Each year we award the Family Friendly Museum Award to one museum, gallery or heritage site that is brilliant for kids and their grown-ups. The museums on this exclusive list have all won or been shortlisted, meaning they have already been family approved!
Remember to check each museum’s website for full visiting information. If you want more family day out ideas or to have your say in the next Family Friendly Museum Award, sign up to our Family Mailing List.
Craven Museum | Skipton Town Hall
Skipton
Photo by Stephen Garrett for Kids in Museums.
Winner of the Family Friendly Museum Award 2023, this local museum is a treasure trove of local history and stood out for its super friendly staff. There is loads to discover, from rocks to the Romans, furniture to Shakespeare’s First Folio. Get hands on in the galleries, pick up a free family trail and enjoy a varied programme of events for all ages in the school holidays.
National Emergency Services Museum
Sheffield
Photo by Msc1 photography for Kids in Museums.
This small museum champions the work of the emergency services. With interactive galleries, climbing walls and driving simulators, there are plenty of things for children to get hands on with. Keep an eye out for fun family events, from sensory play for the littlest visitors to STEM workshops with a real Forensic Anthropologist. You can even ride in a fire engine on selected dates!
Leeds City Museum
Leeds
Leeds City Museum. Photo by David Lindsay.
Discover the story of Leeds and its communities at one of Yorkshire’s best museums for kids. Warm and welcoming staff, signposted selfie points and excellent facilities are just some of the things that helped Leeds City Museum to clinch our award in 2018. Don’t miss the museum’s 3,000 year old mummy!
York Art Gallery
York
© York Art Gallery
York Art Gallery houses over 1,000 paintings spanning five centuries. After its reopening in 2016, the whole gallery and its activities were redesigned with children and families in mind – including low-level labels, wheelchair accessibility, a family friendly café and sketch pads dotted around the gallery.
Experience Barnsley Museum and Discovery Centre
Barnsley
Image: Experience Barnsley
Uncover the amazing stories of Barnsley through artefacts, documents, films and recordings donated by local people. Pick up a scavenger hunt, join in a craft session or chill out in the sensory area. Led by a passionate team of staff and volunteers, the museum has great provision for families with special educational needs and disabilities.
Cannon Hall Museum, Park and Gardens
Barnsley
Image: Barnsley Museums
A sister museum of Experience Barnsley, Cannon Hall consists of a Georgian house with a collection of fine and decorative arts set in beautiful, landscaped gardens and parklands. Outdoors let loose in the adventure play area, enjoy a sensory trail and play hide and seek. Indoors, explore the old house and chill out in the reading area.
Abbey House Museum
Leeds
Image: Abbey House Museum
Step back in time and stroll through streets of Victorian Leeds with authentically recreated shops, pubs and houses. Explore how toys and games have changed over time upstairs in the Childhood Galleries. The museum is home to one of the largest selections of working penny slot machines in any museum in the country – you can get an old-fashioned penny to try them yourself!
National Coal Mining Museum
Wakefield
Image: National Coal Mining Museum
Unearth the stories of life as a coal miner and what it was like to live in a mining community. Travel 140m underground to discover 180 years of mining and learn about the giant machinery in interactive exhibitions. Then walk through the woods, meet ponies and horses, and let off steam in the Adventure Playground.
