hi,

i have a 8 year old, 4year old and  a 10 month old.

our favourite none expensive actually free holiday activities are picnics at the beach or even at the local park.

the whole family can help make food for the picnics also your oldest could invite a friend not only will it be more fun for them but i fyour at the beach it will be a extra set of eyes to watch the little ones.

even if you dont want to go out a picnic in the back yard is also good maybe even set up some craft activities

a good website for printable craft activities and other ideas for all ages is www.dltk-cards.com

i use it regularly.

hope this helps

nicole

i have an 11 yr, 7 yr, 3yr and 18mth so i know were ur coming from. have u tried play centres the have rooms and play equipment for all ages and they r not to expencive

well i hope i have helped

If it's possible, swimming is a favourite with kids.  The problem I would have though is if you have to take them by yourself.  I personally wouldn't be willing to take them all on my own because although the 9 yo would probably be ok, if something happened to either the 4yo or baby how could you save them and still watch the other one to make sure they didn't get into any trouble. 

If you have a trampoline and if you don't have water restrictions you can put the sprinkler under the trampoline and let them jump or wriggle around on the trampoline.  If you don't have a trampoline, just get them to run through the sprinkler like in the good old days. 

I'm assuming you're asking for ideas though that they can do without your constant supervision because you will still have your things that need to be done.  And of course not too expensive either.  How about recreating a movie cinema in your own lounge room.  I read just yesterday a woman who turns their living room into a cinema complete with movie tickets.  The kids get to "invite" each other and their friends (and mum and dad if available) and get to eat popcorn etc just like at the movies.  You could even get your kids to be the ones who "work" at the cinema and sell the tickets and popcorn etc. 

When I was younger the neighbours kids and I would have mud cake competitions.  You can have competition that you want though if you don't want it to get too dirty. 

Maybe you could find a nice sized section somewhere in the house and let the 9yo and 4yo build their own cubby house out of boxes, chairs and blankets etc and they get to have it up for the whole holidays and they get to eat their lunch there and even get to sleep there at night.  Get them excited about how they can turn it into whatever they want (space ship, pirate ship, jungle, palace etc) and they can even change it each day if they want.  They can have teddy bear picnics there or turn it into a beaty shop for their dolls etc.

Hope these help.

scrapbooking! or any arts and crafts really use stuff around the house to make masterpeices. the baby just needs too have something to play with like a toilet roll or a vial of glitter lol, the 4 yo will love it but it will get messy just a warning! and the 9 yo can take pics of her friends and make her own album over the holidays.