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Things to do with kids in Manchester

6 family-friendly places in Manchester: zoos, aquariums, playgrounds and more.

Ranked with the travel guide's picks and well-known places first.

Things to do with kids in Manchester

  1. SeeSouth

    Baguley Park

    Small play area for children surrounded by large grass areas and housing.

  2. SeeUniversities

    Manchester Museum

    Manchester University's own museum is like a mini version of London's Natural History Museum and boasts real dinosaur skeletons (including Stan the T-Rex), Egyptian mummies, and architect Alfred Waterhouse's huge taxidermy collection, begun in 1888. Especially interesting is the Manchester Vivarium, the only legal zoo in Manchester, with the largest and most important collection of tree frogs in the world. Free; except for temporary exhibits - prices vary.

    Daily 10AM-5PM

  3. EatVictoria-Shopping District

    Sweet Mandarin

    Authentic family-run Chinese restaurant. Excellent reputation and well established. Licensed.

    Sun-Thu 5-10:30PM, Fri Sat 5-11PM

  4. SeeThe Quays

    The Lowry

    This award-winning modern building contains two theatres and a large art gallery, with many works by L.S. Lowry (1887-1976). When he was 22 his family moved from a leafy suburb to Pendlebury, an industrial district of Salford; he detested but then became fascinated by its landscape. Initially he tried to paint in the Impressionist style but the results were gloomy, so he took to using a flake-white ground, and populated the scenes with his characteristic "matchstick men". He also secretly painted the disturbing "marionette" works, only found after his death, and only displayed on request.

    Sun-Fri 11AM-5PM, Sat 10AM-5PMGallery is free

  5. DoThe Quays Not mapped

    Legoland Discovery Centre

    Smaller than the Legoland theme parks. It is aimed at children aged 3–10, and even more surely at their parents' wallets.

  6. DoThe Quays Not mapped

    Sea Life Aquarium

    Part of Merlin Entertainments, which also runs the Blackpool Tower and Madame Tussaud's. It has a large range of habitats and creatures.

Listings from the Wikivoyage guide to Manchester (CC BY-SA 4.0).