August bank holiday 2024: 9 Reddit recommendations for free things to do with the kids 

As the end of the summer holidays approaches, many families will be feeling the pinch when it comes to forking out for fun things to do. However, the August bank holiday is just days away and with it comes perhaps one last opportunity to squeeze in some quality family time before the kids go back to school.

I’ve previously written about the value for money National Trust membership offers families but for some, even that monthly subscription is simply more than they can afford. Happily, there are plenty of things to do that are completely free.

When it comes to crowdsourcing information, the Reddit community never fails to deliver and in one thread, where a mum of six was asking for budget-friendly ideas for keeping children entertained, responses came thick and fast. Whether you are looking for free things to do at home or zero cost ways of getting out of your own four walls, these Redditors have you covered.

9 Reddit recommendations for free family activities

1. Visit the library

The first person to comment, calling themself Advanced-Field2390, recommended the library. They said: “Not sure if the older kids would like it as much, but my kids love going to the library! There’s usually a really fun toddler play section!”

And that’s not all. Libraries today offer much more than books - although that is a great source of entertainment in itself. Many provide holiday activities, board game clubs, gaming groups - one library not far from me even has a sing-along event coming up - so it’s worth checking out what your local service offers.

Another Reddit user, ima-bigdeal, also recommended the library, saying: “Get a library book with animals or insects, and then have the kids see how many birds, or bugs, or whatever, they can find at a nature park.”

2. Museums

Another fan of libraries, Brainwormed, added to the thread, “Libraries and museums. Especially Children's Museums”, which is another great shout. In the UK we are lucky enough to have a plethora of free museums at our disposal and if you’ve been before, many put on special exhibits and activities during holidays to give visitors something new to experience.

3. Letterboxing and Geocaching

Another commenter, MomfromAlderaan, said: “Look into Letterboxing. You grab a notebook and choose a stamp for your ‘Team” and head out on different hikes, to find other stamps out in letterboxes.”

These are effectively people-powered scavenger hunts. In letterboxing you are looking to find stamps to print into a book or sheet of paper as you explore a specific area. Not as widely available as geocaching, letterboxing originated on Dartmoor and you can still take part in the activity there to this day.

Geocaching is available pretty much nationwide and a quick Google search will provide you with where you can go in your area. This activity differs slightly in that instead of stamping your book, if you find the geocache, you can take a ‘treasure’ left by previous geocachers and replace it with something you brought along yourself.

4. Visit the park

This may seem like a more obvious suggestion but is one worth considering. Redditor Alternative_Main_775 said: “Go to the park. When I was broke and going through a divorce, I took my kids to their favourite park every day after school to get out of the house and to have a routine. We had the best time and it was free!”

Instead of planning to pop down for an hour, you could make a day of it. Pack a picnic and you can give the kids an opportunity to run off some energy without feeling rushed to go before they are ready. If, like me, you are not a fan of the park, I’ve found that heading to parks I’ve never been to makes it less tedious - you could even challenge yourself to visit several parks in one day and everyone can rate their favourite at the end of the day.

5. Take a hike

Walking is the easiest option for a free day out and it’s good for your health too. Someone calling themself winchester_mcsweet said: “Walking, it gets you out of the house, is low cost (decent walking shoes or hiking shoes), gets everyone some exercise, and lets you enjoy nature. Even just a walk around the neighbourhood is nice. We have good conversations as we walk around too.”

Most people in the UK are not too far away from a greenspace offering the whole family a change to up their step count and get some fresh air. But even if you’re unable to reach somewhere more rural, you can still have fun exploring your area or heading to town and challenging yourselves to spot things you’ve never noticed before like interesting architecture or funny street names.

6. Cutting and sticking

On the face of it, this one might seem like a bit of a dud idea but, take it from someone who spent hours doing this as a kid and loving it, cutting out random images and sticking them down is strangely compelling to youngsters. Reddit user TrashCanEnigma said: “When I was a kid I loved to cut up magazines and junk mail. Sometimes cutting out coupons, sometimes playing "shredders" with my brother: my mom gave us a paper bag and a ton of junk mail, and told us to go to town. So as long as you have scissors and paper, this is free.”

An old couple my mum used to visit would keep us occupied while the adults chatted by handing us an empty scrapbook, a stack of old magazines, a pair of scissors and a glue stick.

7. Make pizza

Killing two birds with one stone, this not only keeps children entertained, but it also means dinner gets sorted at the same time. Active_Recording_789 said: “Making pizza together as a family is fun, and letting the kids make their own creations with leftover dough and baking them for them to eat. The bonus of making pizza is, the kids can make their own and that way they don’t put anything on it they don’t like.”

If you don;t have the time or inclination to make your own dough, you can pick up pizza bases from the supermarket, or even use alternatives like flatbreads or bagels which work just as well.

8. Board games night

As a borderline board game obsessive, we have accrued a decent stack in our house and I love this idea from Redditor I-own-a-shovel, who said: “We organise board game night at home with friends. (We have a collection of games and friends bring theirs too) sometimes it’s at our house sometimes at other’s.”

While we often pull out a game when at a loose end, I’d never thought about inviting friends over. Not only will this up the fun factor but means you get to try out their games too. 

9. Supermarket scavenger hunt

I’m finishing up with this gem of an idea from sohosadness as it not only makes a game of a ‘boring’ activity, but it is also something to keep in your arsenal for whenever you have to take the kids shopping and don’t fancy the hell on earth it can sometimes turn into. The said: “So this isn't quite an activity, and is not technically "free" but I make my toddler "scavenger" hunts for when we go to the grocery store or if I take them to stores on rainy days.

“I'll print out pictures of things to find at the store and tape to a piece of paper (i.e., if a grocery store, then a picture of cheerios or bananas, if a regular store a picture of sandals, if a museum, a picture of an artwork I know they have, etc) and whenever they find that item, we will put a sticker next to it on their paper. It's super fun!”

So there we are, with a little imagination, there are a whole host of activities you can enjoy with your kids before the holidays are out that don’t need to cost you a penny. And if you have any other pearls of wisdom to share with skint parents, drop your suggestions in the comments below.