A day out doesn’t have to cost the earth. Going for a walk, cycle or hike is a great way to pass a few hours and choosing a route with a play area, beach, park or trails can add extra excitement to your adventure.

If you have older children, you could design a scavenger hunt with items they need to collect and bring home on their own.

Or create a ‘get to know your town/village better’ quiz or trail using local books and guides to help you create a fun route with participants having to take a photo at each spot to show they have been there. Even better if you have a mix of older and younger children, get the older ones to help design the route!

Most villages, towns and cities have plaques, poems and places you walk past each day but don’t really notice. Set a fun challenge to find out as much as possible about your local area this summer.

For indoor days out, bookstores like Eason or your local library may also run free weekly story time sessions and you can always go and enjoy checking out the books on offer in the children’s section where there is usually seating and some toys to play with too.

Museums are often free to visit too and many offer games, dress up items, classes, talks and family trails to keep all ages happy.

To ensure you don’t overspend, set a weekly budget for the summer months. You could set the children a challenge of organising activities that stick to the budget. They will have to be creative and it is a great life lesson for them to learn about budgeting and how to research.

With a bit of planning a low cost day out with the family is very achievable. Turn it into an adventure by taking the bus, train or tram to your destination. Travel off-peak and book tickets in advance to get the best deals.

Look out for places with free or low cost entry. Many of the bigger estates and castles charge to have a tour, but the grounds may be free to visit and they often have fairy, nature or woodland trails along with play areas that the kids can enjoy.

The OPW also offer free entry to their properties on the first Wednesday of every month.

And if the kids enjoy going to the cinema, you can often get deals on early morning shows as these are less popular than afternoon and evening times.

Check Mykidstime and other sources for free family days and plan these into your schedule too.

Reading is the perfect way to pass some time for both adults and children. I like nothing better than spending a few hours enjoying my favourite author or reading new ones that have been recommended.

This summer, Eason have some great offers, including these online exclusives for adults and teens and these online exclusives for children and you can also save on summer reads, so grab them while you can and escape into different worlds for a couple of hours!

Setting the children a summer reading challenge is also a great way to get everyone enjoying new books and authors. From the youngest to the eldest, see who can get through the most books this summer!

Eating out with the family is a real treat, but it can be very expensive. However, if you are savvy, there are deals to be had!

Many family-friendly restaurants have deals on family meals, either buy an adult meal and get the kids one free or free dessert or coffee/tea with meals. Do your research and look out for these deals in places you are planning on visiting.

For days out, packing a picnic is always a great idea and you can top up on drinks and snacks along the way.

Creating a summer diary, journal or scrapbook is a simple idea to keep the kids amused for hours. They can paste in tickets and trinkets from places they have visited and keep a record of all the fun things they did over the summer months.

As they grow, it will be a record of their childhood that they can treasure in the years ahead.

Most children love getting into the kitchen and being creative. Get out the recipe books and let the children prepare everything from picnic goodies to eat while out and about to homemade ice lollies and smoothies.

It is good to give older children an opportunity to learn some new dishes by cooking the family meal from scratch. It helps them build up a repertoire for when they leave home, but also gives you a night off and saves money on takeaways.

Getting a group of friends and their families around and spending time in the garden is a perfect low cost solution for catching up and having fun. Assign a dish to everyone and get them to bring along what they fancy drinking, that way it doesn’t cost anyone too much. And nobody has babysitting costs either!

Get creative with the kids before everyone arrives and you could set up some garden games or an obstacle course for them to enjoy with their friends. Being together is often what they want.

You could even set up a camp in the garden for them to sleep in or enjoy until it’s time to go home. And leave it up for the next night so the whole family can enjoy a night camping under the stars!

Summer is a good time to encourage the kids to try out new things and get creative! Some ideas to get you started include:

• Build a bug hotel
• Plant fruit and veg in the garden
• Make a hut outdoors
• Write some short stories
• Learn a new language
• Up-cycle furniture or clothes
• Teach themselves to play an instrument

The children will have time to research and do a passion project over the summer months.