The best: Half term activities around Manchester this February

Back for another year, the Super Duper Family Festival transforms Manchester into a giant playground with four days of free, family-friendly fun across the city centre.

Public spaces, squares and venues are reimagined as Play Zones filled with games, dancing, crafts, performances, films and hands-on activities, welcoming families to drop in and explore at their own pace. All activities are free and available on a first-come, first-served basis, with some ticketed events where stated.

Follow the festival on Instagram below.

SeaLife Manchester offers unforgettable behind-the-scenes experiences throughout half term, from the Beyond the Surface tour to premium VIP encounters.

The 25-minute Beyond the Surface tour invites families aged 4+ into areas usually closed to the public, including food prep kitchens and quarantine spaces, with expert guides explaining conservation, breeding and animal care. Tours cost £20 per session for up to eight people and must be booked alongside a valid entry ticket.

Open daily and free to visit, the Science and Industry Museum hosts an out-of-this-world half-term programme inspired by its brand-new exhibition, Horrible Science: Cosmic Chaos.

Families can dive into a lively programme of space-themed activities including cosmic crafts, star-gazing sessions in the Star Lab and a hands-on Meteorite Hunt led by the University of Manchester, while Company Chameleon bring movement and dance inspired by planets, stars and galaxies, and budding astronomers can learn how to explore the night sky from home.

For those looking for an intrepid expedition into the deepest reaches of space, Horrible Science: Cosmic Chaos opens on Fri 13 Feb, inviting visitors to walk in the shoes of astronauts, dance on an alien disco planet and uncover the secrets of space, guided by familiar characters from the CBBC series.

Oldham’s much-loved light festival returns for its ninth year, inviting visitors to see the town centre transformed into a nocturnal oasis of art, light and community celebration.

Inspired by the 2026 theme Ensemble of Light, the festival features an illuminated trail of installations, exhibitions and performances by local, national and international artists. Highlights include the Illuminate Parade at 6pm, winding from Oldham Civic Centre to the Old Town Hall with hundreds of community-made lanterns, and large-scale installations including mirrorball worlds, interactive sound sculptures and immersive projections.

Everything is free, fully accessible and suitable for all ages.

Check out the full programme below.

Manchester Art Gallery continues its rich programme of free exhibitions suitable for creative families and art lovers alike throughout half term and across the rest of the year.

Ongoing highlights include Trading Station: How Hot Drinks Shape Our Lives, tracing the global histories of tea, coffee and chocolate, and Things of the Least, a playful exhibition designed around how babies and toddlers interact with gallery spaces.

East Lancashire Railway returns with a full steam ahead half-term programme charting the Irwell Valley, combining character-led adventures, heritage rail experiences and special events.

Families can tumble down the rabbit hole on the Wonderland Adventure, test their magic skills during the Wizarding Adventure or meet prehistoric pals at the ever-popular Dino Adventure, while steam and diesel fans can enjoy the Small Engines Gala, while a range of dining experiences offer an indulgent refuel for grown-ups.

See the full schedule below.

Launching families into orbit with a packed schedule of intergalactic wonder, Jodrell Bank’s February half term programme features dazzling science showcases, interactive trail missions, cosmic crafts and more.

Highlights include a brand-new daily show celebrating the upcoming Artemis launch, alongside a new outdoor trail inviting explorers to collect interstellar discoveries across the Cheshire countryside. The immersive Space Dome Show One Step Beyond: A Journey to Mars, narrated by Richard Armitage, runs throughout the week, offering a front-row seat to launches, life in space and the search for life beyond Earth.

Younger visitors can join Ted’s Space Adventure, an absorbing journey brimming with music, rhyme and participatory fun, while Space Craft stations, Telescope Talks and Discover the Dish sessions bring hands-on science to life across the site.

Read more HERE and book your visit below.

Featuring over sixty interactive exhibits including optical illusions, mind-bending holograms, gravity-defying rooms and 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.

Grab your tickets below.

Running during half term week, acclaimed family theatre-makers Stuff and Nonsense return to Lowry with their boisterous and delightfully inventive comic take on Pinocchio.

Directed by Niki McCretton, the adaptation follows three hapless men who stumble into an abandoned house, where an ordinary dining table becomes the setting for extraordinary storytelling.

Combining dextrous puppetry, original music and ingenious physical comedy, this playful show blends the familiar elements of the classic tale with Stuff and Nonsense’s trademark warmth and imagination.

Step back in time to the Late Cretaceous Period at Manchester Museum’s spellbinding exhibition exploring the life and legacy of one of the world’s most recognisable dinosaurs.

Designed for all ages, Eat, Roam, Repeat invites visitors to become prospective palaeontologists, uncovering how the  Triceratops lived, what it ate and how it survived over sixty-six million years ago. Interactive highlights include a digital touch replica of a Triceratops skull, hands-on fossil digs and atmospheric prehistoric displays.

At the heart of the exhibition is a rare 1.9-metre-long Triceratops skull, in Manchester for a limited time only.

HOME’s popular Family Films series returns for half term with reduced-price screenings of Disney classics and new releases.

All tickets are £4.70, with kids eating free in the restaurant when accompanied by a paying adult. This half term, HOME hosts screenings of The Scarecrow’s Wedding and The Highway Rat, bringing Julia Donaldson favourites to the big screen across select dates.

For a dose of wintry intrigue to captivate curious young historians, IWM North’s family-friendly exhibition explores the secret world of espionage from the First World War to today.

Children can uncover hidden gadgets, decode messages and put their undercover skills to the test in the Mission Room, while adults dive into stories of daring deception and intelligence history.

For footie fanatics, The National Football Museum kicks off the holiday week with a crunch fixture full of workshops, trails and exhibitions celebrating football’s stories, supporters and communities.

Hands-on activities include fanzine-making, flag design and scarf crafts, alongside gallery trails celebrating black excellence in the beautiful game. Families can also explore Journeys to the Match and The Price of Passion, examining the rituals, identities and economics that shape the world’s favourite sport.