Short answer: A kids holiday planner maps every day of a school or nursery break, child by child, and shows which working days still need someone. This free planner marks each child as off, at camp or in care, lets you pick who covers each day, flags the gaps and splits the days fairly between parents.
Half term, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, the long summer break. Every one of them starts with the same question: who has the kids on each day?
When is the break?
Pick a holiday, or set your own dates. Up to 10 weeks.
Your kids, and who can watch them
Mark each day, then pick who covers
Tap a square to change it. On every open day, pick who’s with the kids.
The full picture
Your friend gets a blank planner, not your plan.
Make sure everyone remembers their day
In RemindHer every task gets an owner and a reminder, so the plan doesn’t live only in your head.
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Key Takeaways
- In England, schools must open for at least 190 days a year, which leaves about 60 working weekdays with no school.
- UK workers get at least 28 days of paid leave, and employers can count bank holidays inside it.
- In the US, federal law does not require any paid vacation, while a 180-day school year leaves roughly 70 working days to cover.
- Planning child by child matters, because school, nursery and daycare often close on different days.
- A visible, shared plan stops the gap from landing on one parent by default.
What is a kids holiday planner?
A kids holiday planner is a day-by-day calendar for a school break that answers one question: on each working day, is every child looked after, and by whom?
RemindHer’s Kids Holiday Planner is a free tool that runs in your browser. It works for any break, in the US or the UK, for school-age kids and for children in nursery or daycare.
Your plan stays in your own browser. Nothing is sent to us unless you choose to share a link.
How to use the holiday planner
- Pick the break. Tap an upcoming holiday, such as half term, Thanksgiving or summer, or set your own dates. Then mark the days you work.
- Add your kids and who can help. Mom, Dad, a grandparent, a sitter. If someone only has a few days of leave left, set a limit.
- Mark each day and pick who covers. Tap a child’s square to switch between off, camp and in care. On every open day, choose who is with the kids, or tap “Split the open days for me”.
When you’re done, send the plan on WhatsApp or copy a link. Whoever opens it sees exactly the same plan.
The holiday buttons work out the dates from each year’s calendar, so the planner is always current. Your school, nursery or daycare sets the exact days, so check them against its calendar.
How many days are kids off school, compared to parents’ leave?
A year has about 260 weekdays. School covers far fewer of them than most parents’ annual leave can fill.
| England | United States | |
|---|---|---|
| School days per year | At least 190 (380 sessions by law) | About 180 in many states |
| Weekdays with no school | About 60, after 8 bank holidays | About 80, or about 70 after federal holidays |
| Parents’ paid leave by law | At least 28 days, which can include bank holidays | None required |
| Typical paid leave in practice | 28 days or more | About a third of workers get 10 to 14 days after a year |
Sources: The Education (School Day and School Year) (England) Regulations 1999, GOV.UK holiday entitlement, NCES instructional days by state, US Department of Labor and Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The math is simple. In England, 260 weekdays minus 8 bank holidays minus 190 school days leaves about 62 days to cover.
Two parents with the legal minimum have 56 days between them, before either takes a single day for themselves. In the US the gap is wider, because paid leave is not guaranteed at all.
School holidays at a glance
Exact dates vary by school district in the US and by council in the UK. The pattern is the same every year:
| Break | When | Typical length |
|---|---|---|
| October half term (UK) | Late October | 1 week |
| Thanksgiving break (US) | Late November | 2 to 5 days |
| Christmas or winter break | Late December to early January | About 2 weeks |
| February half term (UK) | Mid February | 1 week |
| Easter holidays or spring break | March or April | 1 week (US) to 2 weeks (UK) |
| May half term (UK) | Late May | 1 week |
| Summer holidays | Late July to early September (UK), June to August (US) | About 6 weeks (UK) to 10 or more weeks (US) |
School, nursery or daycare off on different days?
This is where most plans break. A school closes for an inset or teacher training day, while the nursery stays open, or the other way round.
That’s why the planner gives every child a column of their own. Tap “all in care”, then tap only the days that child is off.
A day counts as open if at least one child is off on a working day.
How can working parents cover the school holidays?
- Split leave between both parents. Each parent takes some days, not one parent taking all of them. The planner shows the count for each of you.
- Tag-team the weeks. One parent takes the first week, the other the second, so neither burns all their leave at once.
- Book camps or holiday clubs early. In the UK, Tax-Free Childcare can pay for approved holiday clubs. In the US, day camp can count as a work-related expense for the child care credit, while overnight camp does not.
- Ask grandparents early. Confirm the dates with them, rather than assuming they’re free.
- Swap days with another family. You take their kids on Tuesday, they take yours on Wednesday. Each family saves a day of leave.
- Hire a sitter or nanny for the gaps. Book early for the busy weeks, when every family is looking at once.
- Work from home, with a plan. This works best with older kids and a structured day.
How do you split holiday cover fairly between parents?
Fair doesn’t always mean half and half. It depends on how much leave each parent has, and who covered more earlier in the year.
What matters is that the split is visible to both of you. When only one parent knows which days are open and who covers them, that’s the mental load in its purest form.
Ten minutes in front of the plan before each break saves a lot of arguments. For the wider conversation, see our guide to splitting household responsibilities fairly.
The same logic applies to the days nobody plans for. Our research on who stays home when a kid is sick shows how quickly those days default to mothers.
RemindHer: the app that takes the mental load off one parent
Full disclosure: RemindHer is our app. We built it for what happens after the plan, so everyone remembers their day without one parent reminding them.
- A shared family calendar both parents see, synced with Google Calendar.
- Every task has an owner. Not a shared list nobody picks up, but a task that belongs to someone.
- Reminders go to whoever is responsible, not to Mom by default.
Dad has the kids on Thursday of half term? The reminder goes to him, and nobody has to check up on it.
Looking for a calendar app for the whole family? Compare the options in our guide to the best family calendar apps.
FAQ
What is the best way to plan school holidays when both parents work?
List every working day of the break, mark which children are off, then assign a named adult to each open day. Combine both parents’ leave, camps or holiday clubs, family help and day swaps with other parents.
The planner does this in about five minutes and shows any day still uncovered.
How many days of school holidays are there in the UK?
In England, maintained schools must open for at least 380 sessions, or 190 days, a year. That leaves about 14 weeks with no school, or roughly 60 working weekdays once bank holidays are taken out.
How many days off school do kids get in the US?
Many US states set a school year of about 180 days. That leaves around 80 weekdays with no school, or about 70 once federal holidays are taken out.
Does the planner work for nursery and daycare, not just school?
Yes. Each child gets their own column, so you can mark a nursery or daycare child on different dates from an older sibling at school.
Does it cover half term, Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter?
Yes. It offers the next breaks for the US or the UK, worked out from each year’s calendar, and you can set any other dates yourself, including inset days and strike days.
Is the kids holiday planner free and private?
It is free, with no sign-up. Your plan is saved only in your own browser, and it’s shared only if you send the link or the WhatsApp message.
Can I share the holiday plan with my partner or a grandparent?
Yes, send it on WhatsApp or copy the link.
Whoever opens it sees exactly the same plan, day by day.
I’m separated. Can I use it with my co-parent?
Yes. For a regular split of nights and holidays between two homes, pair it with our custody schedule builder.
The Bottom Line
School holidays don’t go away, but the last-minute scramble can. Five minutes with the planner before each break shows which days are open, and who is carrying them.
Planning the start of term too? Our back-to-school checklist covers the rest of the list.
