(AD: This is a sponsored post in collaboration with Morses Club)
With a new £20 note coming into circulation later this month, we were recently challenged to show what sort of family day out we could enjoy within a £20 spending limit. As a mother of three, and a home educating family - we are always on the lookout for family days out which are a great mix of fun and educational, that don't stretch too far over this £20 limit. When your children are at home with you all day, every day it can be easy to feel as though you're all getting on top of each other and so regular days out are a must -we try to have a day out of the house at least twice per week as it does us all good but when days out are this frequent, we simply can't afford to spend a lot of money on them. For the challenge, we decided to go along to a local deer park. You can walk the deer park trails for free any day during their opening hours, and they even have activity backpacks for children to help make the most of the experience. We went along as part of an open day and were even able to feed the deer - the children had chance to see the deer up close, ask any questions they had and even handle the deer's antlers which was a pretty unique and interesting experience
After our afternoon walking the (rather muddy!) fields, we stopped in at the on-site cafe for a well-deserved hot chocolate and slice of cake which set us back £15 for the five of us. With our parking and petrol costs factored in, we came in well under the £20 budget for what was a fun and educational day out. There are so many fantastic and cost-effective options for days out with children that I don't feel enough people are aware of. With that in mind I thought I'd share a list of five of our personal favourites: *A visit to the museum - Most of the museums in our area and in most cities we've visited are free to enter, which is ideal! You can spend as little as an hour there if you're just killing time or you can spend all day there if you pace yourself and be sure to take advantage of any workshops or special events and exhibitions taking place. We find that most museums usually offer activity backpacks for children to help make the most of their experience, and that they often have small play areas for little ones too. Many of the ones we visit also have facilities for visitors to enjoy a packed lunch too, offering a further opportunity to make your trip cost effective. *A trip to the library - Again this is one we love to do on a rainy afternoon, and it's particularly good if there are events on that coincide with our trips. For example,our local library regularly holds Lego Building Competitions for children which are free to take part in. The kids love the chance to browse the books and find themselves a quiet cosy spot to curl up in as they flick through, and it's exciting for them to take some home to borrow. *Pop into the pet store! - My kids have always loved popping into Pets at Home to coo over the cuddly bunnies and hamsters, and more often than not the staff will usually have at least one of them out - meaning the kids have chance to stroke them too! Pets at Home actually offer some great FREE workshops during the school holidays for kids to take part in too, all you need to do is sign up before hand to grab your spot - my kids love them! *An arty afternoon - One of our favorite things to do lately is to pick up some cheap art supplies from stores like Home Bargains (I can usually get them a canvas each, some brushes and paints for under £10) and head to somewhere with a beautiful view like a nice spot overlooking the beach and the sea. We then set ourselves up with a flask of hot chocolate, while the kids have a go at painting a picture of the view! They love doing this, and it always ties in nicely with a run about on the beach afterwards and maybe an ice cream too. *A Scavenger hunt in the woods - Woodland walks are another family favorite of ours, and most of the time before we go - I'll print out a woodland scavenger hunt activity for the kids to complete. They love spotting the items to tick off on their lists, and I usually have a treat like a Kinder Surprise waiting for them as a reward for completing their scavenger hunts. It always goes down well but costs next to nothing! *This was a sponsored post in collaboration with Morses Club who offer Cash loans- Representative 466.37% APR
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