As the children are now broken up from school I’m going to look at things for families to do in Surrey and Sussex over the school holidays. Last week I looked at things to do outdoors and today I’ll look at things to do inside on those rainy days.
1. Eat out
A lot of places have eat out for free or £1 for children during the summer holidays, for example:
a. ASDA kids eat for £1 (no minimum spend): 25th July – 4th September
b. Bella Italia: children 2-11 eat for £1 with each paying adult between 4pm and 6pm
c. Hungry Horse will give TWO children a free breakfast with each paying adult
Look at kidddoadventures.com for a full list and basic terms.
2. Visit a Museum
Museums are free and there are museums at Worthing, Horsham, Brighton, Chichester, Guildford, Chertsey and lots more. Most will have kids activities during the summer.
Also Brighton Old Police Cells Museum details 200 years of crime!
3. Search a Town
For instance: Farnham has both a museum, a free castle AND Waverley Abbey to look at – take a picnic and make it a day out.
4. Take a Trip to the Theatre
If you go to London then during August a child under 18 gets a free ticket for every adult at certain performances
Search on officiallondontheatre.com
5. Cinema Deals
• Cineworld’s ‘Movies for Juniors’ screenings cost £2.50 for a child
• Odeon Kids’ run a deal where the adults pay the same price as a child, with the deal running every day during the school holidays as well as every Saturday and Sunday
• Vue has ‘Mini Mornings’ screenings from 10am during the school holiday. Both adult and child tickets cost just £2.49 each.
6. Think about deals and points:
a. Tesco’s clubcard has lots of deals where you can use your clubcard points to pay for tickets at Theme Parks, and
b. Kellogg’s have an adult goes free voucher code on the inside of every box of cereal. Need to be used with a full price child’s ticket
c. Before you book anything check on www.discountonline.co.uk for any deals. Just search on where you want to go and see what comes up – often there’s several deals for each place and you can pick the one that works for you best.
7. Go to the Local Library
Mini-bookworms can take part in a competition run by The Reading Agency to encourage primary school children to get lost in a book instead. This year’s theme is ‘Gadgeteers’ and includes a suggested reading list and resources designed to spark children’s curiosity about science.
You don’t have to spend a penny to take part – just head down to your local library where you can pick up a free activity pack and borrow the recommended books. Once you’ve finished a story, head back to the library to collect stickers.
There’s even more to do on the website summerreadingchallenge.org.uk, including rewards such as digital badges, science experiments to do at home, videos, games and the opportunity to chat to other young readers taking part.
