21 places in Trafford, Greater Manchester, 3 of which cost nothing. Everything below is within easy reach if you live locally.
Trafford is where the indoor big-hitters cluster. Around the Trafford Centre you can pick from Legoland Discovery Centre, Sea Life, real snow at the venue everyone still calls Chill Factore, iFLY's wind tunnel and Inflata Nation. Play Factore is one of Europe's biggest soft play arenas, with a zip wire crossing the whole building, and older primary kids do not age out of it.
The catch is cost: almost everything here is a paid day, so book online and go off-peak where you can. The exceptions are worth knowing about. Dunham Massey's fallow deer walk right past you in the park. The Man United Stadium Tour is the pilgrimage for the football-obsessed. Rain is irrelevant in this borough, which is more or less why it exists.
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.
Trafford's largest municipal park, and the rare one that has thought about age gaps: a playground for little ones opposite the cafe, climbing nets and zip lines for eight to fourteens further up. Also a Pets Corner and disc golf.
A 52 acre lake inside 152 acres of Mersey valley parkland, with a flat circuit that suits scooters and buggies. There is a cafe and a watersports centre where over-sevens can try paddleboarding and sailing.
A community-run centre in Urmston with a sensory room alongside the soft play, split above and below four. £7 a child and £1.50 an adult, and you can still pay on the door on weekdays, which almost nobody else does now.
Two 18-hole mini golf courses threaded through life-sized dinosaurs next to the Trafford Golf Centre driving range. A family of four plays for £32, and the second course is half price on the same day.
Role play rather than climbing frames: a vets, a supermarket, a petrol station and an aeroplane, in 80 minute booked sessions in the middle of Altrincham. For the child who narrates everything.
Bowling on 18 lanes, more than 100 arcade games and dodgems in The Orient at the Trafford Centre. Early bird bowling is £7 a game each before 1pm. The arcade is where the real money goes.
Two indoor 18-hole adventure golf courses over two levels, next to the Odeon at the Trafford Centre. One round is £9.25 for ages 5 to 16 and £6 for under-5s, and weekday early birds get two for one.
The council's under-5s soft play session at Stretford, £3.45 for an adult and a child including juice and biscuits. The cheapest indoor hour in Trafford by a distance.
Three tiers of frame, a sports court and mini quad bikes in Trafford Park, with unlimited play on weekdays and a hard two-hour limit at peak. Autism-friendly sessions monthly.
A two-level main frame with a climbing wall, an aerial glider and a disco room, a sensory room for babies, and non-playing adults at £2.75. Priced by age, so a one-year-old is not charged like a nine-year-old.
A Georgian house in a deer park where the fallow deer wander right past you, with one of the UK's largest winter gardens for the cold months. The house shuts for the winter after 1 November; the park and gardens stay open.
Freefall in a glass wind tunnel, no plane required. Kids can fly from age 3, and a first-timer package buys two instructor-held flights of just under a minute each. Short, expensive and unforgettable, roughly in that order.
A Trafford Park warehouse rebuilt as an inflatable ball park: ball pits round an erupting Ballcano, a double tipping slide, an obstacle course and 11 metre slides, with a mini arena for under 4s. Louder and bouncier than soft play, and priced accordingly.
Two rides, a 4D cinema, build zones and Manchester's skyline done in miniature bricks. Squarely aimed at 3 to 10, and it knows it: adults can only visit with a child.
The full Old Trafford works: three floors of museum, then the players' tunnel, the dressing room and the dugouts on a 70 minute guided tour. Plan around the fixture list, because it all shuts on home match days.
Home to what it bills as the UK's largest indoor play frame, with laser tag, ValoJump trampolines, a racing simulator and a zip wire that crosses the entire building. Older primary kids do not age out of this one.
Themed auto-belay climbing walls, a high ropes course, a vertical drop slide and a multi-storey soft play, in the Snow Centre building on Trafford Way. Climbing from age 4, and a morning toddler climb-and-play session for under-fives.
Ocean tunnel, rays, seahorses and rockpool touch sessions, sized for smaller legs - you can do the whole thing in a morning and pair it with Legoland next door.
Real snow all year round at the venue Manchester still calls Chill Factore. Over-fours get the Snow Park with sledging, Downhill Donuts and an ice slide at weekends and in the school holidays; older kids can learn to ski or board on the UK's longest indoor real snow slope.
An indoor 450-metre karting track with a flyover on Wharfside Way, for drivers aged 8 and up. Watching from the bar is free, parking is free, and race prices only show when you book.
5 dated events coming up, 3 of them this weekend.
Halloween build challenges, glow in the dark brick workshops and the Great Monster Chase 4D film back in the cinema. The toilets there are shut for a refit until 22 October and the nearest ones are on floor 4 of the Trafford Palazzo, which is better known before than during.
A trail round the tanks helping the Sea Witches and Warlocks protect the creatures, with characters, photo spots and a small pumpkin patch, all in a normal ticket. Under 2s free. The Cursed Depths nights on 30 and 31 October and 1 November are the after hours, scarier version and a separate thing.
Two-hour Halloween parties in the soft play: a pumpkin hunt, fancy dress, a UV disco with glow sticks and a spooky gift each, with face painting at the Friday and Saturday ones. Sunday's is an SEN party, and one adult or carer goes free per booking.
A mile-long light trail through the gardens after dark, in its tenth year, with projections on the house, a festive fairground and a glimpse of Father Christmas. Parking has to be booked with the ticket, and food, drink and rides all cost extra, so budget past the ticket price. Quieter 4pm sessions run on 27 November and 1, 7 and 30 December.
Skaters, aerialists and circus acts on ice in Gandeys' heated big top at the Trafford Centre, a new production after five sell-out Christmases. Hot food and drinks are sold on site, and it pairs easily with a shopping trip, though a seated show asks more of a toddler than a grotto does.
Not in Trafford, but close enough for a day out.
Treetop nets, high ropes and forest tubing in the woods of Heaton Park, and it is outdoors, not indoors. The cheap one is Treetot Nets: an hour bouncing on nets in the trees for ages 1 to 5, from £5, with a grown-up joining in.
A big lake with easy flat paths, bird hides and a decent play area. Free, close, and a good one for scooters and a picnic.
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.
One of the biggest garden projects in Europe, and more fun for kids than a flower garden has any right to be: a huge walled kitchen garden, lake walks, and space to run that feels endless.
Watch jets take off close enough to feel them, with Concorde parked by the fence. Free in, pay for parking, and there is a play area and cafe for the wait between planes.
One of the biggest municipal parks in Europe: a free animal centre, a boating lake, playgrounds and enough space to lose a whole day in. You will not do all of it in one visit.
One email a week: what is on this weekend within a sensible drive, and the places worth booking before they go.