Jasmine Birtles
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Cheap and Free Things To Do This Half Term
Vicky Parry
23rd May 2025
Updated 23rd May 2025
It’s coming up to half-term for UK schools, and that means extra costs for parents as they find ways to entertain their kids. Worry not – we’ve got loads of ways to pack your half-term with fun things to do for free or cheap!
DINE OUT FOR £1!
The school holidays can be an exciting time for many. Children are excited at the prospect time away from the confines of school and families can spend some quality time together. Some may even have a nice holiday booked or finally have the time to visit family who live far away.
But the school holidays are not all sunshine and rainbows. For many, school holidays induce a sense of anxiety. Financial worry clouds the minds of many, as many household costs increase during this period.
Time off school means many parents are spending more time at home with their children. This leads to increased energy use due to more electronics being used, food being cooked and the use of radiators as the days get chillier. Similarly, more food is being eaten at home, with the break not only on education but the provision of free school meals. Many people rely on these meals to feed their children one full, hot meal per day.
Check out our EATING FOR £1 FEATURE to see where you can take your kids this half term for cheap.
Leeds Royal Armouries
Leeds Royal Armouries always goes all-out for school holidays and May is no exception. This half term, go to a free jousting show and learn about the medieval sport; visit exhibits about gladiators, and take part in free workshops. Entry to the museum and jousting is entirely free; there are some extra paid activities such as learning to shoot a crossbow and an escape room experience (school holiday time only). Parking is plentiful and it is easy to get to by bus or train, too.
Story Explorers at The British Library, London
A new exhibition running from May 2025 – January 2026, Story Explorers at the British Library is an interactive exhibition exploring a collection of items related to important books and parts of literature, with lots of different areas to get stuck into. It’s free, but you need to book a ticket online to choose your time slot. Sessions are kept to 30 people maximum to allow plenty of space for everyone to take their time to enjoy the exhibit.
Greenwich Dog Show, Sunday 25th May 2025
A free event for all canine lovers, this popular dog show at the Old Royal Naval College grounds has plenty to keep the family (and pooches) entertained for the entire day. You can enter your dog into several different categories, from waggiest tail to best rescue dog to best golden oldie and even best Bridgerton dog! It’s free to attend the event, and tickets to enter dogs into the contest are £10. More activity and booking details are available on the website.
Brockwell Bounce, Wednesday 28th May 2025
A family friendly festival in Brockwell Park, Brockwell Bounce is a free event with music, entertainment, workshops, food and drink, and more. It’s only 0.3 miles from Herne Hill station and 1 mile from Brixton. Book tickets and find out more on the website.
THEATRE TREATS
For older children, you could nab £10 theatre tickets for the National Theatre this half term with their 16-25 scheme. Your local theatres may also offer special discounts or there may even be free shows by your local theatre groups in half term, so take a look at your regional theatres to see if you could bag some cheap tickets.
Many theatres offer special discounted rates during half term – book fast, as tickets get snapped up quickly! Check out London Theatre Direct for London shows, or look at your local theatre for discounts and offers.
Some theatres offer discounted tickets for people in receipt of Universal Credit, Disability Living Allowance, Pension Credit and other income-tested benefits. For example, Opera North offers £10 tickets and National Theatre of Scotland offers £5 tickets – check your local theatre’s website for details.
CINEMA for £2.49
And there are also heaps of kid-friendly offerings from Vue, with both adult and child tickets from only £2.49 per ticket. Vue’s Mighty Morning sessions for kids aged 4-11 give both adults and kids the chance to experience big screen entertainment for a very small price, and run every Saturday and Sunday morning from 10am, plus every day in the school holidays (with availability likely to change depending on when your child’s holidays occur).
Picturehouse cinemas offer £3.30 kids tickets on Saturday mornings, while their family ticket for other showings saves a lot overall as adults pay a child’s fee, too! If you’re a frequent cinema goer, it’s also worth looking at investing in an annual membership. Picturehouse, for example, starts from £100 a year for an adult which includes ten ‘free’ tickets, access to £1-only screenings, and booking discounts plus more.
Make sure to check out more cinema deals on our dedicated page.
GO TO THE ZOO for only £3
London Zoo offers £3 tickets for anyone currently receiving Universal Credit, Employment and Support Allowance, Income Support or Jobseeker’s Allowance.
- The £3 tickets are available for the whole family and under 3’s go free.
- Tickets can be purchased from the admissions kiosk on the day, from 11am, every day of the week.
- Just bring proof of benefit letter (electronic or paper).
- Check offer details at www.zsl.org/CAS
Here’s a list compiled by TripAdvisor on some of the best zoos and aquariums in the UK.
If you regularly go for days out to your local Sea Life, as well as want to participate in other adventures like LegoLand, Thorpe Park, Chessington World of Adventures, Alton Towers and more, it could be worth investing in a Merlin pass, which gives you unlimited access to tons of places across the UK for a year.
Whipsnade Zoo and other zoos may also offer Universal Credit and means-tested benefit reduced ticket prices, check their websites before you visit.
VISIT MUSEUMS
Most local museums are free to enter, donation required, or have a small entry fee that can be minimised with a family ticket. They are a great way to entertain the kids in the May half term, and you’ll often find your local museum runs free activities during the school holidays to help further your child’s education and get them engaged in history.
Outdoor museums are also a great way to make the most of May sunshine while exhausting the kids as you go around!
If you’re in or near London, free museums can each take a whole day to explore, filling your May half term week! The British Museum, Natural History Museum, Science Museum and Victoria and Albert museum are all free, as are the Tate Modern and Tate Britain.
Don’t fret if you’re not in London either – there are literally hundreds of free museums in the UK. The CBeebies website has a brilliant free museum finding tool.
SWIM FOR FREE
Check your local authority for their free swimming lessons opportunities, as well as the pools in your area. Wandsworth Council, for example, offers free swimming lessons for 5-7 year olds during half term and kids under 8 can always swim for free at their pools.
ENGLISH HERITAGE
250 of the 400 sites run by English Heritage are free to visit. From remote stone circles to ruined abbeys, and Norman castles to Roman temples, you can explore thousands of years of history for absolutely nothing.
The Neolithic Woodhenge is just over three miles from Stonehenge. Built around 2300BC, we know that six concentric rings of timber pillars once stood here, but no one is quite sure why. The timber posts may have supported a building, or they may have been painted and carved like totem poles. Today the holes where the timber would have been are marked with concrete blocks, but you can still get a sense of the size and atmosphere of this mysterious place.
Intriguing and important moments in English history from the Roman period right up to the Cold War have left their mark on Dover Castle. It’s a fascinating site to visit.
The beautiful gardens and woodlands at Wrest Park showcase three centuries of garden design influenced by French, Dutch, Italian and English styles. There are activity packs and audio trails for families as well as a play area by the cafe.
The remains of Titchfield Abbey are impressive. After the Suppression of the Monasteries it was converted into a grand country house but you can still see some of the medieval remains. Look out for the elaborate chimneys.
Netley Abbey is the most complete surviving Cistercian abbey in southern England. John Constable once came to paint here, and it’s rumoured to have inspired Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey. It’s been a popular place to visit since at least the 1840s, when some visitors complained that the abbey’s atmosphere was being spoilt by ‘the popping of ginger beer’!
Bishop’s Waltham Palace was once the grand home of the wealthy Bishops of Winchester. A three storey tower still stands, as do the palace’s high walls and some of the windows of its great hall.
Universal Credit Reduced Admission Fees
If you’re in receipt of Universal Credit, Pension Credit and sometimes also Housing Benefit or other income-related benefits, you could go to activities and attractions for a significantly reduced entry price if you have proof of receipt of the benefit. Always check the website for details as they are subject to change especially during popular times of year such as summer holiday season.
Examples include:
- Annual Royal Transport Museum Pass for just £1
- Chatsworth House – £3
- Westminster Abbey – £1 per adult, free child tickets
- RHS Gardens – £1 for six at some RHS venues
- Historic Royal Palaces – £1 at major attractions like the Tower of London and Hampton Court Palace
- Kew Gardens – £1 Entry
- York Castle Museum – FREE
- Eden Project – £5 adult, £1 child up to 15 years old
- The King’s Galleries – £1
- St. Paul’s Cathedral – £1
- Roald Dahl Museum – £1
- Canterbury Cathedral – FREE
- London Wetland Centre – £3
- Blaenafon Ironworks – £1
- Castell Caernarfon – £1
- Chepstow Castle – £1
- HMS Belfast – £3
- Cutty Sark – £2
- Royal Greenwich Pirates – £2
- Royal Observatory – £2
- Manchester Jewish Museum – FREE
- York Art Gallery – FREE
- Dove Cottage and Wordsworth Museum, Grasmere – FREE
- Lightroom London – £5 Tues and Thurs after 1pm
- Castle Howard – £3
- Harewood House – £2
- Westonbirt, National Arboretum – £1
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