Working parent? Not sure how you’re going to get through six weeks of summer holidays? Check out our guide to kids’ activities and holiday clubs in Bristol, Nailsea, Portishead and Weston-super-Mare and find your perfect summer childcare solution.
Children’s summer holiday clubs and playschemes offer the perfect solution to working parents during the long school break. As any parent knows, children get bored all too easily. So it’s a good idea to plan a variety of things to do in the summer holidays, particularly if you’re a working parent, needing your child to be looked after while having a good time. Summer camps, clubs and activity programmes offer ideas for teens as well as younger children. We’ve teamed up with AirHop Bristol to bring you some top tips for summer activities.
Get bouncing
Knowing the great British summer weather, it’s advisable to have a range of outdoor and indoor options. Buying a summer season ticket, like the one offered by AirHop, means your children can enjoy facilities whenever they like, rain or shine.
Summer day camps and holiday clubs
Many schools run holiday clubs, or allow other organisations to use their school buildings for holiday activities. These can be a great summer childcare solution. Clifton College in Bristol offers a very wide and imaginative programme (see details in the different categories below); lunch is included and there is no extra charge for arriving early (8am) or picking up late (6pm). Bookings can be made online as late as 4pm the previous day. There is also a children’s summer holiday club at The Campuse in Weston-super-Mare; this also runs from 8am till 6pm or can be booked for half days.
Wildlife and nature
A Forest Feast course on cooking outdoors and a Getting Wild outdoor adventure day are offered by Clifton College.
Sport and outdoor pursuits
Many summer holiday clubs and playschemes offer day camps for sporty kids. Ashton Park Sports Centre in Bristol has a holiday activity programme where youngsters aged 8-16 can try climbing, caving, archery and kayaking; there are half-day and full-day sessions, and other activities for 4-8-year-olds. Bristol City Football Club runs week-long fun football camps for 6-11 year olds; Future Stars offers sports coaching and mentoring at holiday clubs in Nailsea, Portishead and Clevedon.
Fun sporty activities
Children who are not keen on traditional games or sports often love something a bit different, such as trampolining. Indoor centres with a huge range of trampolines and other bouncy activities for kids have become increasingly popular. AirHop is a large trampoline park in Bristol which runs a summer holiday cluib for eight-13-year-olds with half-day sessions on Tuesday mornings and Thursday afternoons. The holiday club offers trampolining games and other sports and activities, along with arts and crafts in the party rooms.”Leave your kids with us for half a day, and we’ll ensure they burn lots of energy and make new friends!” promises the AirHop website. For more flexibility, AirHop also offers a Summer Season Pass which will give children unlimited trampoline sessions throughout the month of August.
Creative and performing arts
Clifton College offers workshops in sculpture, comic book making, fashion and textiles, floristry, music production, graffiti, musical theatre, digital photography, pottery painting and street dance. Portishead Youth Centre has workshops in clay modelling, superhero-themed crafts and games, batik wax artwork, and a comedy and talent show. The Campus in Weston-super-Mare has two-day performing arts workshops run by theatre professionals, ending in a performance.
Tech skills for teenagers
The company Firetech runs one-day courses at Bristol Grammar School in video game design (9-12-year olds), Teen coding with Python (14-17-year-olds) and creative digital design (12-17-year olds). These courses are expensive, but could pave the way for a career in digital technology.
Free activities
Bristol Centrel Library has regular events and activities for children and teenagers aged up to 17 during the summer holiday – and they’re free.
Other libraries in the area have their own summer activity programmes.
Further children’s summer holiday camp tips
With the right mix of activities – educational, sporty, fun and challenging, your children could end the summer break fitter and healthier, with new friends, new skills and perhaps a new hobby which they will continue enjoying after the break.
This article is sponsored by AirHop Bristol.
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