20 budget friendly things to do during school holidays

Last Updated on November 13, 2024

Finding things to do during school holidays to keep your kids entertained can be challenging, and expensive.

If you’re looking for ways to make the school holidays budget friendly, but still want to have fun, here are 20 budget friendly things to do during school holidays that you may like to try.

Museums

Many museums are either free, cheap, or ask for a donation to enter, and what I love about them is that they can easily fill up the majority of a day.

There are different types of museums for different interests, and age groups, and many have interactive exhibits for younger children.

Some of these include the Natural History Museum, Science Museum, and the London Transport Museum.

Libraries

Lately I’ve been taking my sons to the library, which they both really enjoy because they can borrow new books, but what’s also great about them is that they have many activities to keep kids entertained, including story time, arts and crafts, Duplo sessions, and summer reading challenges for kids.

Parks and woodlands

A great free activity for the school holidays is to visit a park or woodlands, where you can have a picnic, play on play equipment, do a scavenger hunt, walk along a nature trail, or even build a den.

Annual memberships

There are many annual memberships that you can buy that allow you all year access to many fantastic places.

Some of my favourite annual memberships include:

English Heritage

English Heritage has over 400 historic places to visit, including monasteries, castles, manor houses, abbeys, and gardens.

Some English Heritage sites are fee to enter, but many require a cost of admission, for some of these if you book them online you can save 10% off the admission price.

National Trust

Visiting a National Trust property is a great day out, and there is a property or garden to suit all ages.

Woodland Trust

Visiting a Woodland Trust location is free, but you often have to pay for parking.

However, if you purchase Woodland Trust membership, one of the benefits is that your kids will receive a Nature Detectives Membership, giving them wildlife activities, stickers, posters, seasonal activity packs, and more.

Beaches

Visiting a beach is something that you can spend a whole day doing, and if you bring your own food, and beach games, it can become a family favourite activity.

Pools and lidos

If you’d like to go swimming but would prefer not to visit the beach, then your local pool or lido could be a better solution.

Water play

Another way to have fun with water is to find a park with a splash zone, where your kids can have water fights with water guns or water balloons.

Cinemas

When looking for what to do in school holidays, a cinema visit may not be high on your list, because after buying tickets and snacks, the cost of a family cinema visit can become expensive, fast.

However, during school holidays many cinemas have family deals, where you can buy tickets online for reduced prices.

Family holiday

Travelling with kids can actually be cheaper during school holidays if you’re staying in a hotel with kids, and can find one that has last minute deals.

If you plan on flying with kids, many airlines offer cheap seats last minute, so they can depart with as full a plane as possible.

Retailer workshops

Many retailers have free or very affordable workshops for kids during the school holidays, some of these include:

• Pets at Home who have free small animal workshops
• Hobbycraft who have affordable arts and craft workshops
• Dobbies Garden Centre who have plant and nature themed workshops for kids up to 10 years old

Farms

Visiting the farm is something younger kids love, but it can be expensive.

To make this day out idea cheaper, look for a farm near you that has free entry, which surprisingly many farms offer.

Children’s centres

Children’s centres have cheap or free activities that kids can attend over school holidays, including arts and crafts sessions, toy sessions, and even family fun days.

Local events

There are many local events that you can attend during the school holidays, some include music festivals, pop up shows, food and drink festivals, and car boot sales.

The best way to find these is by doing a search online, or joining your local area’s Facebook page.

Garden centres

Many garden centres have reptile areas and aquariums that you can walk around for free.

Some even have soft plays within them that are cheaper to enter than larger soft play centres, and many have school holiday activities as well.

Discounted days out

There are many deals online that make eating out, or entertaining kids more affordable during school holidays.

Some of these include:

• Kid’s Pass
• Groupon
• Wowcher

If this sounds like something you’d like to do, type deals then your local area into Google and see what comes up.

Retailer reward points

Many retailers have loyalty rewards schemes, the one I use is Tesco Clubcard, where you can exchange points you’ve earnt shopping for free meals, and days out to places like theme parks, zoos, farms, or castles.

Kids eat free

Eating out can be expensive, but over the school holidays there are many UK restaurants and cafés that allow kids to eat for free, or from as little as £1.

Home days

When preparing for the school holidays, you may decide to have some home days, if so here are some ways to entertain kids indoors so you don’t go crazy during this time:

• Baking
• Board games
• Card games
• Dance party
• Lego or Duplo building
• Movie afternoon
• Puzzles
• Scavenger hunt

Arts and crafts

Another home day activity you may like to consider is setting up an arts and crafts station at home.

There are many art supplies that you can source for free around your home including cardboard boxes, toilet rolls, or egg boxes.

Some arts and craft supplies you can purchase are:

• Beads
• Blu Tack
• Boxes
• Chalk
• Crayons
• Drawing paper
• Feathers
• Glitter
• Glue
• Googly eyes
• Markers
• Masking tape
• Outdoor chalk
• Paint
• Paintbrushes
• Paper
• Paper cups
• Paper plates
• Pegs
• Pencils
• Pens
• Pom poms
• Scissors
• Staples
• Straws
• String

Decluttering

Doing some decluttering around the home, or even decluttering your kids bedroom, provides space for new toys, or reminds your kids about toys they forgot they had, which will keep them entertained during home days.

Things to do during school holidays – a recap

Keeping your kids, and yourself sane during school holidays can feel daunting, but with a little research and planning, there are many things you can do with them that are budget friendly or even free.

If you’d like to get out of the house during school holidays, some of the things you may like to consider include:

• Museums
• Libraries
• Parks and woodlands
• Annual memberships
• Swimming at the beach, pool, or a lido
• Splash parks
• Cinemas
• A last-minute family holiday
• Retailer workshops
• Farms
• Children’s centres
• Local events
• Garden centres

To make days out cheaper, there are often online deals that you can find to reduce the cost of entry, you can exchange retailer loyalty scheme points for days out, and you can also find a restaurant or café that allows kids to eat for free or cheaply.

Going out every day isn’t always possible, so having home days scheduled into your school holidays can be made fun by doing things such as:

• Arts and crafts
• Baking
• Board games
• Card games
• Having a dance party
• Decluttering
• Lego or Duplo building
• Watching an at home movie
• Puzzles
• Scavenger hunt

What things do your kids like doing during school holidays?

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