World Museum, Liverpool, Liverpool

Five free floors covering the three things small children reliably love: dinosaurs, an aquarium and a space gallery, plus a bug house and Egyptian mummies. One of the best free family museums in the country, and it knows what it is doing with school-holiday programming.

Do not attempt all five floors. Pick two, do them well, and leave wanting more - it is free, so coming back costs nothing.

In the school holidays the museum leans into families hard: daily activities on the programme and the aquarium in the basement quietly doing the work of an attraction that would charge £15 elsewhere. The dinosaur gallery and the bug house remain the two rooms children drag adults back to.

It shares William Brown Street with Central Library next door, whose spiral atrium and children's floor are the best free pairing in the city. Museum until everyone flags, library for the wind-down, and the whole day has cost you lunch.

Know before you go

Five floors is too many for one visit - pick dinosaurs, aquarium or space and come back for the rest.
The planetarium shows are free but ticketed on the day. Get them at the desk when you arrive, not when you remember at 2pm.

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What visitors say

★★★★★ 4.6 across 16,054 Google reviews.

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The word this month

What people are actually posting about this place. Checked 2 August; videos play from the creator’s own account.

@visitliverpool_ on Instagram: Free things to do with kids in Liverpool this summer: come face-to-face with giant dinosaurs, dive beneath the waves in the Aquarium, and blast off into the Space Gallery.

@theguideliverpool Liverpool's World Museum knows the heat is on when it comes to keeping the kids happy throughout the holidays, so there's loads for families

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