YOU don’t have to spend hundreds on theme park tickets or overpriced attractions to have a great family day out this half term.
May half term is nearly here, and we’ve found plenty of days out that will cost you only a couple of pounds – and plenty more that are completely free.
Whether you’re a family of mini history buffs, budding astronauts or future artists, we’ve found hands-on activities to suit all interests.
From the north of Scotland down to the coast of Devon, here’s our pick of free and cheap family days out all across Britain for May half term.
North of England
Horrible Science: Cosmic Chaos at the Science and Industry Museum, Manchester – £10
Step into a world of Cosmic Chaos at Manchester’s Science and Industry Museum, where the cast of BBC’s Horrible Science lead you on a bizarre adventure through the planets.
Much like the hit children’s TV show, this experience is packed with weird facts and wacky experiments that make learning surprisingly fun.
Designed for families with children aged 7 and up, the exhibition lets you get hands-on with outer space – from inspecting space toilets, to programming your own rover and analysing moon rocks.
You’ll even get to journey through a wormhole before ending the trip with a dance on an alien disco planet.
The exhibition is open from now until January 2027, costing £10 per person with under 3’s going free. Make sure to book your tickets online in advance.
Room on the Broom trail at Hamsterley Forest, Durham – £4
This interactive woodland trail follows the theme of Julia Donaldson’s famous picture book through the trees of Hamsterley Forest.
Expect interactive activity points, forest facts and even a Dragon on your journey, which ends with a lovely photo op.
Purchase a trail pack from reception for just £4, which includes colouring, a lanyard, stickers and a pop-out magic wand.
National Railway Museum, York – free
Train geeks young and old will love a day out to the National Railway Museum in York.
You can stand face-to-face with Mallard (the world’s fastest steam locomotive) and climb aboard a Japanese Bullet Train, the only one of its kind outside Japan.
Plus their May half term event sees a free family trail, The Great Object Hunt, which will have you thoroughly searching each collection.
The museum is free to visit and open daily from 10am – 5pm. Make sure to book your free tickets in advance to secure your slot.
Interactive Big Art, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool – free
Looking for a creative afternoon out in Liverpool? Head to the Walker Art Gallery to discover Big Art, a space specifically for mini artists aged 0–5.
Your little ones can dive into a huge selection of toys and games, explore the dress-up area, or get stuck in at the craft table, which features a brand-new theme every single week.
Session times vary between 11am – 3pm. Check their website for details.
Bolton Museum and Little Lever Library, Greater Manchester – free
Step into hands-on history and nature at Bolton Museum.
Here families can walk through a stunning Ancient Egypt gallery or visit Greater Manchester’s only public aquarium.
Head over to the Little Lever Library for weekly Toddler Tales storytelling sessions.
For older kids, the Create and Craft sessions offer the perfect chance to get hands-on with free arts and crafts activities.
The museum is open daily from 9am – 5pm, and open from 10am – 4pm on Sundays.
Central and East of England
Heroes of The Air at the RAF Museum: Midlands – £3
From 23 – 31 May, the Royal Air Force Museum are running an exciting Hero Trail.
Families can pick up an activity sheet and work their way through the attraction, looking for clues in the collections as you learn about historic aviation heroes.
There will also be a free screening of the BBC documentary series WWII: I Was There for older history fans running daily from 25 – 29 May.
The museum opens daily from 10am with last admission at 4:30pm.
Downs Banks, Staffordshire – free
Get out and about in nature this May half term and visit Down Banks in Staffordshire.
There’s plenty of trails to walk or cycle through as a family, plus you could plan to bring a picnic or else stop by in the cafe and farm shop.
Down Banks is a National Trust site that is free to enter.
Planet Parade city-wide trail, Leicester – free
From now until 31 May, families can take part in this free city-wide, space-themed fun trail in Leicester.
Set off on an adventure through space-themed art made by local children and artists at multiple venues throughout the city, including visiting the Sun at the National Space Centre.
Download the My Leicester app for access to the free trail, or find more information on their website.
Titanosaur at Peterborough Cathedral – £6
Until May 31, visitors to Peterborough Cathedral can meet the Titanosaur – a huge model of Patagotitan Mayorum, one of the largest dinosaurs ever discovered.
The model is a sight to behold, loaned from the Natural History Museum and displayed in the epic Peterborough Cathedral – perfect for any dinosaur fans in the family.
There’s also educational activities set up in the cathedral to complete your visit.
Entry costs £6 per person, and visiting slots can be pre-booked online.
Play outdoors at Great Notley Country Park, Essex – free
This outdoor space in Essex has a near mile-long trim trail for kids to tackle.
Children can take on tyre swings, a giant see-saw, slides, climbers and more in Essex’s longest play trail.
Here you’ll also find Sky Ropes, a family-friendly high ropes course which costs just £13.50 per person, a much cheaper alternative to other treetop adventure sites such as Go Ape.
South and West England
May half term activities at The Box, Plymouth – free
The Box in Plymouth is the ideal attraction for a budget-friendly morning.
You can hunt for hidden treasures with a family trail sheet, or meet the famous Mildred the Mammoth statue.
The museum are running family-friendly activities during the May half term, including a picnic-themed arts and crafts session where you can make fun foods from clay for ages 4 – 11.
The museum is open daily from 10am – 5pm.
The Gruffalo Orienteering Trail, Exeter – £1.50
Haldon Forest Park in Devon has endless walking and cycling trails that are perfect to explore as the weather warms up.
Head to the Info Pod in the forest park to grab a Gruffalo Orienteering Trail sheet for an interactive quest through the woods.
Your journey leads you through the forest and finishes at the park’s play area, where you can snap a photo with the giant Gruffalo sculpture.
The trail costs £1.50 and leads you through twelve interactive stations.
Explore the outdoors at Bristol Walk Fest – free
From 1 – 31 May, Bristol Walk Fest is taking over the city, providing the perfect way for families to explore the city’s parks, streets, and hidden corners on foot.
Over 7,500 attend the city-wide festival each year, and it features a huge range of self-guided and guided walks led by local experts.
You can choose from street art discovery tours and historical walks, to gentle strolls through nature or even dress-up costume events.
There’s options available to suit all ages and fitness levels.
Most of the walks are free – check the event website for details.
Spring Family Fun at London Southbank – free and low-cost activities
Until May 31, the Southbank Centre in London are hosting a Spring Family Fun festival. There are both free and paid events available.
Highlights include a huge 80th birthday bash for legendary children’s poet Michael Rosen on May 23, followed by the high-energy DanceDanceDiscoPartyFunShow on May 30.
Families can also dive into creative workshops like textile quilting or grab a map for the interactive Architecture Explorers trail.
Make sure to check the festival website for specific events, and to pre-book your place.
Uber Boat London Audio Guide – £2.50 (+ admission ticket)
The Thames Clippers Uber Boat audio guide is an underrated way to explore London as a family from the water.
Hop aboard the boat and you can buy a London audio guide for £2.50 each, where a tour narrated by Rory Bremner teaches you fun facts all about the River Thames.
You can choose from two guides: a historical tour about the River Thames, or a guide to all the famous film and TV locations.
Once you grab the guide, simply download onto your smartphone, and make sure to bring your own headphones to listen along.
Note that the audio guide is a £2.50 add-on to a standard Uber Boat ticket. Tickets start from £6.20 for a single adult journey, with child tickets at 50% off the full adult price. Children 4 and under go free.
Scotland
Adventure Planet and Imagine Zone, National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh – free
The National Museum of Scotland houses two dedicated zones specifically designed for younger explorers.
Inside Adventure Planet, children can get hands-on with the museum‘s collections through digital challenges, puzzles, and a dress-up area.
The Imagine gallery features a giant musical floor, wobbly mirrors and a quiet reading corner, perfect for a chilled break with a book.
The National Museum of Scotland, including the Adventure and Imagine zones, are free to enter. The museum is open from 10am – 5pm daily.
The Wee Hub, Edinburgh
This unique attraction acts as a completely hands-on museum, where objects are displayed without glass casing, designed for families to pick up and interact with.
You can find the Wee Hub in the Ocean Terminal Shopping Centre, where there are also often crafts sessions and art exhibitions taking place.
The Wee Hub is open from 11am – 3pm, Wednesday – Sunday.
Riverside Museum, Glasgow – free
This museum in Glasgow will transport you to the early 20th century via walk-through exhibits.
The standout feature is Main Street, a recreation of Glasgow from 1895 – 1930.
You can walk through an old-fashion street, popping into traditional shops with authentic interiors that make you feel like you’re in the past century.
Elsewhere, the floor is packed with transport marvels including the towering South African Loco 3007, life-size vintage buses, and detailed boat models that celebrate the city’s shipbuilding heritage.
The museum is open from 10am – 5pm daily, opening at 11am on Wednesdays and Sundays.
Family fun craft workshops at Art Gallery, Aberdeen – free
Every Saturday, Aberdeen Art Gallery hosts free, themed craft workshops designed for families with children aged 5 – 12.
These creative sessions let kids experiment with different art styles, from building intricate paper sculptures, to decorating treasure boxes and sketching portraits.
The workshops are set up as relaxed drop-in sessions, so there’s no need to book ahead – simply show up and start creating.
The Art Gallery is free to visit and open from 10am – 5pm Monday to Saturday, and 11am – 4pm on Sunday.
Wales and Northern Ireland
St Fagans National Museum of History, Cardiff – free
Walk straight into scenes from the past at St Fagans National Museum of History in Cardiff.
Inside you’ll find live demonstrations from skilled craftsmen, interactive galleries, as well as farming displays and rare breed farm animals outdoors.
You can also visit St Fagans Castle whilst you’re there, a pretty Elizabethan mansion.
Admission is free, with the museum open from 10am – 5pm daily.
The National Waterfront Museum, Swansea – free
This free-admission museum in Swansea is full of nautical and industrial artefacts, perfect for any budding historians.
If you visit between the 26 – 28 May, you can join in a free drop-in Holiday Make and Take session, where kids can create their own crafts to take home.
The museum is open from 10am – 5pm daily.
Geocaching in Snowdonia – free
Did you know Snowdonia is one of the most popular parts of the UK for geocaching?
Geocaching is an exciting adventure activity for all ages – it is essentially a huge outdoors treasure hunt, and it’s totally free!
Tucked away in nooks of the National Park you’ll find stashes of hidden items and letters known as caches, left by previous participants.
Simply sign up for a geocaching website, and follow the clues to find your hidden item – signing your name once you find the hidden cache to prove that you were there.
Ulster Museum, Belfast – free
The Ulster Museum is a treasure chest of artefacts and activities, where you can come face-to-face with everything from Egyptian mummies and dinosaurs to Spanish Armada gold.
The galleries include deep dives into topics like Inclusive Global Histories and fascinating science in the Elements exhibition.
For kids, the real action is in the Discovery Centres (located on Levels 1, 3, and 5).
These are hands-on zones where they can design their own dinosaurs, crawl inside a massive sensory tree, or raid the costume trunks for a bit of dress-up.
The Ulster Museum and Discovery Centre are free-entry and open from 10am – 5pm, from Tuesday – Sunday.
Urban Farm, Carrickfergus – free
This community-run farm in Carrickfergus is a hidden gem where you can get up close with pigs, goats, chickens, and ponies without spending a penny on entry.
It’s an underrated spot where families can meet the resident small pets and enjoy the County Antrim fresh air.
The site is also home to the Dancing Goat, a non-profit café serving up hot soups, sandwiches, tea, coffee and more.
The best part is that all the proceeds from the café are reinvested directly into the local area.
The farm is open from 9:30am – 4pm daily however it closes on Sundays.