Soft play & indoor play in Trafford

Seven of them, and the price range runs from £3.45 to about £14 a child, so it is worth knowing which is which before you set off. Play Factore has the biggest frame in the country with a forty metre slide and charges accordingly. Inflata Nation next door is inflatable rather than soft play, which suits a different sort of child entirely.

For value, Antz In Your Pantz in Timperley prices by age band and lets non-playing adults in for £2.50, which two parents will feel. Adventure Forest in Trafford Park gives you unlimited play on a term-time weekday instead of the usual two hours. The cheapest by a mile is the council's Tiny Teds session at the Chester Centre in Stretford, £3.45 for an adult and a child including juice and biscuits, though it is under-5s only and four mornings a week.

Two are not really soft play at all. Little World in Altrincham is a role play town with a vets and a supermarket, made for the child who narrates rather than climbs. Cheeky Cherubs in Urmston is community run with a sensory room, and outside the holidays you can still just walk in and pay on the door.

Soft play & indoor play in Trafford

Cheeky Cherubs

Trafford~25 min

★★★★☆4.4(220)

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.

£7 a child, adults £1.50IndoorsAges 0-8

Little World for Scholars

Trafford~25 min

★★★★★4.6(188)

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.

£9.95 a child, one adult includedIndoorsAges 1-7

Tiny Teds Soft Play, Stretford

Trafford~30 min

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.

£3.45 for an adult and childIndoorsAges 0-4

Adventure Forest

Trafford~25 min

★★★★☆4.2(691)

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.

£10.45 off peak, £13.90 peak, adults £4.75IndoorsAges 1-11

Antz In Your Pantz

Trafford~25 min

★★★★☆4.2(748)

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.

£8.25 to £13.50 a child, adults £2.75IndoorsAges 0-10

Inflata Nation Inflatable Theme Park Manchester

Trafford~25 min

★★★★☆4.2(3,037)

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.

£14.99 an hour, under 4s £7.99IndoorsAges 2-12

Play Factore

Trafford~25 min

★★★★☆3.9(1,973)

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.

£13.95 to £21.95 a child, adults £5.25IndoorsAges 4-11

Soft play & indoor play elsewhere in the North West

Giggles Play Mill

Warrington~10 min

★★★★☆4.2(164)

Two-tier soft play frame, low climbing wall, pirate ship, crawl tubes and a bouncy slide, plus Messy Monday and sensory sessions during the week.

£6.75 a child, adults freeIndoorsAges 4-8

Jellybeans Play Centre

Warrington~15 min

★★★★☆4.3(504)

Bigger than the average soft play: multi-level frame, a spooky room, an astro slide, a climbing wall, two mini bowling lanes and a slot racing track. The bowling is what makes it work when you have a toddler and a seven-year-old to keep happy at once.

£6 off-peak, £12 at weekends and half termsIndoorsAges 4-9

Fun2b

Warrington~10 min

★★★★☆4.2(200)

Straightforward multi-level soft play with a café that adults can actually sit in. Nothing fancy, reliably works.

Session priceIndoorsAges 4-8

Tenpin Warrington

Warrington~10 min

★★★★☆4.2(1,663)

Soft play plus bowling under one roof, which solves the two-different-ages problem in a single trip. Ask for the barriers if anyone is under about six.

Per game / sessionIndoorsAges 4-11

Play & Sensory Centre

Warrington~10 min

★★★★★4.5(16)

A council-run play centre in Woolston built for disabled children and adults and anyone with additional needs, with a sea-themed soft play, a calm zone, a pre-school area and a full sensory room with a hoist. Sessions are booked in advance.

Price not listedIndoorsAges 4-8

Holiday Clubs (HAF)

St HelensIn town

★★★★★5.0(17)

Funded holiday clubs with food included, ages 4 to 18, for families on benefits-related free school meals. Worth a look even if you assume you won't qualify.

Free if eligibleIndoorsSchool holidaysAges 4-11