How To Make The Most Of The Bank Holiday

If you haven’t planned your #BankHoliday outings yet, why not have a peek at these ideas and see what takes your fancy?

Say Hello to The Animals at a City Farm

Did you know that there are city farms all over the UK? They are wonderful places for children to meet animals up close and to learn more about where our food and produce comes from.

These are important lessons too. A 2013 survey found that 10% of primary school kids believed tomatoes grow underground and 29% thought that cheese comes from plants (to be fair, once the whole nation thought spaghetti came from trees).

Give your kids a day out and an education by taking them to a city farm.

Head to a Literary Festival

There are many book festivals taking place at the moment, but one of the more famous and prestigious running over the Bank Holiday is the #HayFestival in Hay-on-Wye.

While the Hay is quite a ‘proper’ event – no airport fiction here – there’s still plenty to do for little ones, including book signings, crafting lessons and a mini-festival just for them. With more and more kids reading for pleasure, this could be a grand day out.

Take the Family For a Walk

May is National Walking Month, so now’s an ideal time to take your family for an extended stroll. Aside from the charm of branching out into nature, walking regularly has been shown to reduce the risk of chronic illnesses including heart disease, type 2 diabetes, asthma and more.

The National Trust website allows you to search all sorts of wonderful walks across the United Kingdom, including the nation’s favourite routes and even find special events that are happening across the weekend, taking you through meadows, forests and more.

Go to The Park And Feed The Ducks

For the seriously sedate, you could amble down to your local pond and feed the ducks. Take a flask of tea and some biscuits, find a bench and chillax. (You might even take a tartan blanket, if you wanted the full experience.) Yes, it’s a retro way to spend an afternoon, but isn’t that part of the charm?

Just one thing though: leave the stale bread at home and take frozen peas or sweetcorn instead. It turns out that veggies are better for the ducks (just like humans, then.)

Have an Indoor Camping Trip

Finally, if the weather’s too bad to venture outside, why not have an indoor camping trip? Build a bed sheet-tent in your sitting room, treat yourself to a little picnic and break out some boardgames. You’ve got to doze off in a sleeping bag too, of course.

Parentdish has some good suggestions on setting up camp and here’s a little video to spark your kids’ imagination. While you might not get a glimpse of sunshine, you can still create an at-home adventure that everyone can enjoy.

What have you got planned this Bank Holiday?