44 WAYS TO KEEP YOUR KIDS HAPPY!

If you dont want your children to drive you to distraction this summer, here is the answer to every parent's prayers! There are thousands of things kids can do during the long summer holiday, that cost very little - or nothing at all.

1. All kids together. Kids Clubs offer after-school and holiday activities and childcare for 4-12 year olds.   They are safe, supervised and really great fun.  Call Kids Clubs Network information line on 0171 512 2100 to find out what is available near you.

2. Bubbles. Fill a paddling pool with bubble solution (six cups of washing-up liquid, eight gallons of water and one cup of glycerin from the chemist), let it sit for a few hours, then start blowing bubbles!

3. For every bear that ever there was! The National Trust will be hosting a series of Teddy Bears Picnics at many of their properties across the country. There will be stories and music if you go down to the woods today......If you are interested in joining the teddy bears, contact The National Trust via their website: www.travelengland.org.uk

4. Green fingers. For something creative, send them off to the Chelsea Physic Garden. For six days during the last week of August and the first week of September, kids are welcome to sit in the garden, listen to storytellers and learn all about plants - for £2.50 a day. Write to Michael Holland at Chelsea Physic Garden, 66 Royal Hospital Road, London, SW3 4HS, including an sae, or you can call Michael on 0171 352 5646 (ext 4).

5. Left, right, straight ahead. This is a game you can play on foot, in a car or on your bike! At every crossroad, each member of the family in turn can say whether you go left, right, or straight ahead. The trick is to get thoroughly lost so you discover new places. Dont forget to bring a map so you can get home!

6. Foxwood Friends. Trusty the Hedgehog will be visiting National Trust houses all through the summer, meeting up with Rue Rabbit, Harvey Mouse and Willy Hedgehog. On July 26 and August 10 they will be at Carding Mill Valley in Shropshire; on August 11 and 30 at Ightham Mote in Kent (tel 01732 810378) and on August 13 and 20th at the Foxwood Treasure Trail, Corfe Castle in Dorset  (tel 01929 480609).

7. Art Attack! Spice up a visit to an art gallery. Large qalleries liven up visits by offering art trails. Ask at the enquiry desk and they will give you materials for a hunt throughout the building, searching for particular elements in pictures.

8. Edible Art. Using slices of white bread, your kids can create masterpieces that are good enough to eat! Add a few drops of food colouring to each cup of milk, then using new paintbrushes, have kids paint pictures on bread. Toast lightly and use the slices to make sandwiches.

9. Jigsaw mural. Divide a sheet of paper into jigsaw-piece-like sections, one for each child. Number each section so you can reassemble it, then cut out the pieces. Give a section to each artist and set out markers or crayons. The only rule is that everyone must draw on the same side of the paper, or the puzzle wont fit back together.

10.Whats in the box? Wrap up an empty box in white or brown paper. Tell the kids that something's inside, then ask them to draw what they imagine is in the box on the outside of it.

11. Gone Fishing. Take them pond or seashore pool dipping, to see what watery creatures they can find! Lots of fun as long as you dont harm the lovely creatures. Just look please!

12. Get Lost! Did you know there are 61 mazes in England? You can have total peace sitting on the outside while the kids are inside! Find details of your nearest maze on the National Trust website: www.travelengland.org.uk or contact your local Tourist Information Centre.

13. Art Gallery. Make your own art gallery by Blu-Tacking paper to the wall, and letting their artistic talents rip!

14. Blow up a storm! Most kids know that if you blow across the top of a half empty bottle it makes a noise, but do they realise the sound is different depending on how full the bottle is? Get them to line up a number of bottles, and experiment, filling them with different amounts of water.

15. Me, me me! Your kids can seal themselves up in a time capsule for posterity. Well, their details anyway! At the Museum of Me (The Bargehouse, Oxo Tower Wharf, Bargehouse Street, London, SE1, tel: 0171 401 2255, children are invited to write down their height, age, eye and hair colour, as well as secret dreams and ambitions. Their data is sealed in a tin and added to the exhibition.

16. Extra, extra, read all about it! Ask them to produce a newsletter.Model it on their favourite magazine with top stories such as 'Secrets of our sizzling summer fun' or 'Daring escape by hamster.' They can include interviews, cartoons, recipes, horoscopes and pictures.

17. Can we visit? Are your children fascinated by firemen, policemen, butchers, bakers or candlestick makers? Ring up, tell the manager that you have a youngster who thinks what they do is super cool, and ask for an informal tour. Nine times out of ten you will be welcomed with open arms.

18. Garden music. Kids love to make noise and use a hose. You need the lawn and garden watered. Put it together! Hang a collection of items along a fence or row of bushes - beach balls, colanders, plastic cups and bowls with lids. Let the kids blast them, one by one, with a garden hose (with most of the water hitting the lawn and bushes below).

19. Answer please. If you've got an answerphone, listen to the message. Is it boring? Does it only represent the adults living in your home? Let your kids record a new one, with sound effects, music, drama and soul!

20. Go back in time. Do your kids complain about doing chores around the house? Challenge them to find out what it might have been like being a child centuries ago. Felbrigg Hall in Norfolk (tel:01263 837444) is holding Family Living History Days every Wednesday throughout the summer holidays, so step back into the 1860s and make butter in an old kitchen!

21. Can cook, will cook. What's the top food in your house? burgers, doughnuts, pizza? Take your kids to the supermarket and let them buy their favourites. Then find out exactly how to make them yourself. Your kids can compare the brand name product to your version.

22. Eggshell mosaic. Create mosaics with food dye and broken eggshell (the best part will be smashing the eggs!). Here's how: Separate shell into piles. Fill bowls with a variety of food colourings. Dye each pile, let it dry, then put each colour into separate plastic bags. Let the kids crush them using spoons or fists, and you've got the perfect material for a mosaic or collage.

23. Stone Age art. Produce cave paintings by preparing a paper grocery bag to look like that of a cave wall. Crinkle the paper, spray it with water in the sink, then let it dry. After making a rough pencil sketch, go over the pencil marks with black paint or charcoal. When the black lines have dried, paint the figure and background with red, orange, brown or gold.

24. Down on the farm. Get a list of city farms you and your kids can visit, usually for free, by writing (with an A4 sae) to the Federation of City Farms & Community Gardens, The Green House, Hereford Street, Bedminster, Bristol, BS3 4NA. For a list of country farms, write to the Public Affairs Department, National Farmers Union, 164 Shaftesbury Avenue, London, WC2H 8HL.

25. Face Painting. Buy some face paint crayons or sacrifice some old make-up. Challenge your kids to come up with the most colourful face decorations for each other. For extra help, many National Trust houses, such as Castle Drogo near Exeter (tel: 01647 433306) and Plas Newydd in Anglesea (tel:01248 714795) will be holding family fun days with face painting throughout this summer.

26. Memory boxes. Find a box big enough to hold a few objects. Then get the kids to choose some special things to put in and on the box. Stick magazine clippings, stickers, photos, maps, or comic strips to the box and fasten a treasured shell, toy or flower in place with glue, staples or tape.

27. Creatures of the night. If your kids (and you) think only ghoulies, ghosties and vampires come out at night, here's a chance to learn the truth. Set them loose among your library's natural history books to see what's British and nocturnal. Then contact the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, which holds evening events. A warden will show you bats, moths, and birds that are active when it is dark. Call 01767 680551 for details.

28. Dreamy paintings. Combining parts of different pictures can produce unusual and comical effects. How about a cat's head on a person's body? Cut out pictures from magazines and once the kids have got the effect they want, glue images in place.

29. Rock garden crystals. This garden never needs watering or weeding, and your kids will end up with a bumper crop of cool crystals. Buy 2oz of alum from your local chemist. (Dont forget to read the label). Add the alum to a cup of boiling water and stir until dissolved. Pour the solution into a clear glass bowl half filled with assorted clean rocks and pebbles. Within hours they should be able to see alum crystals forming.

30. Bobbing for apples. This traditional autumn activity is a quick cooler in summer. Just clean out a plastic bowl, fill with water and apples, then bob away!

31. Noughts and crosses. Noughts and crosses are a good way to while away a wet afternoon. Make it extra fun by making the grid from four liquorice strings and using jelly babies for Xs and fruit pastiles for Os. Winner of course, eats all!

32. Playing soldiers. The English Civil War Society will be staging several 17th Century weekends where youngsters can see what it was like to be a soldier in Cromwells' day. Visit Barrington Court (tel: 01460 241938) in Somerset on September 4-5 and Mosley Old Hall, Staffordshire (tel: 01902 782808) on September 11-12.

33. Will it sink or float? This guessing game for little kids can be played in a paddling pool or a washing-up bowl. Players collect different objects - shells, paper, pennies - then drop them one by one into the water, saying before each object is dropped whether it will sink or float. Players get a point for each correct guess.

34. Penpal. All of you sit down around a table and write a letter to a relative or a friend. If they're sharing news about summer activities, it may lead to invitations and adventures.

35. Wash it. Working outside on a hot day with hoses and buckets turns even the most work-wary child into an eager business-person! Load up your kids with buckets, sponges and soap. After they've washed their bikes and your car, have them put on a carwash for the neighbourhood.

36. Splat! Nothing beats dropping things just to see them go splat. Take a packet of balloons and fill them with water, then take turns for each child to hold a balloon high overhead and heave it on to the pavement, trying to make the biggest wet mark posisble. If its fine, the water will quickly evaporate, so two scorekeepers outline the wet mark in chalk and put the childs initials next to it.

37. Lanterns. Give a romantic feel to a summer barbecue, or just light up your home,with some homemade lanterns. Paint jam jars using glass paint. When the paint is dry, make a loop of wire, pop a nightlight inside and hang them up in the garden or home.

38. Talk to me. Take an old can and fill it with slips of paper. On each, write a question, such as 'How can you cheer up someone who's sad?' or 'If you could be anyone for a day, who'd it be?'. While you are having a meal, each of you pull out a question and see what ideas everyone comes up with.

39. Wet Race. Set up teams of two or more players with two paddling pools, two buckets and two water hoses. To play, one member of each team stands in the paddling pool with a string tied just above his or her ankle. At the signal, the teams have to fill their buckets and then run (if there are only two players) or pass (if there are more than two) the buckets to the pools, where the water is dumped around the players feet. The first team to get the water level above the line on the opposing players ankle wins.

40. Drippy painting. Make the most of a rainy day. Sprinkle a few drops of food colouring on a paper plate, then let your child walk outside with the plate for about a minute. The raindrops will paint a wonderful effect.

41. Special socks. Dissolve non-toxic fabric dye in hot water according to package directions. Add more hot water until there's enough to cover several pairs of white socks. Dampen socks with clear warm water, then bundle in rubber bands. To make stripes, wrap three or four thick rubber bands around the foot and top. To make circles, pinch a section of the sock and tie with a rubber band. Dye the socks, remove the bands and dry.

42. Body painting. Have everyone put on his or her oldest bathing suit, then get creative in the bath or garden. Using fingerpaints, kids can take turns drawing shapes on each others back and then guess what was drawn. Use sponges or leaves dipped in paint to try to make prints on shoulders and legs. Before scrubbing clean, take photos!

43. Treasure hunt. Place some clues around your house and let your kids work them out and find the treasure.

44. Stained glass windows. Add colour to windows and glass doors. For each colour mix 1 tbsp of washing-up liquid with half tbsp of washable paint. Using a different brush for each colour, paint on the window, being careful to avoid sills and woodwork. To remove dried paint or a mistake, wipe off with a moist paper towel.

15/08/99