Holidays: Keeping kids entertained on a tight budget

1. Library and book clubs

You can encourage your kids to visit libraries and make them borrow some books to read later at home. Many libraries hold events such as story time, readathons, and arts and crafts days. Ask the staff if they have any events coming up so your child can participate. Libraries are also a great place for kids to spend a few hours in, with plenty of books and computers to keep them busy.

2. Swimming class

Swimming sessions are always fun for children, so check to see if your local swimming pool offers free or reduced-fee swimming during the school holidays. A trip to the local swimming pool can be a great way to entertain children. If you have the opportunity, take them to the beach if one is available where you reside.

3. Sight- seeing

Museums, animal parks and galleries are also a good place for kids to visit as many of them are free. They may have new exhibitions and events running throughout the summer as well as special events for children and families during the school holidays. In Nigeria, there are a couple of exciting places that families can visit such as Tinapa, Obudu Cattle Ranch, Yankari Game Reserve, and so on.

4. Enjoy the outdoors

Buy a few packets of seeds and let the kids plant them and watch them grow. There are also simple activities like football, and this can be done as close to home or even within. On the contrary, have a picnic; a small change from the routine – like taking your lunch to eat outside on a blanket with the kids, will seem like a novelty to children and doesn’t cost anything extra.

5. Skill acquisition

The summer break can be a good opportunity for your children to acquire a skill as you can enrol them in a culinary classes, music and arts lessons, make-up and fashion designing tutorials, etc. 
Ramatu Umar is the CEO of Tumara faces, an Abuja-based makeup firm that also runs training classes. She told Daily Trust that there is no age barrier in acquiring makeup skill, adding that even teenagers can be involved. She also said the number of her trainees has increased unlike the previous holiday where she had to teach just a few.

Arafat Bage, an entrepreneur who resides in Abuja, told Daily Trust that the current economic situation in the country is something he had predicted earlier than now, so he had planned ahead.  “Basically, it has affected me as an entrepreneur because I import things, so it has laid a large strain on my business but then it has also forced me to find other alternatives and ways to survive,” he said.
Bage also went ahead to explain how travelling abroad for holidays is something he enjoys doing very much but as the dollar rate has gone up and airline tickets have also respectively gone up, so it is time for him and his family to start looking for a holiday spot within the country. “There are many places that we can go to. I plan on going to Yankari this year with my family and friends and it is something that I am looking forward to. But we would have never thought of going there if we were not spending the holidays here in Nigeria. I have also heard about other places we can go to and we’d also organise events like football tournaments and any other event we feel like when we have a reasonable amount of money to spare, not just for ourselves but for others as well. So, it is not really such a bad situation. There are other alternatives,” he explained.

Muhammad Babah, a civil engineer, who also loves to travel abroad with his family during summer holidays, said, “I had planned to travel this month with my family but cancelled the trip because the plane ticket, on an average, is between $800 and $1000. That same ticket last year cost half the price. I don’t think it is worth it. I can explore other avenues or ways of spending my summer holiday here in Nigeria. There are quite a few things happening here in Abuja and I can attend picnics, tournaments and other competitions. Even outside Abuja, there are places to visit. It is high time we embrace what we have here in our country perhaps it will help build the country and boost the economy. Maybe the present economic situation is a blessing in disguise.”