indoor
- Manchester Art Gallery are running 'Kids Aloud!' sessions throughout the summer where kids can be as noisy as they want while exploring the gallery. Explorer toolbelts are also available to borrow.
- Manchester Museum amongst the usual great stuff available, there's the 'Cat that Slept for a Thousand Years' exhibition - a giant 10m long inflatable cat. Think my 2 kids will love this. It's free, but ticketed so book in advance.
- Manchester Libraries are doing their usual Summer Reading Challenge as well as free holiday activities and food for those that qualify for free school meals.
- Home MCR are showing various family films throughout the summer, the wonderful Creativity Corner will be open throughout where you can pop in to draw, craft, read a story or dress up and Creative Tiny Humans will be on for it's monthly session run by our favourite Phoebe Foxtrot. This group has been our favourite thing to do for me and my littlest June so this will be a sad goodbye session before she starts school!
- People's History Museum have a couple of lovely free events and activities. Make an origami peace dove, follow the Pride Trail or join in with the Music is Hope Guitar trail around the city, you can download the app here.
- Z-Arts has an array of storytelling, plus activities based around The Mad Hatters Tea party with a special event on Fridays 8th & 29th August and also and Adventures in Wonderland immersive experience.
- The Lowry has a FREE exhibition 'Quentin Blake and Me', featuring a collection of his work as well as interactive games to play and opportunities to draw your own stories. Although it's free it is ticketed so be sure to book. I loved Roald Dahl stories as a kid and my eldest has just started reading a few so will be sure to take them to this.
- And the theatre is playing 'A Squash & a Squeeze' from Friday 8th - Sunday 24th August.
- The Museum of Science & Industry still has it's 'Operation Ouch! Brains, Bogies and You' on.
- Salford Museum have a whole host of workshops on offer from kaleidoscope, worry doll & bookmark making to stained glass pictures and nature watercolours.
- Mother Zen is a gorgeous space in the heart of Ramsbottom. Owner Tori and her team are so welcoming. Over the summer hols there's lots on offer with creative summer holiday sessions for little ones to 8 years, as well as the usual play and cafe and they're even doing Reception class socials for different local schools for parents and kids to get to know each other! What a brilliant idea and something I would've jumped at the chance for with my first!
- Swimming Don't make the same mistake as me - kids can swim free during the holidays!
- Cinema Another error made! Although it does explain why all the Cineworlds were booked up - they're offering £1 cinema tickets for family films!
- Pets at Home - Pet Pals workshops We've already been along to one of the summer sessions at our local store. There's (rightly so) no handling of the pets, but the kids get to learn about the animals, get a bit closer and feed them. We fed the guinea pigs, rabbits and fish. A great free little outing, but must be booked in advance. They come away with a little activity pack of puzzles and colouring.
- Kitchen disco - this is always a hit! June's favourite is Girl on Fire by Alicia Keys!
- Do some baking - our favourites are power balls, copy-cat Millie's cookies and beetroot brownies. All incredibly easy but delicious.
- Play dates - always leaves the house trashed but offers a little bit of peace!
- Stockroom, Stockport. On my 'to go to' list. From Storytime, Lego club, Dungeon Crawlers, Summer Drop-in - lots to do for all ages. And there's the SmileyWorld Art trail round the town too.
- Board games - our current favourites are Pass the Pig, 6 second scribbles, The shopping Game, Zeus on the Loose and Labyrinth.
- Science experiments - loads to choose from online that use standard kitchen stuff. One of our favourites was lava lamp making.
- Treasure hunt older kids could make their own clues, younger ones could just find hidden objects - one of our lockdown games with Frank at 4 was to hide a load of dinosaurs that he had to find.
- Read - either together or, my favourite and now possible with my 9 year old 'Book chills' where you read your own book, but snuggled up on the sofa together.
- Room clear out - hated by all but feels so good after and often unearths a long lost toy or game.
- get crafting - glue, glitter, feathers etc...everyone loves a craft! Loads of ideas on Pinterest!
- Stop-motion animation - download the Stop Motion Studio app, grab some lego or modelling clay and get movie creating!
outdoors
- Guess How Much I Love You at RHS Bridgewater is on throughout the summer as well as other options like woodland, habitat and tree trails.
- Music is Hope Guitar trail around the city, you can download the app here.
- National Trust have various things on. Tatton Park have 'We're going on a Bear Hunt' trail, Lyme Park have their 'Summer of Play' programme as do Quarry Bank Mill.
- Whitworth Art Gallery - Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays throughout August plus Saturday 23rd August the Colour Studio, an outdoor studio is open where you can make natural paints, create a painting and take it home.
- Jodrell Bank has lots on offer - Rocket Lab (stomp and air-powered rockets), Ted's Space Adventure, Discover the Dish, Telescope Talks, Space Crafts, Science Busking, Meet the Astronomer and the last weekend i August the Royal Society Summer Science Exhibits on Tour! You need to buy an annual ticket, but we got one last year and have felt the number of visits have given good value.
- Summer of Fun at The Printworks - a giant sandpit with deckchairs beneath Europe's largest digital ceiling with free interactive games.
- Chester Zoo It's a pricey day out but also pretty magical.
- Trip to the beach - Formby and Crosby are our faves.
- fly a kite - Frank has an eagle on which has a particularly impressive shadow!
- Rochdale's 'Side-by-Side' festival, 20th-27th August. You can take part in hands-on activities, learn about wildlife, watch shows including The Wizard and the Mechanic and explore big ideas like re-wilding – making more space for nature to grow wild and free. Free tickets are available for most events or for a very small fee of around £2.50
- Picnic - makes any park trip more fun!
- Make big bubbles - June's childminder always had incredibly huge ones and revealed the secret ingredient is glycerine - available in supermarket baking aisles.
- Paddling pool - hugely nostalgic fun when the sun's shining!
- Hide & seek
- Fruit picking - we do this when we go on our Cotswold camping trip and all the kids love it - great fun and a tasty pudding! Kenyon Hall Farm is always a good shout.
- Sunflower farm - Kenyon Hall also has sunflowers, as does Dunham Massey Ice Cream Farm which has an interactive trail as well as ice cream!
- Planting flowers, herbs, veg.
- Treasure Trails - recommended by my neighbour and pal Sadie who has kindly shared a discount code of SPY25 for 25% off all the Spy themed trails! We'll definitely be checking them out.
- Camping - check out my blog 'Camping with Kids' for some tips for camping with the littles as well as my FREE PDF Camping pack with a checklist and recommendations for campsites near Manchester.
- Outdoor art - some back yard fun - chalk, leaf painting, bark rubbing etc.
- Bug hunt - June loves a snail hunt!
- Litter picking
- Geocaching is a digital treasure hunt found by GPS. Once you've found the cache, a small waterproof box, you can leave a message, take a trinket someone has left and leave your own!
- Mystery Guides - we did the Manchester one and it was fab - puzzles to solve, clues to crack and loads to learn about the city - would definitely try another city!
- Train trip - pop to a different city and check out what they have to offer in the hols - Liverpool is close and has loads of interesting stuff on the waterfront. Could be combined with a Mystery Guide!
kids eat for free in mcr guide!
For when you can't deal with another snack request!
I'll update this list if I find anything else that looks good but for now I hope you've found it useful! I've also got a fun photo based activity blog 8 Photo Challenges for kids which includes my downloadable scavenger hunt below - ideal for a wet day indoors or a nature walk! And if you'd like to join my mailing list for more photography tips and discounts, subscribe below!
