The best: Family-friendly activities and events around Manchester this May half-term

Open daily and free to visit, the Science and Industry Museum hosts a ‘sense-sational’ May half-term programme of thrilling live demonstrations, insightful installations and mind-bending experiences inspired by the major new exhibition, Operation Ouch! Brains, Bogies and You.

Uncover the incredible superpowers of animals in the museum’s new science show, Wild Senses. From bees to bats and beyond, visitors can learn about the wondrous ways in which various creatures have evolved to use their razor-sharp senses for survival, before testing their skills on a sensory trail and agility course.

Elsewhere, families can get stuck into a variety of free hands-on activities around the museum’s permanent galleries. Experience glow-in-the-dark art, thermal cameras and body music in the Experiment Gallery, discover world-changing ideas and meet the first computer in Revolution Manchester, and explore the mighty machines of the Textiles Gallery amongst the thunderous sounds of industry.

There’s also the chance for nostalgic parents and avid young gamers alike to grab a controller and play across fifty years of video game magic in Power Up, the ‘ultimate hands-on gaming experience’ which features over a hundred different consoles and countless classic titles spanning Pong, Pac-Man, FIFA, The Legend of Zelda and latest-gen VR systems.

For a half-term experience to remember, book tickets for the delightfully disgusting Operation Ouch! Brains, Bogies and You for the family to explore the senses like never before. Get shrunk down to microscopic size and set out on a medical mission into the brain headquarters, with rooms dedicated to each of the five senses. You can squeeze through gross, gooey ear canals, avoid sticky snot and enter a giant eye ball on an epic adventure of super-sized science and brilliant biology.

Find out more and book your visit below.

Over at Aviva Studios, families are welcome to drop in throughout half-term week to try out a variety of free creative activities in the Social.

Create dancing stick men from hama beads with Toubie Jack (Tue 27), join a collage workshop with Amanda Logan (Wed 28/Thu 29) and craft your own photo album with Kymara Akinpelumi (Fri 30).

Find out more below.

This weekend, The Manchester Flower Festival returns for another year of brilliant botany and dazzling colour, transforming the city centre into a vibrant horticultural paradise with four free days of floral trails, artisan markets, creative workshops and family entertainment.

Highlights include stunning displays that honour the city’s industrial roots and its peerless musical heritage, along with creative interpretations of New York, Paris, Mumbai, Amsterdam, and Marrakech.

The festival stretches across town, with art, flowers and events at the Arndale, Printworks, New Cathedral Street, St Ann’s Square, The Royal Exchange Manchester, Exchange Square and King Street.

Check out the full programme below.

Featuring dancers, performers, confetti blasts, lasers, parachute games, giant balloons, face painting and even a licensed bar, the immensely popular kid-friendly carnival Raver Tots heads back to Freight Island on Bank Holiday Monday.

Tickets are likely to sell out, so grab yours below.

For the aquatic experience of a lifetime, SeaLife Manchester offers a selection of incredible VIP packages to enjoy as a family throughout half-term, from snorkelling with sharks and feeding stingrays to breathtaking VR undersea journeys and bucket list sharks-after-dark tours. You can even book a lunch date with Cammy and Ernie, the aquarium’s resident giant green sea turtles.

To see the rest of the aquarium during half-term, book an advance ticket from £15.95 or an adult-and-toddler ticket for £15.

Check out the full list of VIP experiences and pricing below.

Featuring over fifty interactive exhibits including optical illusions, head-scratching holograms, gravity-flipping rooms and even trippy recreations of Mancunian landmarks, Market Street’s Museum of Illusions promises the perfect half-term afternoon activity for families with hours of scientific entertainment and wildly imaginative creations.

Children under 4 can enjoy the museum for free, but booking is required.

From Mon 26 to Fri 30 May, you can get 20% off tickets when you book in advance.

Grab your tickets below.

May half-term marks the final week of Manchester Museum’s Wild exhibition, a timely, thought-provoking and hopeful exploration of our relationship to the natural world.

Featuring immersive installations, film, audio and interactive areas amidst a vast array of natural history collections and artworks, Wild transports visitors across a world of mesmerising ecological diversity, drawing on global voices to examine the ways in which everyone from academic researchers to Aboriginal elders are rebuilding our connections with a planet in jeopardy.

While the end of the season is upon us, the National Football Museum is keeping up the action well past added time with a fun-filled programme of activities, exhibitions, tours and more throughout May half-term and beyond.

Use football-related objects to cast and trace shadows, gradually building a large-scale collaborative artwork in Matchday in Motion, then head to the Match Gallery reading nook to make your own medal. Learn about the five key ‘firsts’ of football in a series of special performances on the Pitch Gallery, before heading out on a scavenger trail to find some of the strangest items in the Play Gallery.

As always, visitors can explore the museum’s permanent collections featuring silverware, authentic documents and some of the most precious original artefacts in the history of football.

Book your visit below.

Newly opened this month and running until Christmas, this new immersive art installation invites visitors to step into the world of the iconic artist’s most famous painting, as the sights and sounds behind Going to the Match are brought to life in 360 degrees with the viewer at the centre.

From factory whistles to the giddy chatter of an expectant crowd, visitors are surrounded by a creative exploration, in super-high resolution, of a painting that celebrates the thrumming anticipation, relatable rituals and timeless excitement of heading to a football match on a Saturday afternoon.

After being met with overwhelming demand since its launch, Lowry has extended its booking period all the way through to Christmas.

For more information, or to book tickets, click the button below.

Back to celebrate its fifth anniversary, Deansgate Mews Festival kicks off summer in the city with three free days of live music, pop-up markets, food and drink across four stages and several acclaimed bars and restaurants.

This year’s edition features 40+ talented artists and creatives, including indie rock outfit Strawberry Lemonade, rock band Delights, and rising stars MALCOM. Also performing across the weekend will be The Maddocks, Tommy Ball, Michael Gallagher, Danny Darlington, Dreaming of Citra and many more.

There’ll also be an array of sumptuous food on hand from Siam Smiles, The Mews and Another Hand to enjoy al fresco, alongside an independent trader’s market and a family-friendly ‘Mini Mews’ area with craft sessions and play areas during the afternoons.

Find out more below.