Cheapest place to get half term kids meals as supermarkets cut prices
Keeping children well fed and entertained during the school year without blowing the money is no easy task.
But if you know where to look, there are plenty of free and inexpensive ways to have fun as a family.
Here we reveal what's on offer.
FUN ACTIVITIES
Major attractions can cost a small fortune.
Local venues can be just as entertaining and many organize budget-friendly educational or creative activities for children during the school holidays.
Pets at Home organizes free biannual workshops in stores on how to keep animals happy and healthy in winter.
Children will love petting small animals such as guinea pigs and rats up close, and learning how to care for garden birds and wildlife during the colder months.
Book a 45 minute session online via community.petsathome.com/events/child-workshop/. Every day from 1 p.m.
If your kids like crafts, try Hobbycraft.
The chain has in-store children's workshops with activities such as canvas painting, £8, and rainbow bead making, £5.
Visit classbento.co.uk/hobbycraft/home.
Ikea also has craft activities and games for children in its stores, including making Chinese New Year decorations and decorating Valentine's Day cookies.
Visit ikea.com/nl/en/stores/events.
Fancy a game of bowling? Tenpin bowling centers offer two games and one burger meal for £8.70 for juniors (16 years or under) and £11.20 for adults, Monday to Friday until 5pm.
Or Hollywood Bowl has up to 50 percent off on games bowled before 11 a.m.
Take a trip to the movies. Amazon Prime members can unlock two tickets for £10 at most Odeons or two tickets for £15 at Odeon Luxe.
Otherwise, adults can pay the child price for the week, so a family ticket for adults and children only costs the price of two child tickets.
For example, a Friday screening at 5pm in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, would cost £19.98, compared to the normal price of £24.48.
DAYS OUT
Many museums and galleries are free to enter and organize special biannual activities.
For example, Swansea Museum is taking part in “Welsh Dark Skies” week, with a day of hands-on space science activities, including a free rocket-making workshop.
Or the Museum of London in Docklands organizes migration-themed activities, including cooking classes, Caribbean storytelling, music and crafts.
All activities are free and do not require prior booking, but places must be reserved upon arrival.
The Fujifilm House of Photography in Covent Garden, also in London, has a free Arctic Adventure exhibition.
Hull and East Riding Museum explores the science of how frost and ice is formed, with a chance to play with homemade snow cubes on Tuesday (February 13) from 1pm to 3pm. Free entry.
Bodmin Keep, Cornwall's military museum, opens for free on Monday (February 12), allowing visitors to discover three hundred years of local military history, including medals, weapons and uniforms.
And children aged 16 and under can go free this week with a paying adult to the Eden Project, featuring explosive science experiments for half the school year.
At the free-entry Royal Armories Museum in Leeds, kids can enroll in the Superhero Academy to save the world, see acrobats and battles and even learn parkour.
The government has an online interactive map with free museums and events throughout the country bit.ly/h4hmap.
And if you're traveling by train for a day, a family ticket can help you reduce costs.
For example, National Rail's Family & Friends Railcard allows up to four children to travel to London for £1 each, accompanied by an adult traveling outside peak hours.
You also get discounts on days out, such as two-for-one theater and museum tickets.
CHEAP EAT
Plenty of restaurants offer cheap or free food for children over half term. Check if your favorite has offers.
Asda goes above and beyond with kids getting a hot dinner all day for £1 in cafes with no adult spending required.
Children can choose from one of eight hot meals, including pasta, margherita pizza and half a jacket potato, or they can have a cold lunch consisting of a sandwich, drink, fruit and treat.
Or kids can get a 95p pasta meal at Ikea from 11am daily – this drops to 45p on Fridays for shoppers with a Family Card.
Tesco cafes are offering a free hot meal for children, a children's breakfast or a pick and mix deal for children with every item purchased by an adult for just 60p when showing their Tesco Clubcard at the till.
Spend £4.50 or more on an adult meal at Morrisons and you'll get one free kids meal all year round.
In Sainsbury's cafes, children get a free hot meal or packed lunch worth £3.50, with a hot main course for adults from £5.40.
Or head to Dunelm, where for every £4 spend, kids get a mini main course, two snacks and a drink for free.
Children also get a free meal at Cafe Rouge, Greene King pubs, Dobbies garden centres, Las Iguanas, Bill's, Yo Sushi and TGI Fridays with every adult meal during half term.
Or children under 11 can eat for £1 at Bella Italia with an adult main course between 4pm and 6pm, Sunday to Wednesday, and free all day on Thursday.
You can also get a kids meal for £1 at Sizzling Pubs from 3pm Monday to Friday, kids eat for £1 when they buy an adult main meal.
Start the day right and kids can get a free breakfast at Beefeater and Brewers Fayre when an adult buys breakfast for £9.99.
Two children under 16 also eat free with every adult breakfast purchased at Whitbread Inns.
And buy an adult breakfast from £8.99 and up to two children under 15 eat an unlimited cooked breakfast for free at Travelodge and you don't have to be a guest of the hotel to take advantage of the offer.
For a snack, McDonald's is offering Mr Men and Little Miss Happy Meals for £1.99 via the McDonald's app.
You can also get a free token which entitles customers to a free book on World Book Day 2024, or £1 off a book or audiobook.
*All food deals are available Monday to Friday this week, but check if your local branch is participating before you visit.