Things to do with the kids this summer holiday

And a few affordable offers to keep your pockets happy as well

Author: Tess Bocking

The summer holiday is upon us! A wonderful month or two where you get to spend some quality time with those you love most. The only problem is, what do you do with them? Six weeks is a long time to fill on your own. It’s even longer when you’ve got children who expectantly look up at you every day and ask ‘what are we doing today?’ Thankfully, we’ve put our heads together, and we’ve come up with some ideas to keep you busy and entertained. There’s loads of stuff to do with the kids out there that you’ll enjoy too, and when everyone’s having fun, that’s a day well spent. We’ve also thrown in some deals you can get to keep your pockets happy.

Educational Museums and Interactive Experiences

If your family are the inquisitive sort, there’s no better way to feed their curiosity than an interesting museum. Even better if it’s hands-on. Some people learn better reading, some people learn better listening, and some people learn better doing. So an interactive museum will excite and fascinate all kinds of children (and adults!). A great museum or learning experience will keep the kids busy all day, and you might even learn a thing or two yourself!

Our suggestions for you:

Navan Centre (Armagh)

This archaeological site is filled with tales and myths to discover. Children can dress up, try Celtic crafts, and dig in the archeo-pit to uncover bones, coins and teeth. Get half price family passes here.

Minevention (Lisburn)

This is great for kids who love gaming. This event is primarily about Minecraft, with tournaments, Q&A panels, costumes, challenges and workshops. Half price family day passes are on sale here.

Whitehead Railway Museum (Whitehead)

Your children will learn all about steam engines, how they work and how people travelled 200 years ago. There’s also a scale model of the Enterprise Express to see. Get a half price family pass here.

Funfairs and Theme Parks

Here it is, the obvious choice! There’s nothing a kid loves more than a funfair or a theme park. In these places, not only do they get to spend time with you and share experiences with their brothers, sisters, cousins and friends, but believe it or not, they put themselves to the test. Dare they go on that ride? They’ll be so excited that they faced their fears, their confidence will grow and, let’s face it, they’ll have a blast. Theme parks are a proper treat for the school holidays, but they’re bound to love it, and when they’re having fun, you are too, right?

Our suggestions for you:

Flamingo Land (North Yorkshire)

This is a combined theme park and zoo, so there’s tons to do here. There’s 8 extreme rides, family friendly rides, plus the zoo is home to over 140 species. You can get a half price family ticket here. The vouchers aren’t in stock yet, but they will be soon, so sign up to the newsletter and you'll be the first to know!

Thorpe Park (Surrey)

This is an incredibly popular theme park. All kinds of rides will keep you busy, plus, you can get a half price annual pass here, so if there's any you do miss, you've got the rest of the year to go back!

If you want to make sure you don’t miss out on any of these deals, sign up to receive the newsletters from Planet Radio Offers here (just scroll down to the bottom of the page, enter your email address and click subscribe), and you’ll get notified when they come on sale. Some of them do sell out really quickly, so this is the best way to try and get these exclusive offers before they run out.