40+ things to do with kids in Manchester for summer 2026

Giving your kids a 90s summer is definitely a mood this year. So get lost in Sega and SNES at Arcade Club Bury. And when the heatwave hits, it’s air-conditioned.

The nature gallery may be partially closed for maintenance, but the impressive Egyptology collection is always a big draw – especially if your kids are studying pharaohs and pyramids next year.

The Carrs is a large park on the edge of Wilmslow with a mix of riverside walks and open grassy areas as well as footpaths leading to Quarry Bank Mill. Amenities include a picnic area which is particularly popular in summer thanks to its proximity to a sandy beach where the River Bollin meanders through the park. There’s an island to wade out to, steps to jump off and the water is usually deep and slow-moving enough for a paddle.

Go-karting is good but what about actually being Pac-Man? At Chaos Karts you can do both. Being chased by ghosts round a virtual maze – the family will still be talking about this by next summer holiday.

As well as all the usual cute animal fun, Cockfields Farm Park is putting on more of its popular Sunset Parties with K-Pop Demon Hunters on Saturday 25 July and a Taylor Swift tribute on Saturday 8 August.

Dino Falls Adventure Golf is the only landmark kids care about in Manchester. You can’t miss the volcano and huge dinosaurs as you drive past on the M60. Go early to miss the crowds.

Summer of Play means as well as the great outdoors, Dunham Massey has family activities on every day during the holidays. From Movement Mondays with Street Style Surgery dance sessions to Yoga Wednesdays, it’s not what you might expect from the National Trust.

Personally, I think the gentle jolting of a steam train journey is excitement enough. If your little ones think otherwise, East Lancashire Railway are putting on a series of family fun days. They include visits from Peppa Pig, Thomas the Tank Engine, K-Pop characters, baby dinosaurs and a team of wacky wizards.

With its steep South-facing Alpine rock garden, Fletcher Moss is a scenic spot for a picnic. Unless your kids are budding botanists, use it as a gateway to Stenner Woods where you can go pond dipping or play hide and seek. Alternatively, book a tennis court for some Wimbledon-inspired fun.

Enjoy a free day out at Gallery Oldham with oil paintings, ammonites and historical artefacts. Bring some pencils and a sketchbook and kids will happily while away the hours (or at least 30 minutes) sketching details from their favourite paintings.

If rain stops play, kids can still burn off plenty of energy at Graystone. This super-welcoming adventure sports centre offers open sessions which give access to everything, from the climbing wall to the skate ramps. Alternatively, book an evening coaching session. Freestyle gymnastics, scooter club and BMX club are just some of the classes available.

Greene’s Bistro & Parlour is a modern airy cafe in a converted public toilet in a park in Uppermill. The ice cream is top level. If you’re entertaining kids in the summer, get a cone to take away and go for a paddle. The River Tame flows through the back of the park, with the fun of stepping stones (falling off is always more exciting) and a small pebbly ‘beach’ to launch into some shin-deep splashing.

There’s lots to do for kids, including the free-entry animal centre which is home to chickens, goats, pigs, rabbits, alpacas, peacocks and some much-loved rabbits. There are also two play areas; head for the newer adventure playground near the boating lake.

Anyone with kids knows Bluey. Why not play a hi-tec version of Floor is Lava at Immersive Gamebox Manchester? It’ll keep your sofas intact as long as you don’t mind paying for soft furnishing peace of mind.

Yes, it’s sweaty but kids are going to run around no matter what the weather is like. At least you can cool them down with a slushie afterwards. Inflata Nation has recently had an upgrade so check out the squishy climbing walls, super slides and bouncy basketball – the easiest way to jump high enough for a slam dunk.

Jodrell Bank isn’t just for the summer – tickets get you year-long entry. There are dome shows aimed at kids you can buy as an add-on but it’s the whispering dishes that gets them giddy. Watch your little scientists transmit profound thoughts like ‘poo’ and ‘bum’ across the ether.

Junkyard Golf offers something a bit more out there than your standard seaside fare. It’s guaranteed to appeal to teens and tweens and the family tickets are good value.

Kickair brings together kicking activities and bouncing into the air activities in one slightly manic place. The Crossover Pass allows kids to experience it all: trampolines, inflatable adventures, ninja challenges and football.

Well worth the drive. The Camp Knowsley summer activities easily outshine similar programmes with survival skills and bushtucker challenges. Knowsley Safari Park’s biggest thrill is driving through the monkey enclosure. Watch cars being shredded by cute little simian vandals and know that you too are going to be calling in at Halfords on the way home. Only wimps swerve this part of the day.

The vibe at Lane 7 in the Great Northern on Deansgate is part Blade Runner, part early MTV – it’s grungy, edgy and a little bit dystopian. But the experience is slick and professional with fast, friendly service. Air hockey and basketball are popular if expensive add-ons you don’t need to book.

Legoland Discovery Centre is Manchester’s ultimate Lego playground. Enjoy a mix of hands-on Lego construction activities and theme park-style entertainment. Take on tower building challenges on the earthquake tables, create aerodynamic cars to race, or play with intergalactic Lego sets in the Space Mission area.

With the exception of the summer dance workshops, The Lowry’s holiday calendar is more aimed at tots than teens. Upcoming shows include In The Night Garden, Dear Zoo, Disney’s High School Musical, Bobby Seagull’s Escape from Ancient Egypt and CBeebies House Party.

This summer you can enjoy children’s archery on the top lawn at Lyme Park. However, the best activities are the walks around the estate – you can take in both The Cage and The Lantern in one folly-filled wander with a picnic part way round before finishing off in Crow Wood Play Area.

Mam Tor is one of the highlights of the Peak District. It’s a relatively easy climb even with young children. There’s a lovely circular walk which takes in the steps up to Mam Tor and its trig point then follows the ridge path to Hollins Cross before descending and walking along Broken Road. Kids will love the twisted tarmac shapes of what was once the A625.

The play gym sessions are popular in the summer holidays. It’s a bit of a free-for-all, with kids getting to try their hand at all sorts: from trampolines to rings to just diving in to a big pit of shredded foam. You have to book in advance and it’s a bit of a rigmarole but persevere.

At the Manchester City Stadium Tour you get to go behind-the-scenes at this world-famous football club. Get fully immersed in the magic with an audio-visual show in the home team changing room and walk down the players’ tunnel.

The Summer Superbugs Trail is a free activity at Manchester Museum that’s good to have up your sleeve for rainy days. Of course, perennial favourites like Stan the T Rex and the cute but deadly little frogs in the Vivarium are always worth a look.

See Old Trafford stadium while you still can. The best way to experience it (aside from watching a game, of course) is to go on the behind-the-scenes Manchester United Museum and Stadium Tour. Highlights include the players’ tunnel, the managers’ dugout and the trophy room.

Manchester city centre is an urban desert when it comes to greenery. Mayfield Park isn’t large or lush if you want to touch grass but it has some of the best play equipment for kids and public toilets too. The slide over the water is the big draw but actually the steep chutes are faster and more fun.

MeetspaceVR Manchester is a virtual reality, immersive experience in a huge warehouse at Trafford Park. It’s a place where you can leave the real world behind and choose your own adventure from a range of thrilling games and set-ups. The VR Quest Arena is best for first-timers or younger players.

Do something wheelie good this summer with a programme of bike bootcamps at Manchester’s National Cycling Centre. Younger children can develop their balance bike skills or learn to ride a bike without stabilisers. More proficient cyclists can brush up their BMX skills or have a go at track cycling.

Build on that World Cup excitement with a trip to the National Football Museum. The Play Gallery is the interactive part with Pass Master and Shot Stopper. Watch out for extra charges for the Penalty Shootout.

The Northern Light Cinema is a world away from your nearest multiplex. Local picturehouses like this make movies more accessible (I’m currently lining up my third visit in as many weeks) but with comfortable velvet seating, it also feels like a luxury despite being much better value than the major chains.

Ordsall Hall has plenty of Tudor activities over the summer holidays. Get involved in storytelling and craft sessions, wild-flower crown making, printing workshops and beeswax candle-making.

Oxygen’s Passport to Play offers unlimited bouncing throughout the summer holidays for £35. If July and August are a washout after so many heatwaves, it might not be a bad idea.

Cool down with an open ice skating session at Planet Ice in Altrincham. It’s the easiest rink to get to from Manchester when all the festive pop-ups have shut up shop.

Quarry Bank has more National Trust Summer of Play activities including a butterfly obstacle course and puppet shows. When the sun shines, follow the path along the river and look out for the natural muddy beaches. Perfect for a paddle or learning to skim stones.

Summer means Farm Fest at Reddish Vale Farm. If Glastonbury is your idea of a festival, think of this as Worthy Farm on a fallow year. Groom a pony, meet goats, cuddle rabbits and go on a tractor ride. There is a foam party every afternoon though and you can buy tickets for a Swift & Styles tribute evening.

This summer RHS Garden Bridgewater has a Lego explorer trail of nature scultpures to spot, hidden among the flowers. There’s also a Lego creation station although it is marketed as generic brick-building. Maybe they haven’t cleared it with the Danish behemoths of play?

Rock Over Climbing Sharston is the newest climbing centre from the respected Rock Over group – and it’s one of the friendliest, most colourful, and inclusive climbing spots around. The centre offers a range of regularly-changing bouldering routes of all levels from very easy beginner routes which are graded as VB through to testing climbs of V7 and above. Book a family induction if you’re not used to climbing because unless you’ve booked a lesson, you need to be confident supervising children yourself.

The big three at Manchester’s Science and Industry Museum are the interactive gallery, Experiment, Power Up, the retro gaming celebration and Horrible Science: Cosmic Chaos. This last one is the inspiration behind a series of space-themed summer workshops including space junk percussion and an astronaut draw-along.

Sea Life Manchester is the city’s only aquarium. It isn’t enormous – for something bigger you’d have to travel to Blue Planet in Ellesmere Port – but there is plenty to keep the kids entertained for an afternoon. The Ocean Tunnel is my highlight; watch sharks, stingrays and sea turtles swimming overhead. 

Tatton Park is a National Trust property but also sort of not. Members still have to cough up for parking and no longer receive a discount at the farm. The farm is good though with pig racing a hilarious highlight and the play area at the farm is small but packed with balancing and climbing activities. Back at the main estate, kids love the maze – based on the one at Hampton Court.

Type ‘Rubber ducks Derbyshire’ into Google and your first result is this place – handy if, like us, you keep forgetting its name. Thornbridge Estate is an independently owned, quirky, good-value alternative to a National Trust day out.
The gardens are best-known for their fountain filled with hundreds of rubber ducks. Kids love splashing around with them in summer or fishing them out with nets.

Total Ninja’s main selling point? It’s always cold. If you’re not a middle-aged mum, you may also appreciate the inflatable air park which has been recently reconfigured (but isn’t as good according to my junior testers) and the ninja obstacles. Size-wise most of these seem to have been designed with 10s and over in mind but that doesn’t stop younger ones launching themselves at the equipment and having a good try.

The Whitworth always does a fantastic job with its free summer holiday provision – it’s probably the best of the city’s museums and galleries at keeping small kids entertained in an educational but not too obviously educational way. This year, there’s a chance to join in weaving and embroidery with activities both inside and out.

Wythenshawe Park is so much more than just a playground and a bit of green space. For a start, there’s a lot of green space and the playground is one of the better ones. There’s also a farm and almost as much cycling action as the velodrome. Check out the punp track, BMX tracks and forest trails for different abilities.

If you’re looking for a fun way to get outside and get active, try Zip World Manchester at Heaton Park. Face your fears on a high-rope aerial adventure in the woods. Depending on the age of your kids, choose from the full trek or mini trek and the treetot nets or the treetop nets. Forest tubing is the new activity for 2026.