Activities for families

We've compiled a list of fun and educational activities to enjoy together as a family - plus we've shared some of our favourite websites and ideas.

We know it can be difficult to fill school holidays with activities, so we’ve shared a few suggestions below to get you started.

It’s worth remembering Rewards for Rescue and Blue Light Card often have discounts for family attractions, so always check what’s available near you.

Eat out

Family eating out together

Our partners at PayPlan have compiled a list of places advertising free children’s meals. Just make sure to check the terms and conditions before to see if there’s a minimum spend to qualify:

  • Beefeater
  • Dobbies
  • Dunelm Pausa Café kids eat for free
  • TGI Friday
  • Bella Italia
  • Morrisons
  • Brewers Fayre
  • John Lewis
  • Bill’s
  • Marco Pierre
  • Pizza Express
  • Prezzo
  • Subway
  • Table Table
  • Tesco
  • The Real Greek

There are also a few offering discounted children’s food over summer. Here are a few:

  • Asda Cafe
  • Hungry Horse
  • Ikea
  • Bill’s
  • Gourmet Burget Kitchen
  • Sainsburys
  • Sizzling Pubs
  • Pizza Hut
  • Domino’s

Activities for crafty crafters

Blaze Bear colouring sheets

Why not print out one of our colouring sheets and post it to your local fire station or control room to say thanks for keeping us all safe, like Jessica has done!

Download them here

Colour in Neenaw

Everyone’s favourite fire engine is also available to print off and colour in. Find a Neenaw colouring-in sheet here.

Blaze Bear Activity Sheets

We’ve got a special Easter-themed Blaze Bear activity sheet, which you can find here. And we’ve also saved the Blaze of Glory pages from past copies of Shout! magazine, which you can find here and here.

Activities to keep healthy, fit and active

Bike rides

It may seem simple, but there’s often nothing better than jumping on a bike – whether you own one, or rent it for the day – and spending a day in the countryside.

Why not pack up a picnic and take it along for the ride, stopping along the way to (hopefully) enjoy some sun and sights. Not only does it help the whole family get active, but it also brings everyone together – away from screens – and pushes you to go further than you would on foot.

The benefits of activity are not just physical. Yes, they contribute to our fitness, strength and stamina among many other things, but they also have an extremely positive effect on our mental health as well. When you exercise, your body releases endorphins, a feel-good hormone that makes a hugely positive impact on your overall sense of wellbeing.

Check out a local farm

There are so many farms opening their doors to the public over school holidays, with opportunities for children to meet the animals and find out more about farming life. Find out more here.

Outdoor adventures

There are plenty of outdoor activities on offer if you fancy something a bit different.

Go Ape is a treetop adventure course offering families the chance to push their limits with a series of difficult courses, as well as brave a number of sky-high ziplines over the trees. They have locations right across the country, so check out their homepage to see if there’s one near you.

If your kids (or you!) fancy getting close up to animals, there are also several safari parks across the UK. You can find out more about some of them here. You could also try out a wildlife walk or break with UK Wildlife Safaris.

Depending where you live, there could be mountaineering courses, water-based activities or hikes closer than you think, so have a scour online to see if there’s something the whole family will enjoy within driving distance – ensuring you stick to government guidelines in your area throughout.

YouTube is your friend

There’s plenty of amazing stuff out there to encourage kids to get moving, so ask them what they’d like to do and do your research. YouTube is packed full of fun ideas, with CBeebies keeping kids entertained for years.

Scavenger hunt

Why not try our scavenger hunt? It’s a fantastic way to enjoy something fun as a group, no matter what your age.

Find a list of things to look out for via the button below, which you can either print off or take a screenshot of on your phone, then see how many you can spot. You don’t have to capture them all in one day, why not spread them out over the week? And maybe you could take photographs of everything on the list, so you can keep track of what you’ve seen so far.

Outdoor scavenger hunt

Activities to nourish your soul

Attract birds to your garden/outdoor area

One way you can feel more connected to the outdoors is by watching the birds through the seasons. So, whether you’ve got a balcony, a garden, or a local park, you can help nature and, in turn, it will help you.

A great way to help nature in the winter is to put out food for the birds. You can buy ready-made fat balls, or you can have fun making your own. Here’s one way:

You will need:

  • Bowl
  • Small yoghurt pot (or similar)
  • Twine
  • Twig
  • Lard or suet, room temperature
  • A selection of mixed bird seed, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, oats, dried meal worms

Instructions:

  1. Make a small hole in the base of your pot and thread the twine through, tying the twig in across the top.
  2. Mix together the ingredients, about one part fat to two parts dry.
  3. Push the mixture tightly into the pot and leave to chill in the fridge.
Get reading

Reading is one of the best ways to relax and unwind, and take your mind off any worries. If your children don’t like reading books, why not listen to them? David Walliams has several readings of his books and Audible have made loads of children’s books free to download as well.

Remember that we have our children’s book – The Wolf Was Not Sleeping – available to all fire families too:

The Wolf Was Not Sleeping

Mindfulness for children

There are lots of guided meditations on YouTube for you to watch and enjoy, which will help you take some much-needed time to relax. Here are some of our favourites:

Enjoy the grounds of Harcombe

Our Wellbeing and Behaviour Change Coach Sally Walker has provided a relaxation video featuring some of the beautiful grounds of our residential centre in Devon, Harcombe House. Sit back, relax and enjoy unwinding.

Enjoy nature

Host a field trip to your back garden or a patch of greenery near your house. Write down five things you can hear, see, smell, and touch. Not only is being outdoors great for our wellbeing, but this activity also helps ground people in the present, something extremely important during periods of stress or uncertainty.

Activities for the arts lovers

Create your own cinema

Host a family movie night and set your living room up to feel like a cinema. Design tickets and create tasty snacks to enjoy while you watch. Or if you want a low-key affair, what’s better than “going to the cinema” in your pyjamas? However, if you’re after the real thing, cinemas are once again open across the UK so why not book your family in to see their favourite film?

Visit museums and galleries

Why not enjoy a trip out to see some of your favourite artists’ works? Many museums near you will be free of charge in the holidays, with something of interest for the whole family.

Indoor activities

Board game tournament

We all know summer holidays can be weather-dependant so why not embrace rainy days with a board game tournament? There’s no need to splash out either, you could swap some with your friends or check out your local charity shop.

Look to the future

Make a time capsule

Why not create a time capsule for the future? You could fill a shoebox with newspaper clippings, letters or cards you’ve been sent, things you love at the moment and seal it up to put away somewhere safe. Write on it ‘Not to be opened until 2030’ or even ‘2040’, so you can look back and remember just how you felt during these times. Or if you’re feeling particularly bold, why not bury a time capsule in your back garden? Create it as a family, write down how you felt about things and enjoy collecting stuff to go in it.

Whatever you end up doing, make sure you show us! You can tag us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram or email us at [email protected]