Museums & science Liverpool
Hands-on museums and science centres. Several of the best ones are free.
Most of these are free, and that is why a wet week in Liverpool can cost almost nothing. World Museum has five floors covering dinosaurs, space and an aquarium in the basement. Museum of Liverpool has an overhead railway carriage to climb into and a hands-on gallery for under sixes. The Walker is far better with small children than a fine-art gallery has any right to be, Central Library's spiral atrium is worth going in for even if you read nothing, and the Victoria Gallery and Museum up the hill from Lime Street is small enough to do properly in an hour.
Further out, Sudley House in Mossley Hill is a free Victorian merchant's house with a room of old toys, and Williamson's Tunnels in Edge Hill runs free volunteer tours down a sandstone chamber four storeys deep, booked by email, for children who can manage an hour and a half on their feet. The Beatles Story, the Anfield tour and Western Approaches are the museums that charge, and Anfield sells out, so book it weeks ahead. The Maritime Museum and the International Slavery Museum are closed for redevelopment, and National Museums Liverpool has not published a reopening date.
Two theatres make the list, and they are one company in two buildings. The Everyman on Hope Street has the Rock 'n' Roll Panto from mid November into January, and every Saturday from September to July its Street Cafe hosts Mini Maestros music sessions for under-fives. The Playhouse in Williamson Square gets the picture-book shows, Sir Charlie Stinky Socks at the end of October and then the Very Hungry Caterpillar, Pip and Posy and Zog next spring, so check which building is on your tickets.
The spiral atrium is one of the most spectacular free interiors in the North West, the children's floor is genuinely brilliant, and the rooftop terrace looks across the city. Rainy-day Liverpool's best-kept non-secret, next door to World Museum.
The city's story with an overhead railway carriage to climb aboard and Little Liverpool, a dedicated hands-on gallery for under-6s. Free, on the waterfront, and the window views are half the fun.
A Victorian merchant's house in Mossley Hill with Turners on the walls and, upstairs, a childhood room of old toys and a small world room. Free, quiet and an hour well spent on a grey afternoon.
The University of Liverpool's own gallery and museum, five minutes uphill from Lime Street, free and small enough to do properly in an hour. Open Tuesday to Saturday, going to six days a week from 5 October 2026.
Free, grand, and far better with small children than a fine-art gallery has any right to be, thanks to Big Art for Little Artists, a whole gallery where they are supposed to touch things.
Volunteer-led tours of a four storey underground chamber in Edge Hill, dug back out by the people showing you round. Free, booked by email, Wednesdays and Sundays only, and best for children old enough to listen for an hour and a half.
Five floors, free, and it covers three things small children reliably love: giant dinosaurs, an aquarium and a space gallery. The best wet-weather day within half an hour.
The self-guided tour takes you through the home dressing room, down the tunnel past the This Is Anfield sign and out pitchside, with the club museum included. For a football-mad child it is a pilgrimage. For anyone else it is £77 for a family walk round a stadium.
Wall-to-wall Beatles under the Albert Dock, with an audio guide narrated by John Lennon's sister and a hands-on Discovery Zone at weekends. Brilliant if your kids know the songs, a long ninety minutes if they don't.
A hundred rooms of reinforced concrete under Exchange Flags, where the Battle of the Atlantic was run, left largely as it was. Children under 16 cost £1. Two floors of staircases, no lift, no pushchairs.
The Hope Street theatre with the rock 'n' roll panto also runs Saturday music mornings for under-fives in its cafe from September to July. The picture-book shows happen at its sister theatre, the Playhouse, across town.
The Victorian theatre on Williamson Square is where the Everyman and Playhouse put their picture-book shows: Sir Charlie Stinky Socks at the end of October, then The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Pip and Posy and Zog in spring 2027. Hour-long shows, the right length for a first theatre trip.
Closed. The Maritime Museum and the International Slavery Museum next door are shut for essential maintenance ahead of a major redevelopment that National Museums Liverpool says is subject to funding, and no reopening date is published. The Albert Dock around them is still worth the walk, and the city's other national museums are free and open.
An indoor illusion attraction on Duke Street, all on one level: upside-down rooms, mirror mazes, puzzles and photo illusions. Families usually spend about an hour. Open daily 10am to 5pm with timed entry.
Free to get in and better than it sounds: hands-on stations on glass, lenses and fibre optics, a Victorian street and the old Tank House, with live glassblowing around midday and 2pm for a small extra charge. Closed Mondays and Tuesdays.
Hands-on science galleries and a glass rooftop observatory over the Mersey. Small, indoors and close, with one gallery shut for a rebuild until early 2027.
Working steam engines, the story of Cottonopolis, and hands-on galleries in the world's oldest surviving passenger railway station. Free, and the live demonstrations are the bit kids actually remember.
A T. rex skeleton cast, live frogs in the vivarium, Egyptian mummies and a genuinely good natural history floor. Free, university-run, and less overwhelming than the big London equivalents.
Shirts, trophies and match footage across four gallery floors, with a penalty shootout and skills games that football-mad kids refuse to leave. If yours do not care about football, skip it: it is exactly what it says.
War told through people's stories in a building designed to feel like a shattered globe. The hourly Big Picture Show projections fill the whole gallery and stop everyone mid-step. Heavy themes, handled well, and better for the top end of primary.
One email a week: what is on this weekend within a sensible drive, and the places worth booking before they go.