Family-friendly museums: Top spots for visiting with kids

Environment, ecology and human cultures exist side-by-side in this unique museum. Tucked away in London’s Forest Hill, the Horniman is home to idyllic gardens, thousands of unique objects and even an aquarium. From the Butterfly House and Animal Walk to galleries exploring world cultures, music and natural history, there’s so much here for the whole family to enjoy together.

This magical museum in Oxford is made up of a range of immersive spaces that bring stories to life, including an Enchanted Library, a Whispering Wood and the Small Worlds story space for very young children. Climb through the wardrobe into Narnia or fly through 1,000 years of Oxford's story history. There’s a secret waiting to be told around every corner, and spaces to spark the imagination for all ages. Keep an eye out for activities for kids over the school holidays, from musical performances to puppet shows to creative workshops.

Ride the Mail Rail, explore fascinating exhibitions or take under-8s to the Postal Play Space – interactive spaces will help you learn about the fascinating history of the postal service together. Learn about the sending of secret messages in pneumatic tubes, marvel at the world’s first adhesive postage stamp, and even catch some cryptic Victorian Valentine's cards at this unique museum dedicated to how we communicate by post.

Crowned the UK's most family-friendly museum in 2023, Skipton's Craven Museum brings history to life, promising a fun day out for all. Offering free craft sessions, object handling sessions and other interactive activities, visitors of all ages can learn about and get inspired by local history and culture through displays ranging from rocks to rare books, art to taxidermy.

East London's Young V&A is a fun-filled interactive museum where families can imagine and play together, while exploring around 2,000 objects from the V&A's impressive collections. Spaces include a den-making area, a marble run, a storytelling stage and an open design studio. And did you know the Young V&A was crowned Art Fund Museum of the Year 2024?

Home to a vast collection of children’s literature and illustration including work by Sarah Garland, Philip Pullman and Quentin Blake, Seven Stories is another great space dedicated to the art of storytelling for children. Regular events are designed to inspire young bookworms and feature iconic characters from literature such as Judith Kerr’s loveable cat Mog. There’s plenty on offer to inspire adults as well, including a beautiful set of watercolour illustrations by Edward Ardizzone for Graham Greene’s The Little Train, acquired by the museum with Art Fund support in 2011.

The colourful space at Firstsite is designed to be welcoming, inclusive and easy to navigate. Striking permanent installations celebrate and explore culture in Essex, while intriguing exhibitions showcase contemporary artists and bring artists and families together. The children and families events in the venue's programme include artist-led toddler groups and festive classics including CBeebies Panto: Beauty and the Beast and A Christmas Carol.

This open-air museum explores the story of people who emigrated from Ulster to North America in the 18th and 19th centuries. With costumed guides on hand to help you find your way around, you can journey back in time to explore traditional crafts, a recreated town and authentic period buildings. Plus, you can discover how Christmas would once have been celebrated in rural Ulster at a special series of Christmas at the Folk Park events.

Explore fascinating creatures, get up close to nature and learn about the science that underpins our natural world – there’s so much to explore in the Natural History Museum’s permanent collections, which span human evolution, dinosaurs, oceans, space and plenty more. Plus, there are several specifically designated family-friendly galleries to explore, on volcanoes and earthquakes, birds and minerals.

Take a journey underground at this unique place, made up of a winding set of caves. Activities like toddlers’ movement classes and bookbinding classes are often on offer, or simply follow a map to discover the magic beneath Margate and take an adventure together. Open for Father Christmas visits on select days in December, the team behind Margate Caves goes all out to create a magical winter visit.