Sporty family days out in the summer

The summer beckons, and we all get excited about making use of the garden and having days out at the seaside. But when you have young kids, those summer school holidays can stretch out ahead of you and you may be short of ideas of how to give the kids days out with a difference.

After all, there are only so many petting farm and zoos you can visit, and with younger children, the novelty aspect always makes for a winning day out. One way to find a rich vein of ideas for different days out is to start getting involved in some big sports events.

There are tons of different events going on all through the summer, and some are particularly good for taking young children along. Take a day at the races as an example. There are racecourses all over the UK and all of them feature a family day in their calendar, usually in the summer. For example, one of the biggest is the Family Fun Day at Ascot racecourse where, as well as getting to see some brilliant horse racing up close and personal, the kids are kept entertained all day too. The theme of the day is along the lines of a traditional English fete with coconut shy stalls and cup cake decorating going on. There will also be costumed TV characters like Peppa Pig and Thomas the Tank Engine to entertain the kids too.

Another sporting event that you can make into a great family day out is the Henley Regatta. The rowing festival goes on for five days in July on a beautiful stretch of the Thames and tickets to the enclosure area on the river banks aren’t that expensive. Take a picnic and a rug and get set up for a day of drinking and eating while you cheer on the different teams and watch the world go by.

Wimbledon is another big British summer tradition and a great day for a day out. It's a great way to get children excited and involved in the game. The tennis you’ll see is amazing, of course, but there isn’t really much else to divert the kids when they’ve had enough of watching the matches, except perhaps for some strawberries and cream. This is one that may be best reserved for a day when you can book the grandparents in for some babysitting duty or bring them with for an extra pair of hands.

Of course, there are plenty of ways that you and your kids can actually participate in sports events during the summer too. There are always fun runs and sponsored walks going on across the country and kids can get a real sense of achievement completing one of these. Pick a nice, short one to start off and you can build up the distance as the kids grow.