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Days out can be expensive, especially when you have six weeks to fill. So here's our handy guide of things to do in and around Southend this summer that will hopefully save you a few pennies! We also have a full A3 planner you can download for FREE to help you get organised.
As well as the below, don't forget to check out our 'What's on guide' calendar for hundreds of other events throughout the summer. We've handpicked a few of the free events below but there are many more on our calendar and more being added regularly.
Remember that although the events or activities may be free, there may be parking costs to consider. For any activities in Southend, the monthly Southend Parking Permit at £12.50 per month could save you a huge amount of money on parking and you could even just sign up for the summer and cancel in September if you think you may benefit.
☀️1. My Pet Pals workshops - FREE - Running everyday from 19th July - 31st August, pop into Pets at Home Southend to take part in their FREE workshops. Learn all about how to care for a Syrian Hamster and design your own hamster home, while also getting involved in some crafts and colouring! Kids will receive activity sheets, a My Pet Pals certificate, and there is a chance to meet some of our amazing animals…all for FREE! (Recommended 4+)
☀️2. Animal Feeding at The Green Barn Farm Shop - FREE - A working farm and shop in Benfleet, join them every weekday at 1.30pm during the summer holidays to help feed the animals. Free to attend and no need to book! They also have a play area and activity barn and maize maze at an extra charge
☀️3. Emergency Services days - FREE - 23rd July & 27th August. Southend City Councils Community Safety Partnership are arranging three separate emergency service days. Taking place on 23rd July and 27th August, followed with a Coastguard open day on 13th September
☀️4. The Victoria Kids Club activities - FREE - 7th and 14th August - Little Victories kids club will be running free events kids aged 3-11 years including India week and Brazil week.
☀️5. Visit a local library and join the Summer Reading Challenge - FREE - Running from 20 July to 31 August for children aged 4 to 12. There will also be an Early Years Challenge for children under four as part of the fun
☀️6. Castle Point Transport Museum - FREE (Donations welcome) - Open to public on their Open days- Sunday 20th July, 3rd and 17th August.
☀️7. Waddle On Sea trail - FREE - For over six weeks from July 2025, Southend-on-Sea will be brought to life by a huddle of beautiful painted penguins and baby penguins. The art trail is completely free to follow and gives you the chance to become a tourist in your own city. You'll be able to support Havens Hospices by purchasing a map, downloading the app. You can find more details here
☀️8. Summer activities at Hadleigh Hub - FREE - Family activities every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday throughout the holidays. No need to book! More details coming soon.
☀️9. Just Ride Southend - Use the track and borrow any bikes of your choice for just £2.50 donation per rider - carers and parents of children riding are free and welcome to ride
☀️10. Southend Splash Fountains - FREE - Don't forget to take a towel and why not have a play in Poodles Park, directly opposite on the beach whilst you're there
☀️11. Craft activities with Hobbycraft Southend - £6 per activity, Hobbycraft are once again running their craft workshops, including Slime Making every Saturday in Southend.
☀️12. Leigh Community Centre events - £2 per child - BOOKING FAST -Join the community centre for lots of fun events on selected dates including Mad Science, Wild Science, penguin workshop, pirate theme arts and crafts, circus workshop, Terry's magic show.
☀️13. Kids activities at The Phabulous Cafe - Every Monday and Wednesday throughout the holidays, for £8pp, take part in activities from Egg box animal portraits, biscuit bling, Magnetic masterpieces, Wacky cone cakes and pizza making.
☀️14. Hadleigh bike park - FREE - With bike tracks for all ages, play areas and walking trails, you can easily spend a full day at Hadleigh Park
☀️15. Feel Good Festival 2025 - FREE - Sat 26th July - Event packed with Health & wellbeing stalls, fitness taster sessions, family-friendly activities, live entertainment, free bouncy castle, healthy food vendors and more!
☀️16. Big screen outdoor summer cinema - FREE - Just turn up, no need to book. Showing films every Saturday from 2nd - 23rd August outside The Forum in Elmer Square. Showing Shaun the sheep, Migration, Paddington and The Wild Robot
☀️17. Belfairs Woods events - £5.64pp - 30th July- Belfairs always have lots of events running including this particular event Belfairs Meadow bug hunt Using our special bug sweeping nets and tree beating equipment, we'll sweep through the grass, shake some tree branches, and see who we can find!
☀️18. Fruit Picking at Hilltop Farm, Benfleet - A local hidden gem! A bit of a different activity if you want to get out for a walk - Pick your own fruits from this lovely local farm. Check their Facebook before you visit for updated opening times and what fruit is ripe and ready!
☀️19. Trust Links Summer Fayre - FREE - 24th July - A free event in the community. Enjoy live music, explore the garden, bouncy castle, a variety of stalls, tasty food and much more
☀️20. Walk Southend Pier - £3.00 adults, £2.00 children - They also have a puppet festival event running from 1st-3rd Aug which is FREE (admission charges apply)
☀️21. LRBC Summer fun day - 27th Aug - Just £2 per child. A summer Fun day with arts and crafts, games and planting - All ages welcome but please book online.
☀️22. Garon Park Enchanted Fairy trail - £1 - From 28th July - Children (and Grown ups too) are invited to join an Enchanted Fairy Trail. Grab an activity sheet and tick off the fairy houses as you go. Receive a certificate at the end!
☀️23. Summer arts & crafts at Eastwood Community centre - FREE - 14th & 21st Aug - Join The art Ministry for summer arts and crafts. Suitable for ages 3-11 years.
☀️24. Bugs and butterflies summer trail - FREE - From 19th July - 31st August, head to Hadleigh Park and pick up a FREE summer trail booklet (or download the trail or print at home) and help your children find the animals hiding in the park. Have fun with the selfie boards and see what else you can find!
☀️25. Summer Community event at Garon Park - 20th Aug - £7 children & £3 adults. Held at the beautiful Wellbeing Park within Garon Park, with activities for all ages, food stalls, entertainment, and much more.
☀️26. Ecofest @ St Marys North Shoebury - Suggested donation £2 -26th Aug - EcoFest is back for the end of the summer holidays. Eco themed crafts, nature trail, Playstation VR underwater experience, science experiments, games, outdoor activities, refreshments and a picnic area - all set within an eco area with woodland and a pond. For children of all ages accompanied by parents/carers.
☀️27. Hadleigh Farm Rare Breeds Centre - Adults £6.20, Child 3-16 £5.00 Under 3's FREE. Animal feed is available to purchase on arrival for 50p per bag or 3 bags for £1.25. With animals, a play area and sand pit, you can certainly get a few hours of entertainment at the most local farm. Make sure to take a picnic as there is no cafe or refreshments on site besides ice-lollies/ice-cream! The tearoom next door is open at selected times but its currently bookings only
☀️28. Families growing together summer events £5 per family - Every Monday in Shoebury and Wednesday in Westcliff. Join Trustlinks for some forest school nature drop-in sessions suitable for 0-11 years. Activities include den building, crafts, bug hotels and fire-lighting.
☀️29. The Bread and Cheese Pub outdoor cinema - FREE - More details coming soon!
☀️30. Activities at Southend Libraries - FREE/£1 - As well as the Summer Reading Challenge, Southend Libraries often have a variety of free events running on selected dates. So far only this Summer craft event with just a £1 donation has been announced but this will be updated.
☀️31. Summer evenings at The Hive - £2 per child - Every Monday - Drinks and snacks are available for a small fee, you can also bring your own picnic 🧺We will have lots of fun activities alternating for the children, and adults too. Including Artery, toasting marshmallows, music and dancing, Stay and play toys, Swings & slides, Small soft play and more!
☀️32. The Destination @lakeside summer beach - FREE - Open daily 12-6pm - Summer Beach is back at The Destination @ Lakeside from 18th July along with a brand new Splash Landing Pool & Tipping Bucket! 💦☀️
☀️33. Canvey Miniature Railway - Just £1 for a single ride or 6 rides for £5.00. Open every Sunday
☀️34. Essex Fire Museum family days - FREE - 27th July, 19th & 31st Aug - Essex Fire Museum in Grays are holding a host of free family open days throughout summer. With museum trails, arts and crafts, fire safety room, old fire engines and water squirting. The museum is free entry but visits must be pre-booked as they are on the site of a working fire station.
☀️35. A day at the beach - FREE - We couldn't have a list of free activities in Southend without including a beach day! Check out our beach category for ideas on where to set yourself up for the day!
☀️36. Lego club sessions - FREE (Donations welcome) - With events running on 25th, 30th July and 21st August with 'Pirates of the Carribean' 'Stitch' and 'Grease 'themes.
☀️37. Cineworld £1 family films - £1 - Cineworld are offering tickets at £1 for selected shows throughout the summer. Our closest Cineworld is Festival Leisure in Basildon but definetly worth the travel for multiple ticket savings!
☀️38. Go Swimming at one of Fusion Leisure Centres
☀️39. Go Crabbing at Chalkwell Beach - FREE - If you don't fancy a full on beach day (or if the weather isn't suitable) why not go Crabbing instead? There's lots of spots perfect for it along Southend beaches.
☀️40. St Clements Church activity days - FREE - Noahs Ark - 30th July and Joseph and his wonderful coat - 27th August. Activities, games and refreshments included
Donations welcome
☀️41. Music in the park at Priory Park - FREE - Running every Saturday and Sunday until the end of summer from 3.00-4.30pm. Bring a picnic and a blanket. Have a wonder around the flower gardens, feed the ducks or head over to the play area.
☀️42. Open top bus ride - Be a tourist in your own town and sit on the top deck of the open top bus. £5.50 return for adults and £3.50 for children or get a day ticket £10 adults and £7 children and hop on and off as much as you like. (If you get on/off outside Lemon Witch on the Broadway, show them your bus ticket for 10% off all shakes)
☀️43. Feed the ducks at Southchurch Park - FREE - Remember bread is harmful to ducks so you could always take along some oats or cereal or pay £1.50 to buy some food from the eco-friendly duck feeder that was installed a few years back
☀️44. Take a picnic and head to a local spot from our Out and About Category- FREE - From parks, playgrounds, woods and nature reserves. Take your pick!
☀️45. Meadowcroft Garden Centre Crazy Golf - £3pp or £10 for 4 - Lovely garden centre with cafe and snack hut. They also have a small play area at picnic benches by the crazy golf.
☀️46. Spend the day at Shoebury Common Park and the beach - FREE - Our favourite park in Southend and perfectly situated close enough to the beach to get a change of scenery after lunch and grab an ice cream at Uncle Tom's on the way past. Great for all ages!
☀️47. Southend Family centre family activities - FREE - Click the link to see the full schedule. All siblings welcome except specific 0-2 classes.
☀️48. Visit Two Tree Island Nature Reserve - FREE - Two Tree Island is an ideal location for bug spotting and bird watching! Grab the kids a cheap bug hunting kit or make them a scavenger hunt and see what they can find!
☀️49. Ride the cliff lift - FREE - The shortest funicular railway, run by volunteers. Ok so this is a very short activity and isn't enough to fill the day but can be a good focus to get out of the house during the long six weeks holidays when you're desperately trying to find something different to do! Make sure you check opening times beforehand.
☀️50. Events at The Victory Inn pub - FREE - Various events all free including Meet Bluey 27th July, Sports day 2nd August and craft mornings every Wednesday throughout the holidays.
☀️51. Hockley Woods - FREE - Hockley Woods is always guaranteed to be a good day out. As well as the woods, you have the large play area and sand pits for before or after your walk!
☀️52. Play mini golf at Dinos Encounter Crazy Golf - 14 and under £4, 15+ £6. An 18 hole family friendly dinosaur themed crazy golf course which is suitable for children and adults of all ages. They also have a bar and large beer garden with a small slide for the kids. Weekends and summer holidays. Just turn up!
☀️53. Visit Hadleigh Castle - FREE - A perfect spot for the kids to let off steam and have a picnic.
☀️54. Superhero weekend at Adventure Island - FREE - This weekend all of your favourite superheroes, and villains, come down to Adventure Island and Sealife Adventure. Grab your dancing shoes and superhero powers and join on the greatest mission of all, the superhero treasure hunt around the park!
☀️55. Decorate a cupcake at Mrs Barnes Bakery - More details coming soon!
☀️56. Visit a museum - FREE Most museums are free or ask for a small donation. We have lots of local museums with some offering events such as Anglo-Saxon weekend at Prittlewell Priory.
☀️57. St Mary's horse refuge Rochford - 10th Aug - Admission by small donation. All welcome including Tombola, games, stalls, cake sale, vintage tractors and cars
☀️58. Hyland's Estate - FREE - Spend the day at Hyland's in their award winning castle themed adventure playground and with 574 acres of parkland, there's lots of space for walks/picnics and ball games. They also have an open day on 21st July.
☀️59. Hanningfield Reservoir - FREE - Hanningfield have a number of events taking place across summer. Or you could grab a map and follow the Wind in the Willow trail. At the Discovery Nature Centre, there is a cafe on site and a good sized play area near the car park.
☀️60. Maldon Promenade - FREE - The Promenade has everything you could want for a day out whether or not you choose to spend any money. With an impressive play area, sand pits, crabbing pool, skateboard park and BMX track. You can also pay for the splash park, which is a reasonable £3.25 for a 25 minute session for one adult and one child or you could visit Maldon Petting Zoo or the Adventure Golf.
☀️61.Stubbers Adventure Centre - For the admission entry fee of £3.50 adults and £4.50 children (FREE for under 5's), you get access to Adventure play areas with a young adventurers area and a bigger play area for the older ones, woodland discovery trail and sand play and paddle beach. All other activities have extra charges however you can certainly get away with not paying for activities with the amount of activities already included in the entry fee.
☀️62. Lathcoats Farm - PYO fruit (£4 entry but £2 off fruit purchased and just pay for the rest of the fruit you pick) or use the cafe or farm shop and customers get FREE entry to see the farm animals and ride on tractors. A really lovely morning or afternoon - If you want to pick you own fruit, make sure you book online!
☀️63. The Peter Rabbit trail at Langdon Hills Nature Reserve - FREE - You can complete the trail for free or grab a map for £1 from the Visitor Centre. There's woodland, meadows, lakes and a museum of Plotland Life. No play area unfortunately but a great cafe!
☀️64. Thames Chase - FREE - Follow the Gruffalo Party Trail completely free, by following the markers. You can buy an activity bag for £3 to complete some activities or take your own paper and crayons for the rubbing activities. Read our review here. There's also various activities running at Thames Chase over half term for an additional cost including Easter Box Decorating and Craft Wednesdays.
☀️65. The Gruffalo Trail at Thorndon Country Park - FREE - A firm favourite and you can follow the sculpture trail for free or pay £1 for a map. Cafe and picnic areas available!
☀️66. The Stick Man Trail at Weald Country Park - FREE - With over 520 acres of woodland, lakes, hay and wildflower meadows, deer park, kid's play areas, open grassland as well as the Stickman Trail, Weald Park is a great place for a day out.
If you have any free or low cost ideas you'd like to share with out parents, let us know here! Feel free to tag us in anything you do over the summer!
