HERE’s a breakdown of just some of the things families and kids can do in and around Manchester. These are favourites with the Confidential team, but if you have any suggestions please let us know in the comment box below the article and we’ll go along for a look.
Legoland | Barton Square, Trafford Centre
Legoland has plenty to keep the child in all of us entertained. With over two million lego blocks under one roof, that's a lot of models. Build the tallest tower you can then watch it come crashing down again on the earthquake tables, make your own lego racing cars then test out their aerodynamics on the speed track or just enjoy yourself creating your own weird and wonderful constructions.
https://www.legolanddiscoverycentre.co.uk/manchester
Play Factore | Trafford Quays Leisure Village, by Chill Factore
For some serious adventure come rain or shine, head to Play Factore. It's a fun-packed play centre with the tallest standing indoor slide in the world. Play Factore also serves up delicious, freshly-prepared food in their coffee shop and pizzeria, making it the perfect place for a spot of family-friendly lunch.
Sea Life | Barton Square, Trafford Centre
Whether you're a shark lover or a seahorse fanatic, a trip to Sea Life opens up an aquatic wonderland. It's educational too, but kids won't mind that; they'll be too busy getting up close and personal with a variety of rockpool creatures and being awestruck by Claude, the Giant Tasmanian Crab.
https://www.visitsealife.com/manchester
Haunted Underworld tour | St Ann’s Square, Manchester city centre
Strictly for the over 12s but great fun. Manchester’s premier ghost tour takes a trip into the dark under St Ann’s Square where the dank air comes alive with spooks and sprites. Great fun with added shivers, beware of shocks.
Steam Train Ride | MOSI, Manchester city centre
There’s countless things to do at the Museum of Science and Industry not least a ride on a real steam train around the site. But there’s also Experiment with lots of hands-on activities and a 4D cinema with moving seats, water spray and air jets.
http://www.mosi.org.uk/whats-on/steam-train-rides.aspx
Football 'skills' and Penalties | National Football Museum, Manchester city centre
The National Football Museum has superb displays but also lots of activities. Great fun can be had in the Football Plus section with twelve challenges to test visitor’s footballing skills. There’s the inevitable penalty taking opportunity but there’s all sorts of accuracy, dribbling and passing tests too. There is a charge to attempt the Football Plus challenges, the rest is free. You can log-on to the museum’s website after your visit and check your scores.
http://www.nationalfootballmuseum.com/families/plan-your-family-visit
The Vivarium | Manchester Museum, University of Manchester
There’s a lot of life in Manchester Museum despite all the mummies, fossils, stuffed animals, whale bones and dinosaurs, including Stan the huge T-Rex dinosaur. Upstairs, above the Natural History section, is an attractive gallery with a fabulous collection of snakes, lizards and frogs.
http://www.museum.manchester.ac.uk/collection/vivarium
The Playground, Pitch & Putt and Farm | Heaton Park
Despite the Hall being mothballed at present this park has some excellent features for kids. The pitch & putt is an uphill and down dale affair that is the best in the North West. The playground has excellent apparatus and distracts kids for yonks – nice ice cream too. The farm gets kids up and close with a range of animals, while families can work off energy with a walk up to the Temple, the highest point in the City of Manchester with glorious views.
http://www.heatonpark.org.uk/HeatonPark/What_To_See__Do/Default.aspx
Manchester Climbing Centre | Ardwick
This is superb facility with 76 climbing lines in a large and spectacular former church. There are loads of courses to get kids interested such as Little Monkeys for 5 and 6 year olds, Rock Its for 7 to 11 year olds, Hang Time for 12 to 17 year olds and Family Taster Sessions.
http://www.manchesterclimbingcentre.com
BMX Centre | Sportscity
This impressive facility, the biggest and best in the country, is for riders new to the sport and world class BMX athletes. The amateur BMX track is international standard, with a five metre start hill that runs into a range of jump configurations. Whether it’s just for fun or for budding Olympic athletes this is the perfect place to get pedalling.
http://www.nationalcyclingcentre.com/bmx
