What are your best tips and ideas for great days out by train with the family? Share to win a £250 John Lewis voucher, courtesy of Great Northern and Thameslink.

[RebeccaEMumsnet]

We have been asked by the team at Thameslink and Great Northern to find out your top tips for great days out with the children on the train, your tips on travelling by train with children and how to keep the kids entertained on the rail journeys.

Here’s what they have to say:
"Family days out create lasting memories but can sometimes be costly! To help combat this, did you know that you can get 2FOR1 tickets on certain attractions around London, Brighton and Cambridge when you travel there by rail with Thameslink and Great Northern?

Thameslink operates train services to and from the heart of London, between Bedford and Brighton via Luton and Gatwick Airport, and St Albans and Wimbledon.

Great Northern connects King’s Lynn, Cambridge and Peterborough, via Stevenage and Welwyn Garden City with London King’s Cross. Metro services run to and from Moorgate weekdays, late evening and at weekends.

^Kids travel for just £2 when accompanied by an adult on our great value Off-Peak tickets, plus get 2FOR1 offers to heaps of attractions when you travel by train: thameslinkrailway.com/spring^

We'd love to hear how you manage to have your own great day out using the train with your family."

Please share on this thread your top train tips for all thing family - whatever it is that you do, Thameslink and Great Northern want to know*.

Everyone who posts on this thread will be entered into a prize draw where one MNer will win a £250 John Lewis voucher.

You can find out more about the Great Northern and Thameslink 2FOR1 promotion here

Thanks,

MNHQ

*Standard Insight T&Cs Apply

Get on a steam train! The smells, sounds and attention are guaranteed to make the children smile!

London has to be a must. There is so much to do and see.The LONDON eye and LONDON duck are 2 of our favourites. The dungeons at Madame Tussards is great too. My son always loved going on the train as it was not something we did regularly but we bought comics and snacks to pass the time as well as taped stories.

I try to find a seats around a table . I take snacks that don't require utensils or create a mess, e.g. Raisins, cheese crackers, cheese, fruit. A pack of wet wipes should be close at hand for sticky hands! A book which has things to spot out of the window is a thrill and keeps the children looking at their surroundings, I take a pack of crayons to colour over the object they have seen (so a book with farm animals is a good idea).

A colouring book and pencils, snacks and games. And hope they fall asleep!

A good old fashioned game of "I spy!"

We don't have a car so all of our days out/holidays are by train. We do trips for holidays (2 or 3 days in reality) ranging from 2 hour train journeys to 7 hour train journeys. I always try to book seats if possible. Always close enough to a toilet so the children can go by themselves if they need to but not too close so that you get all the smells!

I take some snacks with me but often buy a nice sandwich from one of the places in the train station so that it sets everyone off in a cheerful mood and it also means that I am not carrying extra baggage with me on the journey to the station.

Pick up a copy of the Metro to read on the train in case you start to get bored and have a book in a handy location for yourself so that you aren't having to go through your luggage trying to find it part way through the journey. Children love their gadgets so take chargers as you can have everything charged up on the train ready for when you get off. My children are older so don't need that much entertaining but I find a good game of I spy and basic games you can do on paper like hangman/noughts and crosses/name an animal, thing, place, person etc go down well for all concerned. Also little games like Uno or Top Trumps which are easy to pack are a good idea as you can use them on your holiday too.

I keep all my tickets/travel cards/rail discount card ready to hand for the ticket inspector and before we travel I sort them all out into the different journeys and stack them up ready for the whole trip as they arrive either by post or out of the machine not quite in the right order. I wouldn't want to have to try and figure it out as I'm standing at the ticket machine.

I tend to spend ages online before hand researching ideas of things to do for when we get to wherever we are going so that we don't waste time wandering around endlessly.

Oh, and pack lightly, you never use all the clothes you take anyway and its such a pain having to try and fit lots of bags on a busy train and far too stressful!

In addition to the raisins, sticker books and need for a working loo, the enthusiasm of a children's tv presenter for everything passing outside is invaluable!

Steam train journeys are fun for all the family. A novelty for younger members and nostalgia for older.

We love train trips so have a family railcard to save on cost significantly. Trips to London can be very affordable and walking to the great parks are always fun and free! A visit to St James Park or Hyde Park are our favourites

-Book seats
-Bring snacks
-Bring iPad for distraction if all else fails!

Trains are a great way to travel with kid if you are organised. we use backpacks for each of us, freeing hands for holding onto the children. I take food, drinks, flannel etc as well as colouring, puzzle books and my tablet with lots of games and books on it. If it is long journey we use talking books with ear buds so as not to disturb other passengers. I usually look up some games we can play by looking out of the window or make some up.

Make sure you get a Family Railcard - this can save you up to a third off the price. Also, try and book 12 weeks beforehand if you can and reserve your seats. This takes away a lot of stress and worry. And enjoy ...

Snacks, games and books! A good card game that my daughter loves is Sleeping Queens. Now she is 11, if there is a free wifi connection that is a bonus!

Book in advance. We went to London and back for £50 (family of four)!

When we were little our parents used to take us to Haworth & we went on the steam train on the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway. It's such a lovely area & lots of lovely places around for kids to play

Forward planning. When you've decided where your going to go start doing your research. Find out about interesting things to see/say about the places that you pass in the train. Its a learning tool for both you and your children and passes the time in the train.

iPad and headphones, my DD can listen to music and play games

Choose destinations where you can find lots to do within reach of the station. And take things to eat. But, rather than encumber yourself wiht portable DVD players and iPads and the like, try encouraging the darlings to look out of the window and guess where they are on a map, or get points for spotting things as you go past.

Try to get a table; bring snacks; plan activities; be ultra organised and ready to get off at your destination with all the kids and bags!

going by train can be super fun with children, make sure to have a fun packed lunch, play the games where you have to spot something beginning with a certain letter. Keep the tickets to put in a scrapbook and also try something like whoever spots a pink house gets a small prize.

Lots of little toys if the children are small OR lots of snacks if they are teenagers ( they are munching machines). For the rest a good book for each one would do!

Love the train - means the day starts as soon as we leave the house without me stressing about traffic etc - can be with the kids not concerntrating on the road. Love playing all the games withe kids that I used to (eye spy, drawing charades etc). We also Love travelling into London - so many free amazing sights when we get there!

I always try to book seats so we can have a table. We play spotting games to start with and then i pack lots of snacks. If its a longer journey we take the Ipad to keep the kids entertained but they both love looking out the window and trying to spot things.

Pre booked seats and plenty of snacks / things to do.

If you can choose your destination then make it reasonably short - the novelty of the journey soon wears off and is replaced by when will we be there ? Take plenty of snacks, drinks and things to do to pass the time.