Share your ways to make more of family days out during the summer hols with PizzaExpress - £300 Love2Shop voucher to be won! NOW CLOSED

[EmmaMumsnet]

With the long school holidays stretching out ahead of us, the thought of filling every day with entertainment is enough to exhaust any parent. So how to take a few simple activities and extend the fun across the full six weeks?

This summer, PizzaExpress is teaming up with Ice Age: Collision Course to give families great days out. Here’s what PizzaExpress has to say: “Come and visit our family-friendly restaurants across the UK and try our delicious new summer menu. We even have lots of gluten-free dishes and kids can try our Piccolo menu which features mini plates of grown-up favourites – for even the fussiest eaters.

While you wait for your food, your children can enjoy completing our Ice Age: Collision Course activity pack and even enter a competition to win a 5-day holiday to Hollywood! Simply visit a restaurant and draw a picture of your favourite Ice Age character with a pizza to be in with a chance of winning the holiday to Hollywood, Ice Age toys, goody bags, Pizza Making Parties and much more...”

PizzaExpress would love to hear your tips for making family fun last a bit longer - without constantly dishing out cash.

Could you encourage your children to do some creative writing based on a film they've watched - or put on their own performance after a trip to the cinema? Perhaps you come up with crafty activities which tie in with places you've visited or things the kids have seen? Or even encourage your DCs to cook by recreating recipes from a meal out? If you've arranged a day trip, do you extend the adventure by using different forms of transport to get to your destination? Maybe you make the preparation for a day out- like making a picnic and packing bags for the day - all part of the fun?

Please share your tips for making the most of days out and finding ways to make holiday fun last all summer long. Comment below and you will be entered into a prize draw where one Mumsnetter will win a £300 Love2Shop voucher.

Thanks and good luck!

MNHQ

Standard T&Cs Apply

[ThemisA]

Days out can be costly and tempers can easily fray so planning is important. Most children love picnics so we make a big thing about preparing a picnic, starting the day before making some dips, cookies, little rolls etc. I freeze water bottles so that the drinks stay chilled and help to keep the food cool in our chill bag. I plan games to keep everyone amused if we are on public transport or waiting in queues. If we are going to a museum I look things up ahead and have a list of things for them to find. Last year we went to boot sales and bought an old dolls house that we all renovated which involved hours of fun and then made a story book using pictures we took.

[Lisapaige24]

We make list of things to do each week throughout the summer holidays and mostly it doesn't have to cost anything simple things like going the park with a picnic or the beach also doing nature trails, bike riding there great if the weather is good but this is the uk so have a backup if you have a park or beach day planned and it's raining take the kids to play centres like jungle fun it's only a few pounds per child and they can play for a few hours then go for a meal afterwards this doesn't have to cost a lot i have at look which ones have offers on (eg:kids eat free etc) if you have a good scour on the internet in advance you can get some great bargains and print vouchers off as well for 20%25%30% off the cost of your bill MSE have good tips of where the offers are on and for days when you want to go the zoo or the theme park then you can always find offers on the back off cereal packets where it's buy one get one free it saves a lot of money but do take you own picnic as its very expensive for food on days out so take a picnic you can always treat the kids to an ice cream at the end of the day if you save money not buying food at the theme park or zoo oh and another great day out is the animal farms they are cheap to go and lots of fun for the children ,these cost effective days out is what your kids remember when they grow up that they spent quality time with there parents doing fun family days out .

[juju3]

Making sure you put added interest to the days out - by setting challenges, etc

[hiddenmichelle]

I never thought I'd say this but the pokemon go game is such a hit with the whole family. Forget it being pokemon - it is just like an outside treasure hunt and I am loving engaging with my kids and all being outside!

[lizd31]

Have their favourite books to read in the car & singalong music. Pack garden games to play at a picnic to stop them getting bored. We have giant connect 4 & noughts & crosses which Olivia loves. A bucket & spade is a must if there's sand or just water as it keeps them happy for ages & games like skimming stones are fun & free

[Lreece]

Having 3 boys of varying ages it is difficult to keep them all occupied & happy so at the start of the holidays they are given 10 lolly pop sticks and asked to write down 10 things they want to do over the holidays. Whilst they are doing this I then look at the local events that are free & will be of interest to them and write them on the calander as well as their pre booked activities. The lolly sticks go in a pot & each day that there is a space with no activity that morning they take in in turns to pick a stick with an activity which will range from the beach to swimming, skiing, the park etc.
To make the most of the day I pack a picnic up the night before meaning we just need to lift it from the fridge.
We also collect bits & bobs during our activities/holidays as well as photos and make a scrap book which they can take into school on the 1st day back as part of show & tell

[barbsbarbs]

basically there are so many free things to do, we visit museums, have picnics in local parks, go for nature walks, visit the paddling pools, have our own sports days in the park, meet up with other mums, we scrapbook the summer holidays, we go the beach and collect shells, we make art from natural resources, join the holiday club for the week. There is so much to do that does not cost money.

[glenka]

Try and make a scrapbook about your hoildays so they can remember all the things you did

[hdh747]

We like to get out into the countryside or to the beach. We take a picnic and plenty of drinks. Also a bag to collect things of interest like leaves or pebbles which can be scrap-booked or made into a model later. We like to have books that help us identify wildlife/trees/flowers etc. We do save up 2 pence pieces for seaside amusements - I refuse to change other money but don't mind using up our stash for a bit of fun if the weather turns a bit.

[melandjake99]

Pack a picnic and find a local park or beach. Take a ball, or a bucket and spade and get back to what we used to do in the good ole days.

[renas]

Take some favourite toys from home to play with on the beach as well as a picnic

[becky004]

We live very close to a Country Park, some days we visit the beach, other days we have treasure hunts in the woodland, other days sports in the fields. There is always something different to do each time, we take picnics from home which the children love so days out are less expensive, all we pay is for parking and the children are amused for hours as there is so much to do.

[louisa246]

Get the children to help plan the day out: shopping list for picnic etc. Then they are in charge of the camera and afterwards make a collage of what they have done. Great memories when we look back.

[vonniebab2]

Lots of walking you see and learn so much more, and it's a lot healthier than using transport

[kerryv]

We take lots of photos. We have a waterproof camera this year. Fun to look back and make a scrap book.

[grumpymummy3]

Take a picnic but use bottles of frozen water to keep it cool and use them later for drinking.
Try new places as well as old favourites especially now we can pokeman hunt as we go!!

[LeeR1985]

Right now i'm spending my days off with my daughter chasing pokemon on Pokemon Go! It costs me nothing as I already have a good powerbank to keep my phone charged up and we can spend all day walking around and catching them :)

[ebay91]

Picnics, feeding the ducks, going to the cinema or watching a movie at home.

[amyhalliday1]

We always collect souvenirs for our home and take a packed lunch

[ell5454]

Making the most of the day, allowing them to take pictures of what interests them and making scrapbooks so that it can be remembered in the following years.

I once made a video with them, of all the things we did over summer and it's really lovely to look back on.

[Ganne1]

We always found a CADW (Welsh Heritage) pass good value for visiting castles and ancient monuments. It can give children a sense of history, especially social history, and we feel we can really make these monuments and history come alive for them.

[janeyf1]

We love to go out for family picnics whenever it is dry. We play games afterwards such as rounders or hide & seek or football and go for walks. The little one likes to collect shells when we are by the sea and sticks them on card to make shapes, so as to preserve the memory

[alibabbaskeggy]

we make the whole thing into an adventure from having breakfast right through to coming home by playing 'spotting' games and singing songs

[frances93]

We normally start our holiday with a trip to see my parents in Newcastle so buy lots of treats for the car and portable DVD players are a god send! When it's warm I like to put lots of paper in the garden and fill up trays of paint so the kids can make as much mess as they like, I like to make sure that the kids know that the dogs are a major part of our family so I'll pack a picnic and we'll spend the day walking the dogs in the woods.

[Sid98]

I take my family for a walk,we go to the park and go swimming.
We also look if our area is doing any activities which we go to