With the long-awaited Summer holidays on the horizon, there’s only one term of school left before they can enjoy their time off. The Easter break is always a nice rest from their schoolwork before the last term begins. For adults though, coming up with something to keep the kids entertained over the holiday can be tricky. To help out, we’ve put together this list of spring themed days out and activities for your family to try.
🐣 Great for families with younger kids
🥚 Easter Hunts and Trails
This is definitely the most obvious choice, but there’s a reason these are a certified Easter classic! It gets kids out and about for some exercise, all while getting to enjoy the excitement of a treasure hunt. These don’t necessarily need to be one of the paid for events that are held around the UK every year – instead you could create your own using cheap chocolate and hide it around the house and garden. However, if you would prefer to save the extra work and go to an organised event, the National Trust has a fantastic list of the events they are running this year in Northern Ireland, Wales, and England. Meanwhile, for Scotland, you can find another great list from the National Trust for Scotland. The prices range from location to location, however these are still quite cheap and won’t break the bank!
🖌 Get Crafty
A staple of primary schools across the country, Easter and arts & crafts go hand in hand. During your family nature walk, the kids could collect twigs, petals, and leaves to use in some crafty creations. The BBC have created a website with loads of Easter themed arts and crafts, like making your own Easter chick, colouring in a Pudsey Easter egg, and 5 ingredient Easter recipes for kids. You could encourage them to make something for their grandparents or friends to say thank you for their Easter eggs!
Great for families with kids of different ages
🌼 Nature Walk or Bike Ride
Spring is one of the most beautiful times of the year in the UK (weather dependent, of course). It marks the re-emergence of wildlife like swifts and cuckoos to the UK’s shores, and the blooming of flowers like daffodils (aka narcissus), and blackthorn (aka prunus spinosa). Your kids might think those Latin names sound like spells from a certain wizarding school, but they are flowers that show the arrival of spring, and the approaching of summer.
Finding trails to walk or cycle to see the returning wildlife is easy in the UK, using places such as Countryfile for woodland walks or Sustrans for cycle routes. Why not plan an adventurous day out with the kids, enjoying some of the 1.7 million hectares of woodland that the UK has to offer? You could also get the kids to help you shop for a packed lunch, and turn it into a money lesson. Give them a reasonable budget, and see if they can pick out sandwiches, snacks, and juice that fall within that budget. For more help on this, check out how to talk to kids about budgeting.
🐑 Lamb Feeding
Nothing says spring like lambs bouncing around a field (and chocolate eggs, of course). In recent years, lamb feeding experiences have grown in popularity, with farmers opening their gates to families who want to get hands on and bottle feed them. While certainly different from other activities on this list, it’s a great and new type of day out for the kids. They can learn a bit more about how a farm works, and see the hard work that goes into looking after these animals. A lot of these take place at farms that have kid visitors in mind, so check if you can do a bit more exploring while you’re there. You can search for local lamb feeding experiences online, and find out more about where to see lambs via Countryfile.
Looking for more Easter treats? Why not check out how chocolate can help kids understand money? Or if your kids play Pokémon Go while out and about, take a look at our parents’ guide to Pokémon Go.