Each guide answers one question parents search for, from free things to do in Liverpool to where to take a football mad eight year old, and every place in it links to a listing with checked prices, ages and hours.
Written by a local parent, built from the places we have checked, updated when the data changes.
Take the ferry over, do the science museum in the terminal, the beach and soft play at New Brighton, the free farm on Bidston Hill and finish with the walk round West Kirby Marine Lake. One trail, mostly by train, with…
Crosby's 100 iron figures, Formby's pinewoods and dunes, Ainsdale's drive on beach and Southport at the end. How to do the Sefton coast in a day…
A safari park, a Shakespeare theatre in Prescot, a free glass museum, a 20 metre head on a slag heap and some of the best value swims and soft play…
The museum gallery built for under 6s, the soft play with a baby area and an all day rate, the free farm with flat paths, the tiny railway and the…
Fresh air, views back to the Wirral and a summit a six year old can conquer. Moel Famau in the Clwydian Range has been a Merseyside family tradition…
Liverpool's museums are free, world class and, crucially, have galleries made for small children. Here is which museum suits which age, from the…
Twelve family days out across Merseyside that come in under £20 for two adults and two children, with the prices from the venues' own websites and…
Beaches, a free farm, a science museum and a village with a free gallery, all a Merseyrail ride from Central. Which station, how far the walk, and…
Seven farms and animal days out within an hour of Liverpool, with what each costs, which ones need booking and which let under 3s in free. Includes…
Liverpool's Victorian parks are free, enormous and mostly brilliant, but the difference between a good afternoon and a bad one is the playground,…
The first year is about logistics. Here are the days out across Merseyside where the lift works, the changing table exists, the paths are flat and…
It is Merseyside, so it is going to rain. Here is where to go when it does, sorted by what it costs: the free museums with family rooms, the cheap…
Nine soft play and indoor play centres across Liverpool, Knowsley, St Helens and the Wirral with the actual prices from their own websites, the age…
Southport is the seaside town forty minutes up the line with a water park, a free museum, two Green Flag parks, a beach you can drive onto and the…
Over the water by train, tunnel or ferry, the Wirral has two coasts, four country parks, a children's science centre in a ferry terminal and the…
Top division football, family crowds, early kick offs and junior tickets that cost less than the programme. Where Liverpool FC Women and Everton…
Museums with rooms built for under 6s, parks with proper playgrounds, a farm with meerkats that runs on donations and a beach in every direction.…
Liverpool's waterfront is a mile of free things a child can hunt for, from the two birds on the Liver Building to the museum with a gallery just for…
Anfield and the new Everton stadium on the river, the museum with the six European Cups, the park between the two grounds and the cheapest way to…
Churchtown's Botanic Gardens are free, Victorian and full of things small children can hunt for, from the old bridge to the fernery. The bird and…
Forget tickets and queues. There is a proper wild animal adventure in the pinewoods at Formby, 30 minutes from Liverpool by train, and all it needs…
Spooky trails, pumpkin patches and indoor scares, in date order.
Prices and hours come from each venue's own website on the day we checked them. Always confirm before you set off.
