Like books and being read to, days out are compost for the young mind, nourishing it and helping it to grow. Another way to look at it is that spent out in the world is credit in the bank of learning, the richer and more interesting your experiences, the greater the resources your child has to draw on when they need them.  

Days out don’t have to be expensive - theme parks have their place but are limited in terms of what they deliver on life experience. Nor do they have to be unusual - there is as much experiential value in a trip to your local museum as there is in a visit to Madame Tussauds. And you may discover that what children find engaging and memorable (the bit they tell their grandparents about when they get home), isn’t always the bit you’d hope for or expect. For example, a trip to the zoo might be retold with emphasis on the bus journey there than the animals inside.

The good news is that almost anything can count as a day out - depending on how imaginative you want to be. A trip to the supermarket can become a food safari (get your child to draw a map, tick off certain foods from different countries, draw pictures of their sightings etc), and a walk in the woods can become a den-building adventure. Good old-fashioned trips to the zoo and to the museum are guaranteed crowd-pleasers and have so many facets to be enjoyed.

Whatever you choose to do, it’s good to involve your child in the planning of a day trip - look at the bus timetable together and shop for your packed lunch ingredients. This gives them a sense of responsibility and shifts the emphasis away from pure entertainment toward engagement, and a meaningful experience.