Smithills Open Farm
A proper hands-on farm day: bottle feeding, donkey rides, a tractor trailer tour and small animal handling, with enough under cover to survive drizzle. Built for the under-9s.
That Fun Place at Jump Xtreme
Bolton, Greater Manchester
Jump Xtreme is the trampoline park: over 115 interlinked trampolines, a dodgeball court, an airbag for stunts. That Fun Place is the soft play that shares the building, and together they solve the problem every family with a four-year age gap has, which is that one child's perfect day is the other one's afternoon of being told to wait.
There is a mini trampoline area for under fours and a tots session in the week, so the small end is properly catered for rather than tolerated. The cafe runs 10am to 6pm daily. Parking is free and there is plenty of it.
Prices are not on the website; they live inside the booking system, and the soft play and the trampolines are ticketed separately. Sort that out at home, not in the queue.
Know before you go
- This is the answer to the mixed-age problem. Soft play for the small one, the main trampoline arena for the big one, one car park and one cafe.
- Soft play and jumping are booked separately, so check you have the right ticket before you get there.
Looking for more soft play & indoor play near Bolton?
Also in Bolton
Bolton Museum
A free town museum hiding one of Britain's best Egyptian collections, including a full recreation of Thutmose III's tomb, plus an aquarium in the basement. Genuinely free, genuinely good.
Moss Bank Park
Bolton's big free family park: two decent playgrounds, a miniature railway, a seasonal funfair and The Hive, a Wildlife Trust nature-play garden that charges £2.50 a head and is worth it for under-sevens.
Queen's Park
Bolton's restored Victorian park: a proper playground with a mini zip line and a sand pit with a toy digger, a cafe with public toilets in sight of it, and the River Croal running through. Free, including the Spa Road car park.
Playtopia
Bolton's biggest recent soft play opening, with a sports court and a gym room alongside the frame. Adults are a pound, which is the number that decides where you go on a wet Tuesday.
Party and Play Funhouse
An independent at Westhoughton with an outdoor play area as well as the indoor frame, go karts on top, and a baby sensory room for the under ones. Free parking.