Expeditionary force

For an inexpensive day out, visit a park or playground in the next town, village or borough. Get the children to help you plan the journey using a mode of transport you don't normally take - bus, bike, tram or train. Pack a ball, frisbee or skipping rope, and make a picnic together to eat when you get there.

Hunting high and low

Try one of these ideas for a scavenger hunt, either at home or in a local park or woods...

1. The classic scavenger hunt. Give each child or team a list of things to find. (Use picture lists for pre-readers.) The winner is the individual or team that gets them all first.

2. The natural scavenger hunt. Go to the woods, beach or park and ask the children to find natural objects that are specific shapes (circle, oval, triangle), colours (green, brown, pink, yellow) and textures (prickly, furry, smooth, soft, sticky, rough, hard). Can they also find something that holds water, something see-through, something that moves...?

3. The alphabet hunt. Get the children to search for something beginning with every letter in their name, or every letter of the alphabet (they'll have to be creative with Q, X & Z!)

4. The string hunt. Hide pieces of string of different lengths. Then split the children into teams. The teams hunt for the string and tie together any pieces they find. The winning team is the one with the longest combined length of string (so coil it carefully to avoid tangles!).

5. The snap-happy hunt. For older children, give each team a digital camera or camera-phone and set a photo challenge: get a photo on a slide, in a phone box, doing a handstand, star jump, piggyback, etc. Back at home, plug the cameras into your TV or computer and compare the results.