As a parent I know how hard it is to keep a child entertained, especially when money is tight. So here are a few ideas to keep your little one busy without making a massive dent in your wallet:

  • Baking – you can make all kinds of things; fairy cakes, crispy cakes and cheese straws.
  • Painting, Drawing and Sticking -you can either let them just use water in the garden on a fence or paving slabs or use paint on paper, supermarkets and stationary stores sell all you will need for your little ones to create masterpieces to put on your fridge.
  • Playdough – it’s great fun for them and you can use it as a stress relief, here is a recipe to make your own
  • Have a few friends round – simple you can relax and catch up with your friends and your child has someone to play with

If you fancy venturing out there are a few ideas ontrips out on a budgetother options include visiting your local library, many of them do story time for toddlers and some organise activities such as treasure hunts or craft sessions.

Another thing I do with my toddler is taking her on nature walks, which is essentially a walk where you point out things like butterflies or other animals and different plants I take a carrier bag with us and some paper and wax crayons. We collect things like acorns, pine cones, leaves etc. The paper as you have probably already guessed is to do wax rubbings, my daughter loves it and we use the things we’ve collected to make collages or we make Christmas tree decorations out of pine cones.

I also take my daughter to indoor play areas these are not usually very expensive and will allow your child to burn off energy when the weather isn’t great. I also take my daughter to a farm, this can be expensive but it depends on the farm, we found one near us that is only £1 per person and if you pay an extra £1 you get a bucket of feed for the animals.

Generally speaking there is plenty of things that you can do without it costing the earth, alot of the things I do with my daughter I found from researching my local area on the internet or talking to other mums or things I enjoyed as a child. It is basically a case of trial and error. If you are new to an area you wont necessarily know anyone there so it may be worth looking for mother and toddler groups or playgroups. When I first moved I found that my health visitor was a great source of information with regards to which groups were good in my local area. The important thing to remember when entertaining your child is to have fun.