Prescot's playhouse, home to the Cockpit Theatre and a Studio, programmes for families all year rather than just at Christmas. Baby Bards runs every Tuesday this autumn with stories, letters and phonics for the very small. There are short touring shows too, like Big Bad Wolf on 17 October: 40 minutes, ages 4 to 11, told from the wolf's side.
October half term adds two workshops, Shakespeare From Scratch for 8 to 13s and Shakespeare's Monsters. Christmas brings three shows at once, including A Very Messy Christmas, a 40-minute sensory clowning show for 0 to 4s in the Studio at 10am, 12pm and 2pm. Pricing on that one is pay what you decide, which is a nice touch.
Without a ticket there is the piazza, an exhibition space and the Sir Ken Dodd Performance Garden, and guided tours run through the autumn.
What it costs: Priced per event. Big Bad Wolf (17 October) is £12 to £15; the Christmas under-fives show A Very Messy Christmas is pay what you decide, £5 to £30; the one-day Shakespeare From Scratch workshop for 8 to 13s is from £18.50. Baby Bards prices were not listed.
Baby Bards is a 45-minute story and early phonics session for 18 months to 4 years at Shakespeare North Playhouse, every Tuesday until 15 December. £6 covers a child and one adult, with no booking fee.
The playhouse's main Christmas show: a foot-stomping musical Christmas Carol set in a pub, where landlord Scrooge has banned music and laughter until the spirits come up from the cellar at midnight. Age guidance is 7 and up, so this one is for the older children.
A 40 minute interactive sensory Christmas show for ages 0 to 4 from Colour The Clouds Theatre Company: Eve likes calm and tidy, then a mysterious box lets festive chaos loose. Clowning, music and magic in the small Studio, and pay what you decide pricing from £5.
A 45 minute Christmas show for ages 3 and up from Wrongsemble and Gala Durham, about a boy who wants to be the fairy on top of the tree and has a lot of doubting baubles to win over. Live music, puppets and noisy storytelling in the Studio, over Christmas and New Year.
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A small play centre in the old Prescot Gospel Hall built for under-fives, with a role-play street, a soft play house with slides and a ball pool, and a baby corner. Weekday mornings only, closed Tuesdays, and adults go in free.
Drive through the reserve from the car, then the sea lion and birds of prey shows. Reviews are split on value, and several warn that families expect a full zoo and find fewer headline animals, so set expectations first.
8,000 square feet of frame over four tiers on a Prescot business park, built round a 20ft rocket, with a 25ft spiral slide, spinning poles and an elevated football pitch.
Knowsley's free local history museum, upstairs in Prescot Shopping Centre next to the library: watchmaking, pottery and coal mining, plus a kids corner with quiz sheets, trails and an apothecary chest to rummage in.
Bring the bikes or you will see one playground and go home. Knowsley's biggest park at roughly 220 acres, either side of Pottery Lane in Whiston, with playgrounds, a cycleway, a fishing pond and an outdoor gym.
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