The REALLY cold, REALLY wet months are upon us. As a guy with young kids I thought it'd be a good idea to start a topic where we can share some ideas for keeping the little ones busy during the winter months. November, December and January are usually the worst months in Ireland as regards weather. Parents the length and breath of the country will be losing sleep and watching gray hairs grow at the thought of having less options to keep the kiddos entertained with.
Ireland does not exactly have a wealth of things to do indoors for kids. There are some indoor playgrounds, but those can be a bit costly, especially if you're paying for 2 or 3 kids. For example a local place in Cork is charging €7.50 per kid. That's over €22 if you've got 3 little ones with a bag full of energy to burn.
There are some malls (not many outside of Dublin I'd imagine) that have smaller play areas for kids. These are usually geared toward the very young age group, so if you have a spread of ages to cater to, they're not always a great option.
I remember a few months back (maybe a wet week in June/July), we were a little bored of all the same old stuff, but badly needed something to do 'indoors'. After some 'thinking outside the box' time, I suggested the Mitchelstown Caves. It's sort of indoors 🙂 Well it was a big hit! The kids loved it. And climbing up and down all those steps wore them out too. Bonus! Have you found other places like this?
Staying home is also an option. There's plenty of board games that will entertain them, or some extra homework/reading (which they'll love of course), and there are tons of craft websites to get some ideas from to keep the little ones busy.
Offer up some suggestions if you can. Places to go...things to do...educational websites...etc. Feel free to drop some names if there are some good businesses that people should check out that will keep their kids entertained.
Some great ideas here: 50 Indoor Activities for Kids on a Rainy Day
Cool craft ideas: http://www.enchantedlearning.com/crafts/
They even have a section for Thanksgiving, which I'm sure all my American friends are quite aware is only a few short weeks away 🙂
On those sunny but crisp winter days, you could take yourself to an amazing Irish historical site such as Glendalough like @mcrose did recently. Check out her pictures: http://www.deserttodublin.blogspot.com/2015/11/glendalough.html
Bring the kids wellies for some puddle-stomping 🙂
We absolutely loved Glendalough, my husband was super annoyed with my constant photo-snapping haha! We've also enjoyed Phoenix Park and Marlay Park, too (we were just there for the Samhain Haunted Forest Walk).
I LOVE this site for finding local activities for families, as well. http://www.familyfun.ie/ It's updated frequently.
And of course I say it's "updated frequently" to see they're still displaying Halloween activities. Well, here's hoping they step it up again soon hahaha!
Any contributors have teenage kids? I have 2 daughters still at home, 14 &15, so the thought of entertaining them so they don't hate their new home is constantly on my mind. The good thing is they are older, so we can do more physically demanding activities, but I fear a long, rain-filled week will accelerate the home-sick feelings. We moved from the Midwest U.S.(Indiana) to the Northeast(New Hampshire) when they were young and found plenty to do to keep things exciting. I think Ireland will be the same, with beaches, "mountains", and larger cities that are just a day-trip drive, there should be plenty to do to stay active and have fun. The rain though.......LOL
Jason,
That's a tough age to please! But I guess you don't need me to tell you that. Mine aren't quite there yet so I have it all ahead of me haha
Depending on where you live, there may or may not be plenty for them. I think as you get a better understanding of that, you'll be able to do a bit more research on it. Obviously (for example) Dublin vs Sligo will be like night and day in terms of things to do.
But like you say, if you don't mind a bit of a drive, there's always something new within reach.
My kids are on the younger side, buuuut...the National Museums in Dublin are free ( http://www.museum.ie/en/homepage.aspx) and wonderful, as are all the parks and my family has been thoroughly enjoying hikes and beach trips (Montpelier and Glendalough were both fantastic, as you know! Oooh, or searching for sea glass on the beaches in Bray or Howth!) and geocaching (the geocaching app works worldwide). I've armed my kids with cameras and scrapbooks and plenty of arts and crafts and books, and that's helping. We honestly haven't had a shortage of things to do. Also sports! It's *all* new to my kids and they're loving it! We attended the women's rugby playoffs when we first arrived and it was great fun (and cheap, at UCD).
I'd recommend giving them some guide books and sites to browse to give them some touristy things to look forward to (as Liam has also recommended on his site, Secret Dublin: An Unusual Guide is fantastic!).
And if all else fails... make sure you're armed with plenty of technology lol. We were fortunate to already have ipads for each of our kids due to previous school requirements stateside. When I'm super crazy desperate, I have to take a very deep breath and let screen time happen (though I'd imagine by the teens that battle is already a moot point).
Thanks for that, Megan. Love the seaglass and geocaching ideas. I've done both with my little ones too. Great activities any time of year!
There's also the OPW heritage sites. There's a free day every month - first Wednesdays. Some of these are probably closed during the winter months, but still worth book-marking the link
http://www.heritageireland.ie/en/media/Free%20Wednesdays.pdf
I'm with you on the 'screen time'. Sometimes it's just necessary. We should probably consider ourselves lucky really. Our parent's generation, and before, had to be more creative with how we were kept entertained. Or else just had to be waaaay more patient 🙂