199 things to do with children across the North West from 18 July to 2 September. Term dates are set council by council and school by school, so those are the usual North West dates rather than necessarily your own.
Holiday clubs, library sessions and park activities that cost nothing. Several councils also run free holiday clubs with a hot meal for children on free school meals, and those are worth asking your own council about directly.
Decorated pianos dotted around Liverpool ONE all summer, free for anyone to play. Five minutes of chopsticks between shops, or stay for whoever sits down next.
The libraries' free summer challenge - read six books, collect the stickers, finish with a certificate. This year's theme is music. The single cheapest way to fill the quiet days between days out.
Free arts and crafts on the floating village through the holidays, with a Saturday LEGO club until 22 August.
An urban beach on the park above Liverpool ONE with family rides and six weeks of entertainment. Sand in the city centre; bring a bucket.
Lifelike dinosaur puppets roam the museum with storytelling, crafts and sensory play on Wednesdays and Thursdays through the holidays.
Inflatables set up in the town centre square every day through the holidays. No tickets, no booking, and it is right next to the shops and cafes if you need a sit down.
Guided family nature sessions across two St Helens parks, aimed squarely at primary-age children and under-fives.
Starts at 10am to 12pm. Times, prices and tickets are on the organiser's own page.
Visiting main reserve, then landscape strip to the sea wall for botany, butterflies, dragonflies, bush-crickets & other insects & sea birds
Starts at 11am. Times, prices and tickets are on the organiser's own page.
Meet DJ Mu-Mu who will demonstrate the art of turntables and vinyl at our Read & Rave activity!
Join us for a family craft session at Chadderton Library.
Songs and stories for children under 5 and parents/carers.
Relaxed and informal Stay and Play at Wigan Library.
Join us at our weekly bounce and rhyme event.
Take part in a musical adventure and join the summer reading challenge too.
Join Jim Wallace for a fun and relaxed beginner ukulele session for children.
School holiday nature-based outdoor sessions for your little ones.
Join us for family crafts at Greenfield Library.
Baby Bubbles and Rhymes is a free interactive children's event aimed at children aged 0-5 years with the use of musical instruments and play activities such as parachute play and ball pool.
Perfect for 0, 4’s explore songs, rhymes, stories and sensory play in our Bounce and Rhyme sessions.
At baby clinic, families can discuss any health issues and have their child weighed and measured.
Join us for this fun and interactive performance Betty is a beekeeper-in-training and is very excited to get started… but her bees have all disappeared!
Join us for this fun and interactive performance Betty is a beekeeper-in-training and is very excited to get started… but her bees have all disappeared!
Starts at 10am. Times, prices and tickets are on the organiser's own page.
Drop in, pick your favourite bricks and build anything that takes your fancy.
This is a free, dop-in session with no booking required.
Join our playful sessions and meet new friends, explore the library spaces, learn new rhymes and songs and enjoy some sensory play in our Bounce and Rhyme Sessions.
Come and join the fun at Limehurst Library’s Lego Club.
Come and join the fun at Northmoor Library’s Lego Club.
Join us at Central Library for a fun and interactive craft workshop where we will be making princess hats.
Come and join the fun at Limehurst Library for our monthly craft activity.
The opening event of Warrington's Wednesday programme, with sports, creative workshops, live music and games across the park.
Join us for a family craft session at Lees Library.
Join us for a family craft session at Northmoor Library.
Traditional rides, face painting, bike stunt shows, sports sessions and crazy golf, all free. The busiest of the town centre sessions and the one with most for older children.
All the free events56 more not shown here
A Pokemon trading-card trail through the Tudor hall's gardens: find the giant cards, scan the codes, battle the boredom. Runs to early September.
The North Park becomes a Play Hub with giant deckchairs, den building, log piles and lawn games, plus Pokemon play zones this year. Runs right through to the first week of September.
A prehistoric trail winding through a garden centre, with interactive stops along the way. The most talked-about local event of the summer by a wide margin.
Decorated pianos dotted around Liverpool ONE all summer, free for anyone to play. Five minutes of chopsticks between shops, or stay for whoever sits down next.
The libraries' free summer challenge - read six books, collect the stickers, finish with a certificate. This year's theme is music. The single cheapest way to fill the quiet days between days out.
Free arts and crafts on the floating village through the holidays, with a Saturday LEGO club until 22 August.
An urban beach on the park above Liverpool ONE with family rides and six weeks of entertainment. Sand in the city centre; bring a bucket.
Extra shows, storytelling and activities added to the usual treehouses and zipwires for the summer. Reviewers put the sweet spot at ages 2 to 10.
Water play and outdoor games in a walled garden. Free if you already have National Trust membership, which makes it one of the better value days out if you do.
A Winnie the Pooh trail through the gardens, pitched at the under-sevens. The estate farm runs its own summer activities alongside it.
A wolf-pack sculpture trail around the wonkiest Tudor house in England. Cross the moat, count the wolves, and let the hall's crooked floors do the entertaining.
Lifelike dinosaur puppets roam the museum with storytelling, crafts and sensory play on Wednesdays and Thursdays through the holidays.
Walk through a pair of giant lungs, meet a supersize brain and follow the digestive system to its logical conclusion. New gallery, runs to December.
Inflatables set up in the town centre square every day through the holidays. No tickets, no booking, and it is right next to the shops and cafes if you need a sit down.
Hands-on farm activities on the Tatton estate, separate from the parkland and the Pooh trail. Barns mean it survives a wet forecast.
Garden games, trails and play activities across the Tudor estate for the summer holidays.
Guided family nature sessions across two St Helens parks, aimed squarely at primary-age children and under-fives.
Starts at 9.30am. Times, prices and tickets are on the organiser's own page.
Starts at 10.30am. Times, prices and tickets are on the organiser's own page.
Starts at 10.30am. Times, prices and tickets are on the organiser's own page.
Every month on the first Sunday of the month.
Grange Wildlife Watch group meet once a month on a Sunday morning.
Starts at 10am to 12pm. Times, prices and tickets are on the organiser's own page.
Visiting main reserve, then landscape strip to the sea wall for botany, butterflies, dragonflies, bush-crickets & other insects & sea birds
The first Sunday of the month is our Praise Service with the emphasis on musical worship.
Our Sunday services are for all ages and we cater for those who are 0-90+.
Starts at 2.30pm. Times, prices and tickets are on the organiser's own page.
Runs on 5 dates. Times, prices and tickets are on the organiser's own page.
Runs on 12 dates. Times, prices and tickets are on the organiser's own page.
Runs on 48 dates. Times, prices and tickets are on the organiser's own page.
Starts at 11am. Times, prices and tickets are on the organiser's own page.
Meet DJ Mu-Mu who will demonstrate the art of turntables and vinyl at our Read & Rave activity!
Join us for a family craft session at Chadderton Library.
Runs on 6 dates. Times, prices and tickets are on the organiser's own page.
Runs on 6 dates. Times, prices and tickets are on the organiser's own page.
Songs and stories for children under 5 and parents/carers.
Runs on 6 dates. Times, prices and tickets are on the organiser's own page.
Relaxed and informal Stay and Play at Wigan Library.
Runs on 6 dates. Times, prices and tickets are on the organiser's own page.
Join us at our weekly bounce and rhyme event.
Take part in a musical adventure and join the summer reading challenge too.
Join us for our monthly pre school meet at Foulshaw Moss nature reserve.
Join Jim Wallace for a fun and relaxed beginner ukulele session for children.
Starts at 10am to 2.30pm. Times, prices and tickets are on the organiser's own page.
Runs on 5 dates. Times, prices and tickets are on the organiser's own page.
School holiday nature-based outdoor sessions for your little ones.
Runs on 14 dates. Times, prices and tickets are on the organiser's own page.
Join us for family crafts at Greenfield Library.
Baby Bubbles and Rhymes is a free interactive children's event aimed at children aged 0-5 years with the use of musical instruments and play activities such as parachute play and ball pool.
Come along and enjoy rhymes, singing, musical instruments and bubbles.
Runs on 6 dates. Times, prices and tickets are on the organiser's own page.
Runs on 6 dates. Times, prices and tickets are on the organiser's own page.
Perfect for 0, 4’s explore songs, rhymes, stories and sensory play in our Bounce and Rhyme sessions.
Join us at our weekly bounce and rhyme event.
At baby clinic, families can discuss any health issues and have their child weighed and measured.
Join us at our weekly bounce and rhyme event.
Join us for this fun and interactive performance Betty is a beekeeper-in-training and is very excited to get started… but her bees have all disappeared!
Join us for this fun and interactive performance Betty is a beekeeper-in-training and is very excited to get started… but her bees have all disappeared!
Starts at 10am. Times, prices and tickets are on the organiser's own page.
Starts at 11am. Times, prices and tickets are on the organiser's own page.
Everything on, whenever139 more not shown here
Every town with something dated coming up, busiest first.
Councils and libraries publish their holiday programmes late, often only two or three weeks ahead, so this page grows as the break gets closer. It rebuilds every time we collect, and every listing says who it came from.