How To Keep The Kids Entertained

I recently booked a workshop at Sheen Pottery Studio, which runs parent-child mornings on Saturdays. They supply all the materials and you get to take your creation home with you – whether that’s a pencil pot or a clay animal. There are a couple of local dads from the nursery who I’ve roped in, so we’ll go together then head to the pub for lunch. 

Visit LindyBarlettaCeramics.co.uk

I love The Little Car Company. They basically take classic cars, like the DB5 Aston Martin, and create 70% models which can be driven by children or adults and go up to 60mph. They’re all electric and they’re phenomenal – and can obviously be toned down speed-wise for children. They’ve also got Bugatti Baby IIs and Ferrari Testa Rossa Js.

Visit TheLittleCar.co

Encouraging the kids to swim is a must. I take the kids to GetSetGo! in Putney. It’s a family club without a membership fee that opened a couple of years ago.  It has a family pool, an interactive play area and a café. There are baby groups, arts and crafts, and soft play – I quite like getting stuck in and being hands on. Other classes range from ballet to martial arts.  

Visit Get-Set-Go.com 

We’re fortunate that London has so many great museums for kids. We love the Natural History Museum and we’re excited to see the new titanosaur skeleton which will be on display to the public next month. I’ve heard it’s four times heavier than the diplodocus. London Transport Museum always has fun activities during the school holidays, and we also enjoyed The Postal Museum in Farringdon where you can ride the postal train and take part in ‘post and play’ sessions.

I’m a keen skier so I love taking the kids to The Snow Centre at Hemel Hempstead which has a huge 160m slope and the UK’s biggest indoor learning slope. They can ski or snowboard on real snow so you have to wrap up warm. There are also private lessons if you want to improve their skills before you hit the real thing, and you can hire everything from the venue. 

Visit TheSnowCentre.com

We recently bought some Graham & Green daybeds which look like sofas and the kids love them. They’re up in our loft conversion and it’ll be the place where they have sleepovers when they’re a bit older. Lots of cushions mean it’s the perfect space to create imaginary forts which really does keep kids entertained for hours. A few teddies and fairy lights complete the fun. If you don’t fancy turning the house upside down, Kidly has a selection of fold-away forts and teepees. 

We invested in a bouncy castle for the girls and they are obsessed. It comes with an electric pump that takes about ten minutes to blow it up, then it folds up at the end of the day. We spent about £200 on ours which is a lot cheaper than hiring one for the day. Robert Dyas has a great range to choose from. 

I’m quite a keen cook but I don’t tend to follow cookbooks. I’m the cook of the house, so I want to show my eldest how to make meals from scratch. The other day we made a curry and she was my little sous chef. I can even get her to help with the washing up sometimes – kids love anything to do with water.