With a huge variety of children’s items for sale from books to train sets, let DoneDeal take the hard work out of playtime so you can enjoy the holidays

Whether you’re a mum, dad, guardian, childminder or grandparent, school holidays can be a struggle to keep children and teens occupied.

If you’re going to be spending time in the garden, remember you’ll want to ensure it’s a safe and fun environment for your kids too, if you want to keep them within your sights. Have a look around our Garden section for ideas or look in Toys for trampolines.

Trampolines can keep children active

However, the noise of children playing happily can be found indoors too – especially if they’ve discovered playing an instrument.

Musical instruments

The school holidays can be a great time to get into musical instruments: no homework and plenty of time to practise. Take a look at our Instruments section, but before making a decision it may be a good idea to discuss it with someone who knows about music, instruments and, of course, lessons. Or you could be reselling the item on DoneDeal before you know it, if your child turns out to be tone deaf or gets bored of practising within a week!

Books and toys

If parking a child in front of a television, computer or games console isn’t your preferred parenting method, there are lots of other fun indoor activities. The ancient art of reading books can be rediscovered having located suitable fodder for the voracious, or trepidatious, reader in our Books section. Traditional and modern toys and games can also be found in our Toys section – no need to go out to the nearest toy superstore after all!

Traditional hobbies for children of all ages

We even have a section on our site called Hobbies. Nowadays hobbies often refer to organised classes whether it’s dancing or sports. However, school holidays can be a time to find other things to do. The items for sale in our Hobbies section will give children of all ages something to get excited about. Rediscover remote-control cars, boats and helicopters; metal detectors; sewing machines; die-cast/model/dinky cars; telescopes and train sets

A second television?

Despite all these suggestions, let’s face it, sometimes it easier to just give in – rather than give out. So, if there’s a dispute between the youngsters about what to watch on the box – why not buy another screen for another room in the house? Maybe television is the least of your kids’ interests, but if a computer game is or they want to connect a computer to a TV, another television set may be called for. Have a look at our TV and Games & Software sections. Actually, you might need everything in Electronics.

Remember, if you are thinking of purchasing an item you’ve spotted on DoneDeal to brighten up the school holidays, it may be an added opportunity. You can search for items by province and county if you want. So rather than staying close to home, why not make a road trip or short break out of your shopping trip. Who knows what part of the country you might end up in? Or what great family memories you’ll create along the way. You might even find somewhere to stay along the way by looking at holiday houses for rent.