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

Booking advance, try and get a table or with a good window view. Take games and snacks depending on the length of the journey as train for is not cheap £1.90 for two kit Kat's on the east coast main line.

Try not to be too far from the station for your activities or have a handy transport link as travelling is tiring for everyone.

Take drinks, snacks, cards, books etc.

Plenty of snacks, also a portable charger so if they get bored and any devices, ie ipad, iphones need charging, you have that available to keep them occupied throughout the journey.

We use the train whenever we go into town as there is no parking fees and stress and the DCs are free to travel. On longer trips we like to go to the coast, when they were a bit younger comics and colouring in was useful to keep them amused.

Do not take anything with lots of little pieces, one bad tempered swipe and your on your hands and knees for ages.

Use a railcard, use the 2 for 1 offers that are often issued by train companies, and take lots of snacks

Going on a train journey with little ones unprepared can make for a stressful experience! But you don't need fancy gadgets or expensive lunch treats to keep kids happy, most successful train journeys we've been on has just involved a some imagination and playing games like eye-spy. If you're fortunate enough to have an idyllic train journey with farms on the landscape, this usually does the trick as kids are usually mesmerised by the animals. A packed-lunch without too many sugary products is good, too.

Always try and avoid peak-times so you can get seats and arrive with plenty of time to actually catch your train.

My kids love the train.
We have a railcard and do some impromptu trips.
I try not to use gadgets but I have one in my bag in case the 3 yr old has a meltdown. We have snacks and I think it's a great time to sit, look out of the window and chat and play some games.

theres the obvious plenty of snacks! but my favourite are wheres wally books and reusable sticker books!

Training by train to London means you can get in lots of places 241 see the brouchure at railway station. Get a railcard and take lots of goodies for a picnic.

book ahead, using family rail card. Check for best connecting trains if having to take more than one.. be prepared with food and drink, and plenty to keep kids entertained.. although usually at some point it will still be topped up with other off the cuff games..

I was on a loooooooooong train the other day, booked far in advance to get a cheap rate. Then got a "weekend first class upgrade" for £15 per person. Free hot/soft drinks and snacks, and much nicer seats.

A couple with a baby did the same, and it made a big difference for them because standard was quite full (all seated, just full), whereas first class had space for them and the baby to take up a whole 4-seater table and not be in anybody's way.

We love the train. On our last journey I bought a train sticker book and they loved completing that and then seeing the things in real-life, eg the guard with a whistle or the buffet car!

Book early, have a family rail card and make sure your seats are together.

I also take some colouring books or a magazine for my daughter as nobody seems to like a noisy or distracted child on the train!

I look for offers for attractions online, on cereal packets etc to save money when we arrive, and I also take a packed lunch and plenty of drinks with us

Definitely a table seating. Snacks drinks their favourite book and not quiet carriage we all love a game of I spy . Train journeys are there for all age groups to enjoy.

We walk or scoot to the station, so that they've had some fresh air & exercise before the journey- helps them sit still on the train. We always have snacks/lunch, & I-spy out of the window is a classic. Trying not to take too much stuff is also key, as if you're on your own with two young children, getting on and off is tricky, & you don't want multiple heavy bags to contend with as well. They see it as a big treat though, & makes a change from the car not to be strapped in.

Book in advance for the best deals on train tickets. Then make sure you have a little bag of things to keep the kids busy, colouring or puzzle books always go down well and snacks pass time too. Play games such as I-Spy and Simon says and the journey will fly by. My kids have always loved travelling on the train.

Oh I remember loving doing train days with my 2 eldest DC when they were younger & we were v v skint

Book tickets well in advance for great deal and then treat the day like a holi-day! Best destination has to be Brighton, you have the cost of the (super cheap if booked early AND taken advantage of child offers) train fare and then only as little or as much as you want to spend - ideal for skint young families!

Absolute prep is key tho, each child has own little rucksack with colouring books and i-spy flashcard game for the train and also their own packed lunch in there (soooooo much cheaper than buying proper 'meal' in any resort IME) to help the journey be a thing of enjoyment and not endurance - cannot tell you how much mine loved the whole train journey thing, fab times

And then once in Brighton, each had a certain amount of pocket money they could use on the pier, but that would be after a fantastic time on the beach either sitting on travel blanket with us reading & the kids playing, or paddling if weather really bright. FANTASTIC free play facilities on the promenade right by beaches edge for the kids, awesome playground and sandpit. Wrapped up with a long walk on beach at end of the day and then a bag of chips each as head back to the station.

Genuinely don't think we ever spent more than twenty quid - yep, £20! - on family day out for four of us; happy happy times and vividly & happily remembered by the children now that they are young adults

Would recommend in a heartbeat but you must must MUST pick you train tickets well - that's the difference between an affordable day out or a total for 4 that is so extortionate it's out of the question! Go by train and plan it well

Family railcard
Take snacks and juice
Take ipad!

Always picnic lunch/snacks/water with us - saves time, avoids complications with food allergies and eating out, and we can be totally flexible about when we eat (including on the train if we feel peckish).

Book tickets ahead to take advantage of price reductions/get a Railcard.

Research your destination on the internet and have more possibilities that you think you can fit in as some may disappoint and take less time than you think.

Always, always leave a lot of time to get to the station to avoid any delay causing panic and ruining your day.

Play alphabet eye spy out of the window (a point to the person who spots something beginning with each letter). Animal - Building-Cow- drainpipe etc.

oh, what fun we have...

We always take lots of paper and pens and play games.

We did the 2for1 deal a few months ago, and had a great day out at London Dungeons for not too much money.

The DCs quite enjoy train travel - they haven't done enough of it for it to become boring. Luckily they are old enough to entertain themselves with the aid of their mobile phones. But I did have to stop them playing that "let's not hang on, and see what happens when the train slows down" game.

Plan ahead, leave plenty of time, bring something to keep everyone occupied, as well as things to eat and drink.

Check for cheap upgrades to First Class, especially weekends/back holidays etc! There are also great railcards for almost anyone - we have bought a few over the years and always got our money back on the first trip.

For kids make a thing of having a picnic on the train. Pack things like Uno and play games like spotting things beginning with each letter of the alphabet. Try and book seats with a table.