little wooded areas which are perfect for bear hunting.
If you don’t live close to some wooded areas, have a look at this post HERE.
8. Go to a Country show
You may be just in time for the New Forest Show this year (it was in July), but maybe something to think about for next year.
It’s a great opportunity to see shiny tractors, lovely animals and yummy things to buy and eat. Or check out some other country shows that are coming up HERE.
9. Go to the Zoo.
Marwell is probably the closest zoo to us, but I went to London Zoo in April 2014 when she was three years old with my little one and can thoroughly recommend this too. Just don’t walk it from Waterloo like we did!
10. Sleep under the stars
We are going camping next weekend and I’m looking forward to doing this!
11. Build a sandcastle or have a sand Castle Competitions
Fleet Pond
Frensham Ponds
Or go to the Beach! The Nearest “Beaches” to Basingstoke are Fleet Pond on the way to Fleet and Frensham Pond, just past Farnham. Otherwise, head to West Wittering, which is great for toddlers.
12. Run through the sprinkler
Not particularly environmentally friendly, but great fun!!!
13. Create your own perfume
I was obsessed with doing this when I was about 8 years old. All I needed was a jar with a lid, some water and a rose bush. My poor parents had to clean out the remnants! lol
14. Roast some marshmallows
“Burning Nights” are a big thing in our house. We have a chiminea and Miss NHM loves it because we can roast marshmallows over it. We recently learnt something new about counting to “50” after you’ve roasted your marshamallow to ensure you don’t get burnt.
15. Go on a train adventure
For a proper train adventure, check out the Watercress Line or Exbury Gardens and Steam Train. Otherwise, just a trip from Basingstoke to Winchester or Farnborough will probably be exciting for little ones.
16. Rainy day card making
Click HERE for some ideas
17. Explore art and music
There are lots of music classes in the area or maybe just a trip to the Anvil or the Haymarket will be inspiring.
18. Learn a new language
Borrow some books in a different language from the library. There are even children’s books in different languages at the Basingstoke Discovery Centre.
Or maybe investigate Linguatastic, the local language school.
19. Fruit Picking – Local Pick Your Own’s
Check out my previous post on local Pick Your Own farms HERE.
20. Climbing Trees
Basing Wood is perfect for climbing trees.
21. Painting Rocks
I want to do this next year with my little one, as I think it will make less mess then! lol.
22. Have a BBQ
You can’t beat a BBQ in summer! Check HERE for a previous post about outdoor BBQ facilities in the area.
23. Daisy Chains
All you need is an area with daisies in. Hours of fun!
24. Go to a farm
Try Finkley Down Farm, Miller’s Ark, Manydown and Bucklebury Farm.
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