25+ educational & fun days out for learning outside of the classroom

With both of my boys now in school and at the age where they are really eager to learn we’re visiting more places in our free time that encourages learning outside of the classroom. Sometimes it’s a conscious decision, i.e taking them to visit a castle when they are learning about castles at school, (which they love because they get to show their Daddy and I how smart they are!).  Other times it’s a spontaneous visit to an attraction, i.e we quite often pop into our local farm where they love learning about the animals.

As an ex vocational teacher I love that the positive impacts of learning outside of school and outdoor learning are being regularly highlighted in the media. With experts encouraging parents to include hands-on, real life-world experiences into regular family routines I thought I would share our favourite educational and fun days out for kids. This rather lengthy list includes free days out, historical sites and indoor days out, best museums with kids, science centres and more.

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Educational & Fun Indoor Days Out for Kids

Best Museums with Kids

We’ve only in the past couple of years started to take our boys to museums, initially shying away from them believing that they wouldn’t be of interest. Boy was I wrong!  Museums have changed a lot since I was a kid. Our favourite kid friendly museums are –

Beamish Museum in Durham which is a brilliant interactive full day out with actors walking around in 1800 & 1900’s costume. There is an authentic pit village, cottages and shops many of which were taken down and literally rebuilt brick by brick from their original locations throughout the North East. 

You can read our full review here – Review: Beamish Open Air Museum.

Eureka Museum is another highly engaging North East based attraction. My boys love the vast role play area where kids can pretend to be shop keepers, bankers, builders, post office workers and much more.

You can read our full review here – Tips for visiting Eureka Museum.

SS Great Britain and We The Curious (formerly the At-Bristol Science Center) are both excellent days out in Bristol.  My boys loved exploring the cabins on the SS Great Britain and learning about the passengers it transported over to the Australia. You can read our full review here – SS Great Britain with kids. 

The 300+ exhibits at We Are Curious bring space, science and lots of other topics to life in a fun and educational way. My boys loved it when we visited a few years ago and we plan to visit again soon.

Museum of London – We recently visited the museum as part of a walking tour to learn facts about the Great Fire of London.  My eldest son was learning about the historical event at school and so we used it as an opportunity to visit the Museum of London to experience their War, Fire and Plague gallery before visiting St Paul’s Cathedral, the Monument to the Great Fire of London and Pudding Lane, where the great fire started back in 1666.  It was a interesting day and one I can thoroughly recommend with kids.  Here I’ve shared our free Great Fire of London walking tour itinerary and map. 

Natural History Museum – My boys wouldn’t allow us to visit London without a trip to the Natural History Museum. This suits me just fine as it’s free entrance and I love the exhibits too. My boy’s favourite exhibits are the science centre because they are encouraged to touch everything and ask a zillion question to the science centre staff, the Dinosaur gallery (enough said!) and the earthquake simulator which they never seem to tire of.

For other free things to do in London with kids check out this post by Globetotting. 

Our Favourite Kids Role Play Attractions / Play Villages

These are popping up all over the UK aren’t they? They are such an amazing idea for developing kid’s creativity and imagination.

My boys love the Children’s Play Village in Warwick. (They have plans to open up more sites around the UK so worth keeping an eye on their website). Friends have also recommended KidsZania in London “An indoor city run by kids”.

Historical Places to Visit with Kids – Castles, Towns and Other Attractions

Warwick Castle – This 950-year old castle may be commercial /touristy but I have to say for kids it really brings history to life. My boys love watching the battles, bird of prey shows and the Horrible Histories performances.

If you would prefer a more authentic castle experience, our local Gloucestershire castle, Sudeley Castle, comes in number one place on the Telegraph’s best UK castle list. To be honest though, unless there is an event going on at Sudeley, (i.e. Children’s Wednesday’s in the summer holidays which are a fun day out,) I prefer nearby Berkeley Castle which is fully erect, unlike the ruins of Sudeley. Berkeley is particularly worth a visit in the summer when they host jousting and medieval activities.

Stonehenge, Wiltshire – It may have been around for 5,000 years but we still haven’t visited! I didn’t however feel I could miss the ancient stone circle from this list so I’ve popped it in and firmly added it to my travel wish list for this summer.

Tower of London – Home to the Crown Jewels, Yeoman Warders (affectionately known as Beefeaters) and the legendary ravens.  The Tower of London has lots to offer for a day out with kids.  My eldest loved chatting to the Beefeaters and seemed to take it all in including how Her Royal Majesty’s Palace and Tower of London were built just after the Norman Conquest in 1066. The Tower, used as a prison since the 12th century, has played an important role in the history of England and is certainly worthy of a family day out next time you are in London.

Historical Towns to Visit with Kids

Our favourite UK historical town for a fun day out with kids has to be Stratford-upon-Avon. The birth place of England’s greatest playwright and poet, William Shakespeare, is home to many historical attractions.   They are all mostly within walking distance of each other too which makes for a convenient and fun day out with kids.

Don’t miss a trip to the Royal Shakespeare Company theatre, Shakespeare’s school room and Holy Trinity Church, where Shakespeare is buried as featured on the world’s most visited gravesites. Our other ideas for a family day out can be found here – Stratford upon Avon with kids.

We are truly spoilt for choice in the UK with many historical towns/cities to visit. A handful we can particularly recommend for educational and fun days out with kids are Bath (check out the Roman Baths and treasure trails), York (National Railway Museum which is free & Jorvik Viking Centre) and Durham (Cathedral which is free, Bowes Museum & Raby Castle).

 

I hope you’ve found some inspiration from the list above.  If you have any educational and fun days out for kids to share please do so below. We are always on the look out for new places to visit that can bring learning to life outside of the classroom.

 

Disclosure: this is a sponsored post with SunLife. All words and opinions are, as always, my own.

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