Still looking for ways to entertain your children during the summer? Holiday activities don't have to be local: the film-making or climbing course your child would enjoy might be taking place in their cousin's city, or it might even be residential.
Week-long courses
The homepages for local authorities (use Google) is a basic starting-point, and you should also check what summer courses nearby universities have to offer.
At the cheaper end of the scale, the UEA Sportspark in Norwich, for instance, charges £70 for a five-day programme of sports (sportspark.co.uk/activities_courses.html), as do Cardiff University's Dragon Camps (uwic.ac.uk/sfm/junior _sports_activities/dragon_ camps.asp). Perform (perform .org.uk) is running five-day workshops for under-8s based on the Jungle Book (£118.50) in various locations in the south-east.
There are still some places available on PGL's residential courses around the country (pgl.co.uk/online/pglexperience/activityholidays), and children can be enrolled for day camps in Surrey (£125).
The University of the West of England (uwe.ac.uk/amd/short2 .htm) in Bristol has week-long animation workshops for children and teenagers (£200).
The Field Studies Council (field-studies-council.org/ leisurelearning/index.aspx) runs a couple of residential 'eco-adventures' for unaccompanied young people (£235-£280).
Participants in the Central School of Speech and Drama's (cssd.ac.uk/courses/summer_ school/summer_school.htm) courses in stage design, singing, acting technique, costume and stage fighting have to be at least 16 or 17 and the fees are high (at least £360).
At the very top end is the Metropolitan Film School's (metfilmschool.co.uk) two-week Young Filmmakers' Academy in Clapham in south London: it costs £995.
Workshops and shorter activities
Sadly, there's no national database of sports courses, but Sport England recently launched a searchable index of sports centres (activeplaces.com).
The National Trust's children's site (.nationaltrust.org.uk/trusty /out_and_about .htm) is poorly organised, but with patience you can track down the events scheduled over the next month and download free activity and Tracker Packs for a number of houses and gardens.
The Natural History Museum is running short insect-themed workshops for under-sevens (nhm.ac.uk/education/families _and_individuals) and you could use Show Me (show.me.uk), a museum portal aimed at under-12s, to stimulate their interest in local mummy, dinosaur and Viking exhibits.
The four Tate galleries (tate.org.uk/eventseducation/ default.htm#courses) and the National Gallery (nationalgallery .org.uk/plan/information/ familyfun.htm) also organise activities for children, and all of them are free.
The London Transport Museum's resident poet is holding a workshop for 6-12 year-olds on August 22 (ltmuseum.co.uk/learning/ family_events.html).
Inspiration for days out
Try the very good Travelforkids.com, which covers Europe, North and South America and parts of Asia.
If all else fails, the BBC offers some last-ditch suggestions for entertaining younger children (bbc.co.uk/parenting/your_kids /primary_schoolhols.shtml) and pre-teens (bbc.co.uk/parenting/ your _kids/preteen_schoolhols .shtml) during the holidays.
