Rhyme times, toddler sessions, stay and play and everything else that genuinely works with a pre-schooler across the North West.
A free wolf-spotting activity round the wonkiest Tudor house in England: the wolves have wandered off and the children have to find them. Cross the moat, count the wolves, and let the hall's crooked floors do the entertaining. Normal admission applies.
A free exhibition at Lowry built round picture books like Elmer and Dear Zoo, with play areas for under 7s. It closes on 1 November, so half term is the last chance. Free, but book a timed slot.
Six miles of lights along the prom from the big switch-on night to early January. Drive it, walk it, or catch a heritage tram through the middle of it, which is the version kids remember.
Halloween build challenges, glow in the dark brick workshops and the Great Monster Chase 4D film back in the cinema. The toilets there are shut for a refit until 22 October and the nearest ones are on floor 4 of the Trafford Palazzo, which is better known before than during.
The Clubhouse marks 25 years of Room on the Broom with a Halloween dance party and the chance to meet Witch. Costumes encouraged. It is included in normal admission, which is from £12 a child.
A trail round the tanks helping the Sea Witches and Warlocks protect the creatures, with characters, photo spots and a small pumpkin patch, all in a normal ticket. Under 2s free. The Cursed Depths nights on 30 and 31 October and 1 November are the after hours, scarier version and a separate thing.
Luke Jerram's seven-metre glowing moon hangs in the cathedral for the whole of October, with children's workshops and pyjama parties on the programme. Entry is by donation, suggested £5 an adult or £12 a family, and daytime visits need no booking. Sunday opening is only 12 to 2.
A Halloween trail through the Brockhole woods with six character stations to find. Collect a letter at each one, work out the secret word and claim a Halloween gift bag (colouring book, crayons, a snap band and a maze book) back at Minty Land. Built for 2 to 8 year olds at £3 a child.
A Halloween storybook trail through the woods round the lakes at Culcheth, billed as spooky, not scary, and made for families and 'little adventurers': help Victor the Skeleton and Luna the Witch break the Skeleton King's curse. Pram and wheelchair friendly. Early bird tickets are £2 off, infants need a ticket too, parking is £5 booked ahead, and the cheaper early dusk slots from 5.20pm suit small children best.
The whole farm, indoors and out, plus a new Pumpkin Village this year: pumpkin mountains, archways and displays of gourds you did not know existed, and a Sorcery School twice a day. Pumpkins are not in the ticket, so agree a budget before the wheelbarrow comes out. Under 1s free.
The treehouses, zip wires and wobbly bridges as normal, plus Twig or Treating with the characters, a spooky disco, face stencils and a Glowing Light Trail as the sun goes down. Open until 6pm so the light trail is the finale. A limited number of tickets carry 25% off on every date, so the first to book pay least.
An evening walk through 15 acres of woodland lit with glowing pumpkins, with live characters along the way, now in its tenth year. Billed as gentle thrills rather than frights, with marshmallow toasting at fire pits and real owls to meet. Most families spend an hour and a half to two hours; you pick an entry time when you book.
Halloween at the theme park built for the under 12s: a fancy dress street parade, Gilly's Spooky Dance Party, the Monster Mansion Mine and character meet and greets on top of the usual rides. Costumes and colour rather than jump scares, which is the right way round at that age.
A Halloween trail round the aquarium with challenges, a pumpkin patch and a reward at the end, plus Serafina the Sea Witch at weekends and in half term. Included with admission. Separate, scarier After Dark evenings run on 24, 25, 30 and 31 October for older children.
Radcliffe Library's Monday rhyme time carries on at New Life Church, 10.30am in term time, while the library is closed for its move into the new Radcliffe Hub. Cost is not stated on the council page.
Free drop-in storytelling for 2 to 5s at Bolton libraries, running through school holidays. Bolton Central is Wednesdays and Fridays at 11am; Farnworth, Horwich, Westhoughton and others have their own weekly slot.
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.
Two free regulars at Bolton Central Library: Baby Time with songs every Tuesday from 10.30am to 11.30am, and Saturday Storytime at 2pm. No booking needed for either.
Stay and Discover at Keswick Museum, a story with Becky and Digby followed by a creative session for under 5s. Free, one booking per family, every term time Wednesday.
A free half hour of stories for under 5s at Stockroom, the new library in Merseyway. Every Wednesday at 11am. It is free but they ask you to book so they know numbers.
Little Explorers at Tullie in Carlisle, a gentle themed session for under 5s and their grown up in a different gallery each week. Children free with an adult ticket. Book ahead.
Little Wanderers at Wordsworth Grasmere, free songs, stories and play for under 5s inspired by Dove Cottage. Term time Thursday mornings, just turn up.
Free Rhyme and Chat Time at Bury Library on Thursdays in term time, 11.30am to 12.30pm, aimed at early speech and language. No booking. Use the ramp opposite the Job Centre and staff will let you in.
Tiny Tales is creative play, stories and songs for under 5s in the Everyman's Street Cafe, Thursdays at 11am until 17 December. £6 covers one adult and up to three children. Book through Teeny Tiny Theatre.
Bookstart Bear Club at Rochdale Central Library on Fridays in term time, 9.45am to 10.30am, for toddlers up to pre-school. Free, but book a ticket per child. Children collect stamps in a Bookstart passport.
An interactive outdoor art installation for half term: step through a series of mysterious doorways to find local folklore, old traditions and ghost stories. The listing gives no separate price, so assume normal Lyme admission until the National Trust says otherwise.
Spooky World's daytime version at Apple Jacks Farm, aimed at younger children with no scare attractions. Open 10am to 4pm on selected October dates and daily in half term. £15.50 over 90cm, with a free pumpkin each.
The Zoo vs You Top Trumps trail round the Islands zone, pumpkin sculptures, and an exclusive card to take home for finishing, all included in an ordinary zoo ticket. Nothing extra to book and nothing that will give anyone nightmares. Face painting is the one thing charged on top.
A movement class for 1 to 5s and their grown-ups at The Met in Bury, Wednesdays 1.30pm to 2.30pm until 16 December, with no session in half term. £4.50 a session. Good for burning off energy indoors.
Batilda the witch has dropped her potion ingredients all over the house, and children hunt them down room by room for a small prize. Recommended from age 3; adults pay normal house admission.
A clue trail round the village aimed at 3 to 10 year olds, five pounds a map with a spooky reward at the end. Entry and parking at Blakemere are free, so this is about as cheap as a Halloween outing in Cheshire gets, provided you can steer round the shops.
Liverpool's free light art trail along the waterfront, running right through October half term. Not fireworks, but a better fit for children who find bangs too much. Nightly times were not published when we checked, so look before you set off.
Scarecrows all round the gardens and woods, themed this year on pop stars and music legends. Included in admission, and closed on Wednesdays and Thursdays. Through October there is also Stranger Folk, an app-based folklore quest with goblins and other creatures lurking round the house and gardens.
Half term at the aquarium with spooky trails, activities and skeleton scuba shows in the tanks, plus the odd ghoul wandering about. Indoors and warm, which counts for a lot in the last week of October. The page prints no year, but those dates only fit this year's half term.
Pick up a trail sheet and hunt down the ten Grumpy Pumpkins round the museum grounds and woodland, each guarding an ingredient the Witch of the Wood needs for her spell. It is £1 a child on top of adult admission. The same week has spooky stories for little ones on Thursday 29 October and Jack-o'-lantern light walks in the woods on the evenings of the 26th and 27th (adults £10, children £7.50).
Half term at the safari park done in Halloween dress, with the drive-through reserve and the shows running as usual underneath it. The car is the ride, which suits children who have had enough of queuing.
Muncaster's big Halloween week, themed Zombies and Boggles this year: a scary maze, pumpkin patch (free pumpkin for the first 2,500 child tickets), a Halloween trail in the gardens, parades, a haunted castle, bird of prey displays and a torchlight march. The indoor Castle Show is an upgrade at £17 adult and £13 child on top.
Half term opens with a Miniature Steam Weekend, then a week of children's activities with, the museum says, a few spooky Halloween happenings. Detail was thin when we checked, so treat it as a museum day with extras.
Stations and cafes get ghoulish decorations, the railway museum at Ravenglass puts on children's activities, and selected trains run as double-headers with two steam engines up the Eskdale valley. Full details were still to come when we checked, so budget for a normal train fare.
Not Halloween as such, but half term on the Wirral with a real-life dragon from Teach Rex, dragon breath with The Wonderweaver and a new show, Dragon Dynamics. Useful for the child who is sick of pumpkins by the Tuesday.
Quarry Bank's first Scarecrow Festival carries on into half term with a scarecrow trail, storytelling, crafts and games. The Apprentice House is running spooky tours this autumn too.
Nine skeleton scenes hidden across 50 acres of autumn gardens, more daft than frightening, and the whole thing is covered by ordinary garden and parkland entry. It runs the length of half term but shuts on the Monday, which catches people out every year.
An interactive spooky plants trail round the garden: scary-looking species, plants with legendary healing powers and poisonous ones with dark secrets, with rubbings to collect and your own spooky plant to design. It is included in garden admission, which is free for under 5s. Zoolab witch and wizard potion sessions with creepy crawlies on 27 and 28 October are bookable extras, and there are spooky grass heads to make on 25, 30 and 31 October.
A book-themed trail round the gardens for 5 to 12s, about 40 minutes: spot favourites from children's books along the way and work out which one the witch has not read. The trail sheet is free with garden entry, but bring a pen or you will be buying one in the shop. Half term also has a Halloween family workshop, and an autumn colours workshop on Tuesday 27 October.
A lantern trail at Gulliver's with monuments, dinosaurs and dreamworlds lit up, back for 2026 with new displays. Sunday and Wednesday nights are mostly dog-friendly, so pick another night if you have a child who is wary of dogs. Parking is free. It opens for October half term, so it doubles as a Halloween outing.
Find nine imps and familiars hidden in Ordsall Hall and its gardens, 25 to 29 October and 1 November, during opening hours. £2 a child, paid at reception. Part of it is outdoors, so dress for the weather.
Four not-too-scary Halloween parties run by the park cafe: a K-Pop Demon Hunters party (Sun 25 Oct, 2 to 4, £13.50), a Friendly Witch show for toddlers (Wed 28 Oct, 2 to 4, £12.50), Wizardry and Dragons with party food (Sat 31 Oct, 11 to 1, £13) and a Wicked-themed party (Sun 1 Nov, 2 to 4, £15). Most let one adult in free with each child and are capped at 30 children, so book early.
Rochdale Town Hall runs free family Halloween activities every day of half term, 26 October to 1 November, 10am to 4pm. No booking. The exact activities are still to be announced on its social channels.
A Halloween disco session at the trampoline and inflatable park, ninety minutes for £9.99 with grip socks extra. Fancy dress optional, long sleeves sensible.
Two-hour Halloween parties in the soft play: a pumpkin hunt, fancy dress, a UV disco with glow sticks and a spooky gift each, with face painting at the Friday and Saturday ones. Sunday's is an SEN party, and one adult or carer goes free per booking.
Free family films in the Bolton Central Library lecture theatre at 2pm on the second Saturday of the month, moving to the Friday in half term. Coming up: 30 October, 14 November, 12 December. Titles are not published.
Steam trains along Preston Riverside with ghostly goings on aboard, both days of the Halloween weekend. A train that is going somewhere beats a queue for a photo with a witch.
A live Ms Rachel tribute show for toddlers at Middleton Arena on Sunday 1 November at 1pm, with sing-alongs and plenty of joining in. Under 12 months go free on a paying adult's lap. From £19.43.
The second night of Salford's free weekend, and the one with a proper bonfire, plus a funfair and a single display. Gates open at 4pm on a Sunday, so it can be an early one before school on Monday.
Wigan Council's family fireworks night, and one of the earliest finishes in the region: gates at 4.30pm, fireworks at about 6.40pm, done by 7pm. Funfair and food before. A good one for a Sunday with school the next day.
In partnership with Triple C, Little Lambs runs on a Monday from 10.
The first of Rochdale Council's three free school-night bonfires, with a reduced-noise display set to music at 7.30pm and a funfair from 6pm. There are no toilets on site, which is the practical point that matters with small children.
Preschool Stay and Play Toddler Group for toddlers and parents/carers.
George's 'Tiny Tots' baby, toddler and carer, stay and play group.
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.
Regular stories and rhymes group for children under 5 and their grown ups.
Regular story and rhyme time sessions for children under five.
A monthly story session for pre-school children in the reading corner at Rochdale Town Hall, first Monday of the month at 11am, so 2 November, 7 December and 4 January. £2.10 a child, adults free.
Join us at our weekly bounce and rhyme event.
Weekly term time Toddler group for parents and carers of pre-school children.
This is a weekly group for pregnant mums and those with under ones.
Free council bonfire with a reduced-noise display set to music, so it is kinder on small ears and on the dog left at home. No parking and no toilets on site: walk there, and go before you leave the house.
Join us for our monthly pre school meet at Foulshaw Moss nature reserve.
Varied play activities plus healthy snack for babies and pre-school children with a parent or carer, Second Tuesday starts with a short "Pram Service"
All little people under 5 are welcome with their grown ups for playtime, snacks, singing and a chance to chat.
Pre-school group which meet during term-time every Tuesday morning between 09:30 and 11:00am.
A friendly stay and play group for children under school age and their parents/carers.
A pre-school group for toddlers and parents/carers, with a Christian ethos.
Runs on 5 dates. Times, prices and tickets are on the organiser's own page.
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 7 dates. Times, prices and tickets are on the organiser's own page.
Stories for tots under 5 and their grown-ups
Our regular event aimed at children under five and their parents/ carers.
Regular story and rhyme time sessions for children under 5.
Free drop in for stories, songs and rhyme.
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.
Starts at 10.30am. Times, prices and tickets are on the organiser's own page.
Our baby and toddler group runs every Wednesday morning in term time.
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