Banbridge area, Teddy Bears' Picnic 21 August 11am, Scarva Park
If you go down to the Scarva Park today......you're sure of lots of teddy bear fun. Come and join us playing games, singing songs and making friends. Bring your own teddies and picnic food. £1 per child donation to Tommys the Baby charity to join in the fun. Organised by Totalbaby.net and Hullabaloo Kids!

80's Nite - Square One, Dromara, Co Down Friday 3 October
Come along for a great night of making a fool of yourself dancing to 80's music - remember Wham! or Duran Duran?? All in aid of an excellent cause, raising money for a local child, Carter Barr who has just been diagnosed with Ducheene's Muscular Dystrophy. No entrance fee but there will be a donation bucket, a raffle and other fun activities - 80's dress optional!

Things to Do

Lets go Fly a Kite! - On a wet day gather together all the bits and pieces you can find to make your kite - a whole afternoon can be spent creating a master piece. Then on the next dry (preferably windy!) day take them out for a test flight.

Seaford Butterfly Farm, Co Down - The wee ones love it! Check their website

Trip to the Seaside - Northern Ireland can proudly boast some of the best stretches of coastline in the British Isles so why not pack a picnic and visit them?

Play parks - some fantastic parks are springing up around NI and they are free - why not try the new play park on Newcastle Prom, or Lurgan Park? It doesnt have to be a sunny day either, put on waterproofs take something to wipe down swing seats and have the play park to yourself!

Paint the Fence Ok this is something that really needs a sunny day, or at least a dry day but, give your child a small bucket with some water in it, a paint brush and tell them to paint the fence, or a version of this my own son dreamt up, scrub the garden path, it only cost me a sponge brillo (about 13p) and it kept him busy for a bit!

Delamont Country Park, Killyleagh - great place to visit in the summer, you have to pay an entry fee but once in you can stay all day and on certain days in the summer activities for children are organised - facepainting, coco the clown. Contact them directly for more info.

Make a Paper mache mask - another activity for a rainy day. For paper mache you will need flour, water and torn up strips of newspaper. Stir three parts water into one part flour until you make a smooth and creamy mixture. Then dip each piece of paper in the liquid mixture and apply to the outside of a balloon in a mask shape. You'll need to leave it a day or so to dry but when it does then you have a whole new activity for another day - mask painting!

Indoor picnic - you could go for the real thing or, draw your own picnic... Get your wee one to draw pictures of all the food they would like in their picnic, colour it in and (if they can manage it) cut it out. Put it in a tupperware tub or lunch box and go on a picnic somewhere in the house with their favourite bear or doll.

Take a train ride - another opportunity for a picnic and if you go after 9.30 its cheaper travel for you and children are under 5 travel free!

Tannaghmore gardens, Craigavon - with a free animal park, gardens and play park this really is a great activity. Once the children have seen all the rare breed animals you can walk or drive round to the play park area, which is enclosed or walk through the gardens and spot the carvings! Fantastic day out. Check out this webpage for more info

Making Play dough - Simple dough 2 cups of plain flour, 1 cup salt, 1 cup water. Mix it together, if you add a bit of veg oil it will make the dough shiney. Add food colouring for interesting colours, or even glitter! Clay dough - this can be baked in the oven to make it hard, then it can be painted and will keep. 1lb self raising flour, 1lb salt, water to mix.

Make a scrapbook - This is something that can be done with small babies so you can make memories and as they get older they can take over themselves, and its something they can update throughout the summer! All they need is a scrapbook and some imagination. They can draw pictures of things they have seen or done, stick in ticket stubs of places they have visited or if they have been on a bus or a train. Or they could even stick in photos or postcards. It will give them an activity to turn to when they are bored and will give you a keep sake at the end of the summer!