Inside The Science and Industry Museum manchester - A free day out with kids
We visited The Science & Industry Museum in Manchester as an impromptu visit on a drizzly day, as a family of 4 looking for things to do in Manchester.
We were stuck at home in our home town of Manchester, looking out of the window and feeling a bit fed up. It was raining (classic Manchester!). We'd just got back from Mexico where we'd decided to go on a trip of a lifetime and sell up our lives in the UK for a life travelling around the world full time. We had made the decision to explore things closer to home before we packed up on our world adventures. We'd been guilty for a long time of taking our local city for granted.
So we headed out into the City of Manchester to take advantage of the things Manchester has to offer and here's a family review of our day inside the science and industry museum Manchester.
So first up, a visit to the museum is free. We saw it as a chance to learn about Manchester with the kids, enjoy a little bit of history about the Industrial Revolution of Manchester. It's a free day out with kids in Manchester. Although of course, we had to feed them afterwards, so an almost free day out ;-) Is there ever such a thing.
The Museum is in a beautiful listed building in the heart of old industry in Manchester city with lot's to see around. And as you can see in the picture, the sun came out in afternoon and blue skies over the Museum, showing you that it's not always raining in Manchester. Or did we just get lucky?!
The Museum itself is on the site of the original terminus of the world’s first inter-city railway - this is the oldest surviving passenger railway station in The UK. The architecture and buildings in this area are cool to look at & just a potter around the streets of the old industrial heart can generate some cool urban photography - if thats your thing.
The museum is undergoing a massive refurbishment and change at the moment so a few parts were closed on our visit. Outside the museum of science and industry museum is covered up in scaffold and sheeting. And inside the science and industry museum some parts were closed. We had told our little boy about the Victorian sewers area within the museum, that we had remembered from previous visits, but these were no longer there, which was a bit annoying because he's 5, this was kind of the whole reason he wanted to come. He was excited to smell wafts of poo, and actually be inside some 'real' sewers. Like I said he's 5. We have to grab his attention in these ways. So overall the visit was a little bit boring for a 5 year old. And is more relevant to older children, perhaps on a school visit.
Our 13 year old enjoyed it more.
Inside the museum there is an interactive area where you can experience science activities, forces, including lifting a real car with only a wheel.
The best bit Inside the science & industry museum: Our kids are really into their technology and digital worlds. And seeing a replica of BABY the worlds first computer, built at The University of Manchester (for the second world war) was a cool thing for them to see how far technology has come to now be in their tiny devices at the speed of light. Museum people are by the machine showing demonstrations on how baby worked. Check with the museum if you plan to visit as they're not always running demonstrations of Baby.
Inside The Science & Industry Museum in the interactive science area where the kids could take part at different activity stations. This area was super busy on our visit, but each child had a go, then moved on to the next activity so we got to try all the activities in there. The kids enjoyed this section the most.
There is a cafe & a gift shop in the museum.
As a free day out to pass a few hours this could be a good choice for things to do with kids in Manchester. We learned, explored and spent time together. I find it hard to keep the kids engaged as they only want to spend the day on their devices, so this was a perfect excuse for a day out in the fresh air pottering around manchester, a museum trip followed by cake and coffee.
There are tons of educational learning guides and resources on the Science & Industry Museum on the Museums web page that are worth a look if you have children and are stuck in the house. Easy science activities that you can try from household objects and kitchen ingredients.
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