Things to Do in Dorset for Families During the School Holidays

 Looking for fun things to do in Dorset during the school holidays? You’re in luck! From beautiful beaches and wild country parks to charming villages and historic sites, there’s something for every family in Dorset — whether you want to keep the kids busy, make memories together, or simply appreciate the magic of your home county. 

🍦 Spend Time at Our Amazing Beaches 🍦

Did you know Bournemouth Beach and Weymouth Beach made it into Tripadvisor’s Best Beaches in Europe for 2025? (Yes — we’re up there with the world’s finest!)

✅ Bournemouth Beach — Miles of sand, traditional amusements, ice cream stands — perfect for children and families!
✅ Weymouth Beach — Shallow waters, sheltered sand, and plenty of space for games. More of a traditional seaside town
✅ Studland Bay— Much quieter than it's Bournemouth and Poole neighbours - great for a more restful family day by the sea. We particularly love Knoll Beach. Look out for the ice cream boat! 

Knoll Beach, Studland

🍉 Outdoor Adventures  🍉

Looking for something more energetic?
✅ Dorset Adventure Park (Corfe Castle) — Water slides, an assault course, and lakes to splash in — a wild day for children and adults alike!
✅  The Alpine Adventure Park at Snowtrax offers swings, trampolines, super slippy slides, and much more including a pirate ship situated on it's own island— perfect for children who love a bit of a challenge.

🦉 Get Closer to Nature 🦉

✅ Brownsea Island — Take a short ferry ride from Poole Quay and discover peacocks, red squirrels, secluded beaches, and rich wildlife — a magical adventure for children!
✅ Blue Pool — Wander through this tranquil spot near Wareham, where a dramatic pool glows blue and green, surrounded by heathland and forests — a wonderful opportunity for children to connect with nature. Look out for their special events throughout the year, we love visiting at Halloween! 
✅ RSPB Arne Nature Reserve — Amazing trails, rich birdlife, deer, and beautiful views — a perfect spot for a family wildlife adventure in Dorset. 

Blue Pool

🍃 Enjoy Our Country Parks 🍃

✅ Moors Valley Country Park and Forest — Amazing trails, a miniature railway, high-ropes course, playgrounds, a lake, and it's very own Gruffalo  — perfect for children of all ages!
✅ Avon Heath Country Park — Miles of walking trails, wildlife spotting, a children’s play area, and plenty of space for a picnic with the whole family.
✅ Upton Country Park — Stroll through beautiful gardens, explore the woodlands, let the children burn off energy at the large playground, or enjoy a cream tea in the well stocked cafe afterwards

The Gruffalo at Moors Valley Country Park

 🐷Fun for the Whole Family 🐷

✅ Farmer Palmers Farm Park — Petting sessions, bouncing castles, a dinosaur trail, ride-on toys, and much more — a classic Dorset family day out during the school holidays! (Plus the cakes in the Hen House cafe are 10/10!)
✅ Monkey World — Home to over 250 rescued primates — a wonderful blend of education and entertainment for children of all ages.

Meeting a new friend at Farmer Palmers

🦕 5. Dig Into History — And Some Fossil Fun! 🦕

✅ Lyme Regis  — The Jurassic Coast is a UNESCO World Heritage Site — grab a fossil hammer, go fossil hunting with your children, and uncover ancient creatures!
✅ Charmouth Beach and  Heritage Coast Centre — Learn alongside your children about dinosaurs, ancient creatures, and their stories — and then go and explore the rock pools where you might find your very own ammonite to take home

Fossil Hunting on the Jurassic Coast

🎪 Local Festivals 🎪

Dorset really knows how to throw a family-friendly festival — and summer is bursting with music, magic, and muddy knees (the fun kind). Here's what not to miss during the school holidays in Dorset:

✅ Poole Harbour Festival (25–27 July) — Amazing food trucks, live bands, children’s entertainment, and a chilled holiday-like atmosphere — a perfect Dorset festival for families!
✅ Camp Bestival (31 July - 3 Aug) - The ultimate family festival! Think glittery wellies, circus tents, Mr Tumble, fireworks, fancy dress parades, big-name bands, and a dedicated kids’ field full of crafts, theatre shows, and activities. This one’s family festival royalty — a proper bucket-list experience!
✅ DorsetFest (27–28 June) – A charming folk festival in the countryside with live music, craft stalls, children’s games, storytelling, and plenty of space to run wild.

Camp Bestival - Dorset's biggest festival

Whether you're a local looking to rediscover your favourite spots or planning brand new adventures with the kids, Dorset is packed with unforgettable experiences this summer. From beach days and castle explorations to nature trails, festivals, and fossil hunts, there’s something to excite every kind of family. So pack the buckets and spades and get ready for a Summer full of fresh air, fun and memories that’ll last long after the school holidays end.

Our February Half Term

January seemed to drag on forever and it felt like half term would never arrive! But finally it was time to relax...I say relax in the loosest sense as we had an action packed week planned. But still, there was no school run!

Here's what we got up to..

Abba Workshop / Upton Country Park

The first day of the holidays saw us having a split day - I spent the day with my choir on an Abba Workshop which was brilliant fun! The children had a day with Paul which was nice as they don't get to do it without me very often. The weather was a bit drizzly but he took them out for a long walk to a place called Upton Country Park. It's somewhere we love visiting and it's great because it's walking distance from our house, and there is always something fun to do!

He did make me laugh though, he packed a picnic for the kids but said they were still hungry and wanted something else....welcome to my life hah! Always blimmin hungry! 

Winchester Science Centre

This is fast becoming Elliot's favourite place to visit, in fact he's been there three times since December! We went along to review the half term activities and we had a brilliant day. There is so much to do and is definitely a full day out. Erin loves it too, she's too young to understand the science behind the experiments but give her a button to press and she's happy! 

Jawsome Sharks at Weymouth SEA LIFE Adventure Park

We've recently become Blogger Ambassadors for Weymouth SEA LIFE and it's somewhere we really enjoy visiting. The kids were looking forward to taking part in the Jawsome Sharks event and I was looking forward to seeing the Fairy Penguins - who are extremely cute by the way! 

We had lunch in the nearby pub too and they had a soft play area which was fab - more pubs should have this! It meant the kids weren't getting bored waiting for their food, and I got a few minutes of peace while they were off exploring. Not so easy getting them to leave though ;)

Dodging the showers at Kingston Lacy

Kingston Lacy is very popular at this time of year with thousands of people visiting to see the beautiful snowdrops. It certainly seemed like most of Dorset were there the same time as us judging by the number of cars in the carpark and queues in the cafe! 

It was a funny old morning with lots of sunshine and torrential showers but the kids didn't care about the rain, they just had lots of fun playing with their friends. We did have a muddy incident though...Erin decided that stomping in it wasn't enough and she ended up sitting in a very thick muddy puddle!

Looking for Zog at Moors Valley Country Park

Moors Valley is always a great place to visit as there are acres of forest to explore with lots of play trails along the way. There is also the brand new Zog trail! We didn't do the full trail which involves purchasing an activity pack from the information centre but we enjoyed spotting the Zog pictures along the way. 

We went with a couple of our friends and the children had a brilliant time playing on the wooden play areas. Thankfully we had no mud incidents although Elliot did manage to split his welly boots! 

Seaside Fun in Swanage

The weather looked lovely for Friday so we headed down to the seaside town of Swanage with some friends. Unfortunately the weatherman got it wrong and we drove into Swange in thick mist! It was pretty chilly too so not quite the warm Spring day we were hoping for. Never mind, we had lots of fun playing in the park, spending all our 2ps in the arcade - we even went to Wimpy, how retro! 

After lunch we decided to let the kids have a play on the beach - but it took them all of 5 seconds to get wet in the sea! Elliot's legs were drenched and his brand new wellies were full of water! Fortunately we had spare clothes and hypothermia was averted. They loved it though!!

Geocaching in our local area

On the last day of the holidays the sun was shining again so we decided to head out for a bit of Geocaching. If you've not heard of Geocaching before, it's a great activity that goes on all over the world and is basically a bit like a treasure hunt! 

We drove to a nearby village and followed a very muddy track that led us to several caches. Elliot was really excited to find his first geocoin too! 

The weather was absolutely gorgeous - mad to think that this time last year we had snow! 

So that was our half term holiday -nice and busy just as we like it! We did have a couple of days where we didn't go out and just chilled out at home - we all needed to recharge our batteries and it was nice not to have to rush out anywhere. 

We're on countdown to the Easter holidays now!