Tips for school holidays?

I have a toddler grandchild.

Take them out! Children are only poorly behaved if they're bored. Take them to a park with a playground suitable for their age and ability. Feed ducks / swans / geese. If it's raining, soft play is an (expensive) alternative.

If at home, singing, learning letters / numbers. Cuddles, reading. BBC iPlayer, Cbeebies. OR, my preferred alternative because it's educational, Sesame Street.

This is bored week here, two months school holidays take a lot of filling and DD and I decided a couple of years ago that one week he would have to do his own thing.
It is amazing what he has found to do, crafts, cars, making Jurassic Park with his big Dinosaurs in the garden. Even making his own lunches.
Both my apartment and the house upstairs look a bit like an explosion has gone off but he also knows he has to clear up.
As adults we have to organise our own time so nothing wrong with children learning how to organise theirs, DGS is 7.

Yes, taking DGD out - even if just for a local walk - is the main thing we do. Sometimes we go away for a couple of nights. GD is now 8 and is capable of occupying herself some of the time, so we factor in the opportunity for her to do that, too. Getting 'bored' and finding things to do for themselves does children good, I think. Better than expecting to be entertained all the time. It also gives them chance to absorb the information and ideas they've gained on outings.

Oh, and as little use of the tablet/television as possible!!

Little ones are relatively easy to entertain, it’s the 10-14s that are harder to please if you want to keep them off their screens. They still like baking and can do pretty much all the measuring , mixing themselves and should be able to attempt to clear up. Cinema, museums, card games etc for a wet day. Charity shop with £2 to spend on books or the library is another. Picking blackberries and making a crumble or smoothie was also popular.

Oooh strawberry picking would be good! Or are strawbs over?

Maybye too late now for this year but DGS and two years ago went to the Natural History Museum once a week for the whole holidays, we did a department each time. When we got home from each visit we put together a scrap book of what we had learned.
Printed out photos and used the internet to find out more facts about what we had seen.
DGS used it for his summer school project and we both enjoyed it.
I realise we are lucky here with Museums but even small towns have history and doing a bit of research can make walks more interesting.

felice I do think that is a very good idea as it encourages resourcefulness and use of their imagination.
Micro-managing their time is not good for them in the long-term.

It depends where you live but if you are able to visit a science exploratory that is brilliant for older children. There is one in Bristol called We The Curious and I'm sure there must be similar museums around the cou try.

We are in Brusssels, and really are spoilt for choice here, last Thursday we went to a Chocolate one for a display and class in making Pralines in the morning, and the Brussels Toy Museum in the afternoon, it is worth a google.
Our favourite is the Military Museum, with full size tanks and planes, some of the photographs my father took at the end of WW2 are in the new exhibit there.

We recently visited DBF in Yorkshire and went to the National Mining Museum of England and it was a great day out, since we came home we have started a project on mining history. There is a lot here too, and after going down a mine DGS is interested.

We take ours to NT Gardens where they whizz around the maze. We also take a picnic and just buy ice-creams. Agree the charity shops are good when they have a bit of pocket money.

The ISpy books are good. We buy them the same one each and they tick off what they have seen or done. Got a seaside one for when they leave us on Friday and head to Cornwall with their dad.

I agree it becomes more difficult as they get older, and, in essence, it becomes a balance between “downtime with the tech” and planned activities. This week with our twelve year old we swam, cut hedges, kicked a ball around the country park, went to the cinema, took part in a fun sports event at a NT property, baked biscuits and washed the car. Oh, and started a fiendish new jigsaw. In between these activities he is allowed to catch up with his phone or read a book. Sometimes the edges get a bit blurred. He can be as hard to get moving as Delaney’s Donkey, which is wearing, but on the whole we stay sane!

Ooops too late but anyway, these holidays we have...…

Visited the cinema (mid afternoon is good)
Been to the skate park
Been to the play park
Been to an Adventure park (I took 4 children aged 13,11, 9 and 1) on the wettest, muddiest day of the summer.
Done a ceramic painting workshop (older girls only)
Played footy on the park c/w proper goals.
Had dancing competitions in the garden, with proper judging.
Planted all sorts of stuff
Let the BBQ their own food (older children only)
Been trampolining
Painted stones
Been rock-pooling
Had a few movie nights c/w popcorn etc.
Been to a museum
Hand washed clothes (they had great fun)
Played with water in bowls outside
Made bird food cakes

and another 100 things on top

When my children were young, my rationale was if I got them outside at least once a day during the holidays, I was doing okay. My boys were heavily into roller blading from an early age and later on skateboarding so we'd disappear to a nearby park which had the right surfaces with their blades, and their bikes on the back of my car, a football and a picnic box and we'd be gone for hours weather permitting. Rainy days we'd go to the cinema or a nearby sports centre that did frequent roller discos. I wish my granddaughter could be encouraged to try out roller skates at least, but she's a tiny bit namby pamby as to injuring herself, quite a surprise after boys, her father was fearless by comparison, almost to the point of stupidity, I was very grateful for our cottage hospital who dealt with minor injuries we were frequent visitors I also took them swimming quite a bit. With the grandchildren, we take them quite often to nearby Bushy Park for long nature rambles in the "Woodland Gardens" which they like a lot, we usually have a picnic there. I take them swimming to the David Lloyd Club I belong to and again the cinema, there's generally something on although I draw the line at complete dross, anything to do with Pokemon or the like. Other than that we play a lot of "Cat and Dinosaur Bingo", my granddaughter wanted me to test her on her spelling the last week, her idea, although it was 8,30 in the evening so I wasn't particularly keen, but felt compelled to seize the moment. I'm sure if I'd suggested that at sometime during the day, she'd have baulked at the idea. They do arrive with their own Ipads so we give in to screen time when we've been out for a while and we are they are tired!

gillybob your list is impressive. Skate parks, they were fairly new to us then, but evoked the memory of my son and his friends aged about 13/14/15 disappearing all day to one a few miles away. They'd phone whoever's mother was available to pick them up, many a time 4 of them would clamber into my car in their socks, the blades having been deposited in the boot. Oh my god that unique, overwhelming odour of adolescent boys feet after a hard days skating is something that's stayed with me, your mention of skate park has just brought it back