Loving this summer. The bit of rain that’s fallen over our patch of London hasn’t stopped play, the children probably won’t wear shoes again till it’s time to go back to school and nursery, and the washing machine is turning half as much as usual (there are hardly any clothes to wash when the children wear the same pair of shorts all week). I haven’t yet heard the dreaded, ‘I’m bored’ (mind you, they only finished school and nursery three days ago) and we’ve a dizzying seven weeks of nothing stretching ahead of us. And this summer, it really will be ‘nothing’. Due to the imminent arrival of baby four, we have very few plans. So letting them get on with it, aka ‘creative play’ it’s going to be. So far we’ve:

• Made binoculars out of empty loo rolls and gone on a garden safari. It’s not exactly a large space, but we found six different kinds of spider, endless snails and picked a weed bouquet.
• Painted over the funny faces in The Times newspaper. Nick Clegg in yesterday’s edition looks surprisingly fetching daubed green and yellow.
• Created an obstacle course  using a laundry basket, two footballs, baseball cap and bucket. Maybe today I’ll come first in a race.
• Baked cupcakes and iced them.
• Picked herbs and put them in a salad (which I ate. Apparently herbs are too ‘fizzy’).
• Splashed in a paddling pool, and buried baddie Lego men in the sand pit.

So bring on the sunshine. Not only does it deliver plenty of vitamin D, but packs in free playtime too.

Any other ideas for a fun and frugal summer?