Free LEGO dinosaur trail in Harrogate from 1 August

If you are still scratching your head over how to fill the summer holidays without spending a fortune, Harrogate has a simple answer ready. From Saturday 1 August, the town centre turns into a free LEGO-themed hunt called the Dinky Dinosaurs Trail, with 13 large-scale LEGO dinosaur models hidden at businesses and venues across the centre. It is organised and fully funded by the Harrogate Business Improvement District, so it costs nothing to take part, which is exactly the point for families on a budget during the school break.

The game is straightforward. You pick up a trail map from The Crown Hotel or Games Crusade on Oxford Street, then set off to find the dinosaurs. At each one, you scan a QR code and collect a letter, and once you have them all you can piece together a secret word. Hand the completed map back to Games Crusade to claim a small prize, and you can also enter a prize draw on the Harrogate BID website to win a £50 Harrogate Gift Card. It is designed to be accessible to people of all ages, so it works as well for toddlers as it does for older children.

The dinosaurs are spread out, which is half the fun. The Crown Hotel carries two of them, and the others are dotted around the Turkish Baths on Parliament Street, the Victoria Shopping Centre, Wetherspoons, Jespers and Games Crusade on Oxford Street, Artizan Café on Cambridge Road, Bettys, the Primark window on Oxford Street, the Yorkshire Soap Company on James Street, Otto Café and the Everyman Cinema on Albert Street. That spread is deliberate, as Bethany Allen, Operations Manager at Harrogate BID, puts it: "By placing the dinosaurs across the town centre, we're encouraging visitors to discover different streets, support local businesses, and enjoy everything Harrogate has to offer during the summer holidays."

There is some nice work going on behind the scenes too. The Crown Hotel is sponsoring the trail again, and the models themselves were built in partnership with Fairy Bricks, a charity that makes unique LEGO creations and donates sets to children in hospitals across the UK. Dan Siddle, General Manager at The Crown Hotel, described it as "a fantastic event that brings families into the town centre, supports local businesses and creates a real buzz throughout the summer holidays."

Because it is free and spread across the centre, it is an easy one to drop into whenever you happen to be in town, rather than something you have to plan a whole day around. Whether you make a proper outing of it or just hunt a couple of dinosaurs while you are doing the shopping, it is a low-effort way to keep children entertained. For the full list of locations, the trail map and the prize draw entry, the Harrogate BID website is the place to go. It is a genuinely easy, free activity that turns a bit of wandering around town into a game, which is about as stress-free as summer holiday planning gets.