Summer Holidays: A Fun, Free and Fabulous Guide!

As the school holidays are almost upon us, our CFAC team have come up with a few ideas to keep your children entertained, whatever the weather this summer!  

The best place to find ideas is on the Netmums Local webpage- we liked their ‘101 free things to do’ article.

 Our top 5 free things to do this summer are:

• Make cardboard houses- Young children always seem to be more interested in the packaging than the contents anyway! So why not head down to your local recycling centre or supermarket and make a cardboard house for your garden, or indoors! 

• Fruit picking- A great healthy way to get your children interested in fruit! Spend some time in the sun working hard with a juicy reward for afterwards. Plenty of fresh air and lots of vitamins from your yummy berries!

•  Tidy up days. Great for a rainy day and great to leave your house and mind clear from clutter. Take a leaf out of Mary Poppins book and turn tidying into a game with the kids, turn up the radio and have a good old sort out – remember to save your clothes for the next CFAC collection!

• Bike rides- if your family is lucky enough to have a bike each then why not take them out for a spin around your local cycle paths or nature reserves. All the best and safest routes can easily be found on the Sustrans website. Why not take a picnic with you, or that fruit you just collected?! If you aren’t lucky enough to have a bike, for a small fee these can be rented, take a look at this great site cycle hire info site on where to find them or check out 'better by bike' for more info.

• Visit galleries and museums. Lots of museums offer free entry, so why not take the family out for the day. Bristol’s new M-Shed has just opened and boasts free entry to all! Teach kids the history of Bristol’s maritime past, learn about the people, places and life in Bristol and get involved with the interactive exhibitions on show. 

Other free or cheap days out include visits to:

• The Bristol Museum & Art Galleries 
• The SS Great Britain & The Matthew
• The Bristol Gallery 
• The Arnolfini 

A few other suggestions we have for the holidays would be to visit local farms or sanctuaries that are open to visitors.  

Visit Local Farms

Lawrence Weston City Farm offers free entry where you can visit their Animal House, apiary where the bees make yummy honey, outdoor pig pen, chicken coup and three large paddocks. Not only this but they have a secret garden complete with poly tunnel, an outdoor soft play area, picnic area, orchard, duck pond, and compost heaps! 

Windmill City Farm is holding their Summer Break Family Day on Saturday 23^rd July. The event includes:

• face painting
• story telling 
•  a bouncy castle 
•  make a mini garden 

The event is £3 each or free if you’re a ‘Farm Friend’. Many places will be open all summer, such as Bristol Zoo and the Aquarium, not to mention Horseworld and Secret World Wildlife Rescue Centre who both run special events from time to time. 

Bristol Balloon Fiesta and Harbourside Festival

My favourite idea is to take the family to Bristol’s annual Balloon Fiesta - run over 4 days from the 11^th to 14^th August, it is free to enter, and there are lots of things to see and do. Bring a picnic, pocket money for ice creams and some blankets to watch the beautiful nightglow on the Thursday and Saturday nights. What a fabulous family day out. 

The Harbour Festival is Bristol’s largest, liveliest and most diverse free event, and one of the biggest events of its kind in the country. Running from Saturday 23^rd to Friday 2^nd July, the 40^th Harbour Festival will not be one to miss: jam-packed with music, dance, circus, ships and boats, dragon boat racing, markets and children’s entertainment.

Whatever you choose to do this summer, we hope you have a fantastic time and look forward to hearing from you in the new school year! 

End-of-Term Eco Activities

As we approach the summer holidays we thought we’d give the wonderful teachers involved in Clothes for a Cause a few ideas for their closing week classes using our favourite theme: The Environment. 
Included are quizzes and games to occupy, delight and educate your young pupils, and other activities that may help end the school year on a high!

Especially for our Primary Schools:

• To end the term on a colourful note we have a rather fab colouring-in sheet for your younger years!
• For the junior ages we have a lovely renewable energy wordsearch, and a '3 Rs' crossword on 'reduce, reuse & recycle'.  
• Why not encourage everybody to make their own instruments out of potential waste? 
• Or how about practising and performing a class or whole school play based on recycling- this could make a great end of year assembly! Lots of ideas can be found on the worksheets linked.
• What about a simple collage? Get every class involved with making their own green-themed collage and display them all at the end of the year!

Secondary School Fun: Something they can get their teeth into! 

• Print out this sudoku quiz and wordsearch on energy for your lower year pupils,
• Or if you fancy challenging the older ones why not have form groups take part in this brilliant interactive eco quiz on powerpoint? 

Other great activities that can be enjoyed at any age include:

Pond Dipping/Bug Watching - If you have a nature area on your school grounds then why not take your pupils out for some exploring? Bring out the David Attenborough in your pupils whilst making it fun and educational - who can collect the largest number of creepy crawlies, or test their knowledge on different species. Nature is always at its best in beautiful weather! 

Energy Conservation - A great "homework" task you can set your class can be found on this energy conservation worksheet. Send pupils home for the summer holidays with a project to monitor and conserve their energy useage- it's a simple and fun way to learn about the issue of waste and consumption and could also save parents a few bob!

Whatever you choose to do in your closing week: KEEP IT GREEN! 

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