My feed
Premium

Please
or
to access all these features

This topic is for sponsored discussions. If you'd like to run one with us, please email [email protected].

MNHQ have commented on this thread

Sponsored threads

Tell Bassetts Soft & Chewy Vitamins about your favourite family activities – iPad Mini up for grabs! NOW CLOSED

261 replies

MichelleMumsnet · 28/08/2013 09:20

Bassetts Soft & Chewy Vitamins now offer a free soft play session for one child with each purchased pack of promotional Bassetts Soft & Chewy Vitamins. To celebrate this, Bassetts Soft & Chewy want to find out what Mumsnetters' favourite activities are to have fun as a family.

Here's what Bassetts Soft & Chewy have to say, "Mums have told us that they want their kids to be healthy and active so that they can enjoy school. That's why we decided to make mums' lives a little bit easier with free soft play sessions on every promotional pack of Bassetts Soft & Chewy Vitamins offering a free soft play session for one child. With nearly two hundred great soft play centres around the UK taking part in the promotion, children around the country can have fun at their local centre, while mum enjoys a hot cup of coffee. Bassetts Soft & Chewy Vitamins promotional packs can be found in the UK (including the Channel Islands and Isle of Man) in most major retailers."

You can find your nearest participating centre here.

So, what are your favourite family activities? Do you enjoy going to soft play sessions with your children? If so, why? If not, why not? If you have been to one which really stood out as being ace, what made it so good?

Everyone who enters their thoughts to this thread will be entered into a prize draw to win an iPad Mini. Grin

Thanks and good luck with the prize draw!

MNHQ

Please click here for the full Terms and Conditions.

OP posts:
Report
LadyMilfordHaven · 28/08/2013 09:21

Favourite family activity? eating together.

Report
chebella · 28/08/2013 09:24

Messing about outdoors - beach or woods - and swimming!

Soft play - Head Over Heels in Chorlton my child's favourite when we are in the area.

Report
aftermay · 28/08/2013 09:26

Baking with the kids. We have a few favourites but will try new recipes now and again.

Report
Tee2072 · 28/08/2013 09:38

We actually enjoy soft play, Funky Monkeys here in Belfast. He gets to play, I get to either chat with his friends' mums or watch their telly and knit with no guilt that I should be doing something else.

Of course, I can't take advantage of this offer as the closest is in Londonderry, on the other side of the country...

Report
Glitterfairys · 28/08/2013 09:47

We love baking together or going on family bike rides and taking a picnic especially when the weather is lovely.I do take my children to soft plays quite regularly and my favourite one is Go Kids Go in Bilston. It's great for all ages ( adults too !! ) and has a specific baby play area.

Report
babybearsmummy · 28/08/2013 09:59

I love taking my little girl to soft play centres. Now that she's 14mths and a little more 'sturdy' she really enjoys all the toys, the bright coloured ball pits and slides etc. we've seen a few grotty ones in our area, but the nice clean ones have such a friendly atmosphere and are great for sensory and social development! (Even daddy likes a go on the slide with out littlun too)!

We also love taking out little girl swimming too as she's such a water baby and loves splashing around. She also likes trips to the park on her trike and hates to be taken out of the swing to leave!

Report
Queen0fFeckingEverything · 28/08/2013 10:05

We do quite enjoy soft play, though our nearest is a 50 mile round trip! But we still go once a month. I only ever go when its quiet though, its unbearable at weekends and in holidays.

I do think soft play places miss a trick with the food though, its invariably boring, beige, and overpriced for what it is.

MY DC have a 7yr age gap so finding things they both enjoy can be really hard. One of the most successful outings we do is agricultural shows - tractors and farm animals galore for my toddler DS, and show jumping and dog agility for my 10 yr old DD.

Report
bamblolo · 28/08/2013 10:06

We enjoy going blackberry picking at our local park. We take a picnic with us and a few games such as frisbee and skipping rope. There's always something new to see at the park.

Report
MummyBtothree · 28/08/2013 11:59

Favourite family activities - Days out, holidays, and going for meals out together. Its lovely to be all together and have quality time as a family.

Report
HeySoulSister · 28/08/2013 12:05

can I be greedy and add 2?? two activities which tots to teens love,quite difficult to get all age groups involved,but these do the job....I have 5dc aged from 5 to 19.

we ALL love geocaching!! we try and look for caches everywhere we go....not just in the countryside,but in towns and cities too....central London has hundreds!! its also worldwide. they are everywhere (even on the top of ben nevis which I recently climbed)

second family activity is a new discovery.....trim trails.....we have 4 here locally in parks/woodland/lakes. we all run as a hobby anyway but recently discovered these trails of specially made and erected fitness equipment along the way. each has a board to show how to correctly use the equipment. so you run we do 5 k runs,then come to an activity,do it....run on to next one.....great for ALL ages. we are looking further afield now for them.

Report
HeySoulSister · 28/08/2013 12:06

yes,we love soft play! i'm not so keen,but the teenagers love taking younger siblings on (if allowed)

Report
RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 28/08/2013 12:12

Mine are teens now, so we don't go to soft play (although I suspect they'd enjoy it more now!).

Dp used to take them sometimes and they did like them. I loathed them - always too busy, crap coffee, too many unsupervised children, horrible loos etc etc.

The perfect soft play place for me would have -
an excellent cafe with proper coffee and homemade cakes, as well as healthy-ish lunches such as soups, hoummus and dips, toasties with salad.
Numbers would be kept at a sensible level and people would have set times in there - an hour's slot would be fine.
The staff would know how to smile and would actually like children.

Like Mady M, now that ours are teens our main family activity is going out for a meal. We sometimes have a DVD night together and we sometimes (not as much as I'd like) play a boardgame together.

Report
DoItTooJulia · 28/08/2013 12:17

We have recently rediscovered soft play! Ds 1 is 8 and ds2 is 9 months, so it's really hard to find activities they can both enjoy together! Soft play is PERFECT...the 8 year old gets sweaty and worn out and ds 2 can scramble all over everything, perfecting his new crawling skills.

I can feed them both lunch, and best of all, I get a coffee, a real, hot coffee, which makes me a happy mummy!

I'll be popping out later for a couple of promotional packs of Bassetts soft and chewy vitamins, so that the kids can enjoy one last soft play session together before its back to school, and best of all, it'll be free! Thank you Bassetts!

Report
QuietUntil3 · 28/08/2013 12:53

I used to go to soft play a lot with DD - for company and we lived in a bigger town so had a choice of a couple. It was a absolute lifesaver as we didn't know many people with children, we could go in all weathers and they were in council sports facilities so reasonably priced.

We went less frequently when ds1 arrived as by then we were further away from the nearest soft play (and it was much more expensive with not-so-nice food). Then ds2 arrived and it was ok to go occasionally until he was 1 when suddenly it got very expensive to take all three and get them a drink!

We don't generally go to soft play now because dd is too old (12) though she would actually enjoy it and likes "helping" ds2. All dcs are tall for their ages which meant that some soft play centres haven't allowed them in even at age 7 or 8 so that has also stopped us going and often seemed unfair.

Our equivalent family activity now is to go to a local adventure playground in the grounds of a country house - they do a summer pass which is a bargain and all three dcs are able to enjoy it. Our actual favourite activity would be taking a picnic and going paddling (it is safe enough that I can read a book in peace while they are playing in front of me Smile)

Report
MadMonkeys · 28/08/2013 13:02

Swimming, going to the park, trip to the garden centre to see the pets, fish, play in their park etc. Soft play is great but there always seem to be some unsupervised kids there hogging the slides etc and dd1 is quite timid so she often wants to go home when this happens.

Report
KateOxford · 28/08/2013 13:31

Outside activities like walks in the woods, picnics, spotting and collecting bits of "nature".

Report
aftereight · 28/08/2013 13:42

Our favourite family activity is going on holiday - the planning, packing, travelling, exploring.
For days out it is going to mew places to parks and cafes, fresh air and food, great combination.
My children love soft play centres but don't like the noisyness of them, or older, boisterous children. I enjoy soft play for the chance to chat to a friend over a coffee, so more decent coffee please!

Report
Piffpaffpoff · 28/08/2013 13:45

Our current favourite activity is sandcastle building at the beach.

The kids love going to soft play, I tolerate it because they enjoy it! A good soft play has reasonably priced food and drink, with some reasonably healthy choices. And great cakes!!!!

Report
Tiredbuthappy1970 · 28/08/2013 14:02

We used to go to soft play centres when my 2 were younger but they have grown out of them now. We love going to the beach, it's cheap and we never get tired of it. Also enjoy going out on our bikes and if we have to stay inside we bake, do crafty things or puzzles, sometimes play on the Wii or read.

Report
ouryve · 28/08/2013 14:04

Soft play is our idea of extremely noisy, revoltingly sticky hell! The boys are really too big for it now, anyhow. We do enjoy long walks, occasionally - somewhere safe where there's no roads or ditches to worry about.

Report
HarumScarum · 28/08/2013 14:22

Soft play used to be way too scary for my 6 year old but she's started to enjoy it recently, particularly if we take a friend with us.

Our favourite activities are to have a making day with tons of boxes and coloured paper and sequins and glue etc, to have a picnic somewhere lovely if the weather is good, swimming, day at the park where there is a big paddling pool or a trip somewhere like a farm or the zoo. Also love Kew Gardens (so much to do even if the weather isn't that great), walks by the river, trip to the library or a day at the allotment.

Report
thatwouldbeanecumenicalmatter · 28/08/2013 14:28

The beach.

We're very lucky we live quite close to a few beaches and we make the most of it practically live there as soon as the weather is dry.

Nothing beats being outside as opposed to soft play; the kids get to run free, explore, dig, paddle, fresh air, get their vitamin D topped up and it's all free!

We learn about nature from rock pooling and if we take a stroll along the pier sometimes friendly fishermen show them their catch, they get impromptu geography lessons spotting the foreign ships that pull into the harbour, we do maths and shape/colour sorting with pebbles and 'sea glass'.

Softplay is ok in small doses when it's midwinter but I'd rather be outside and the kids do too.

Report

Don’t want to miss threads like this?

Weekly

Sign up to our weekly round up and get all the best threads sent straight to your inbox!

Log in to update your newsletter preferences.

You've subscribed!

Cherrygrape · 28/08/2013 14:47

So, what are your favourite family activities? Do you enjoy going to soft play sessions with your children? If so, why? If not, why not? If you have been to one which really stood out as being ace, what made it so good?


We love walking, playing ball in the garden and going to the park .
We go in tern time sometimes to soft play, its great as its not too busy and there is free squash. The staff are really friendly too.

Report
Pascha · 28/08/2013 14:54

I quite like soft play when the weather is a bit dismal but DS1 isn't quite 3 yet and sometimes gets quite bewildered up in the top of the frame so I have to keep pacing round it to make sure he can see me. I'm more knackered than him at the end Blush.

I like our local one because its huge - playframe, slides, cars, trampolines and family-friendly facilities. Unfortunately its not on the list of free-session ones, the nearest is quite a distance and not worth the petrol unfortunately.

DS would say his favourite favourite family activity is to watch banger or stock car racing. I would say swimming actually because all of us - mum, dad, DS1 and DS2 can have a bit of fun on a sunday morning.

Report
FOMOphobic · 28/08/2013 15:04

Mine are 5 and 8 and partial to a bit of soft-play. I started to enjoy it a lot more when they were old enough to be let loose and I could stay sat down reading waiting for them to return to ask for drinks and snacks!

One thing our family loves is a good walk in the woods/countryside with the dog. And if we can fit a hunt for a geocache into that so much the better.

Report
Please create an account

To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.