Easter comes packed with chocolate, egg hunts and adorable animals. That all sounds pretty magical to us! It’s a time when we can finally shake off those winter chills and head outside again, especially when the Easter school holidays start. To help enjoy this wonderful time of year, we’ve rounded up the key dates, along with the best children’s activities for the easter holidays.
When are the Easter school holidays in 2018?
The holidays unsurprisingly fall around the Easter weekend. We’ve put the different dates for each country below.
England
26th March – 23rd April
Scotland
19th March – 13th April
Wales
26th March – 16th April
Northern Ireland
29th March – 6th April
These dates are an outline of the school holidays across the UK – please check with your specific school to get exact days for your school.
Top Easter activities and days out
Top of your list of fun things to do in the Easter holidays is to throw your wellies on and get out to your local farm park. Seeing furry, fuzzy and indeed feathered friends is always a treat at any point of the year but it’s around this time that loads of newborn babies are taking their first steps. Lambing in particular is always popular and loads of farm parks let families get up close and cuddly.
Equally, if the weather isn’t playing ball, don’t worry: the Easter school holidays were pretty much made for getting covered in glitter and glue with egg experiments, crafting bonnets and your very own Easter basket. Getting crafty with kids is a fantastic way to fill a day and there are more than a few pottery painting cafes who’d be happy to help with your festive creations.
Top Places to go this Easter
There’s plenty of places open over the Easter weekend: we’ve pulled together a few of our favourite days out so take a look and start filling your calendar:
Mead Open Farm – Introduce your tribe to some of the cutest creatures out there, including bunnies, chicks, ponies and more. Feed the goats, watch the sheep race and then let loose in the play areas – including a high ropes course for the most adventurous! It’s more than just a fabulous farm.
Charlecote Park – To take part in the national Cadbury Easter Egg Hunt in 2018 you could turn up and pretty much any National Trust site, but we really like Charlecote Park for an afternoon with the kids. It’s a treasure of a stately home which has been in the same family for 900 years. Adults can get their dose of culture and beautiful scenery while helping kids unravel egg hunt clues for a chocolatey prize.
Cadbury World One word: chocolate! Go to the source with a few hours of indulgence and enjoy rides, characters and history to boot. Take a peek behind the scenes in the factory to see where your favourites are made – taking advantage of some samples along the way, of course!
Mella Mella’s Pottery Cafe – Get crafty this season at this place of pottery. Kids can be “experimental” with colour, paint, glitter and clay and you don’t have to clean up. Result. Plus, you’ll have a new piece of art for pride of place on the mantelpiece.
Pennywell Farm – ‘Tis the season for meeting cute and cuddly animals, and what could be more adorable than the miniature Pennywell Pigs?! That’s not all this day out has to offer though, the action packed scheduled includes multiple shows, family-friendly go kart racing, train riding and ferret encounters – to name just a few things!
