As Scotland’s largest metropolis, it’s no shock that you simply’re spoiled for alternative in relation to issues to do in Glasgow with youngsters.
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And whereas Glasgow is usually overshadowed by the capital, the attractive Highlands or heading out on a Scottish highway journey, it makes for a unbelievable metropolis break for households.
My daughter’s first go to got here when she was a toddler and I found a complete new family-friendly facet to town I’d beforehand explored child-free – listed below are a few of my high picks if you happen to’re searching for issues to do in Glasgow for teenagers.
Glasgow Science Centre
One in all my very own private favourites, the Glasgow Science Centre is so geared in direction of youngsters, it’s laborious to get them out.
On our first go to when my daughter was a toddler, we spent virtually six hours exploring, with solely the briefest breaks to eat, and I nonetheless felt there was extra to find.
For starters, you’ll discover three flooring of interactive reveals, particular actions and exhibits laid on, plus areas that allow youngsters discover the world as they play, with every thing from a mini crane to water shows.
Learn extra about our time out at Glasgow Science Centre right here.
Then there’s info on the human physique, a small planetarium – which has totally different exhibits geared toward totally different age teams, together with a stunning one for youthful youngsters – plus the IMAX subsequent door.
Go to at weekends and through faculty holidays and there are additional household occasions going down, together with a dwell science demo on the day we visited. Undoubtedly one household attraction which tops my checklist to go to year-round, although it’s perfect if you happen to’re visiting Glasgow within the rain and searching for some indoor leisure too.
Kelvingrove Artwork Gallery & Museum
No go to to Glasgow is full with out stopping at Kelvingrove museum, regardless of how previous you might be, however even the youngest guests will love the animal galleries, together with an animated dinosaur, plus a succession of creatures from an elephant (aka Sir Roger) and giraffe down.
There are additionally museum bees, arms and armour, a show of masks, a Charles Rennie Waterproof coat Gallery, French, Dutch and Scottish artwork, the Historical Egypt show and non permanent exhibitions – in complete, 8,000 objects in 22 themed galleries.
That’s all earlier than you take a look at the non permanent exhibitions too plus some grand structure and ornamental thrives to identify – to not point out a working organ, with performances. There’s additionally a elevate between flooring if you happen to’re pushing a buggy.
Take a look at my evaluate of a go to to Kelvingrove Artwork Gallery & Museum with youngsters
Glasgow Cathedral
Relationship again to 1136, Glasgow Cathedral is among the metropolis’s oldest and most well-known buildings, and if you happen to love historical past, it is a must-visit in Glasgow with youngsters of all ages.
After testing the medieval church’s vaulted ceilings and superb stained glass home windows, head underground into the cathedral’s Thirteenth-century crypt, which is house to the tomb and shrine of St Mungo, the founder and patron saint of Glasgow.
For older kids and teenagers with an curiosity in historical past, the cathedral presents quick free excursions run by its volunteers, perfect for studying extra in regards to the cathedral’s previous and its significance in Scottish historical past.
Uncover what we considered a go to to Glasgow Cathedral with a toddler
College of Glasgow
In case your youngsters are Harry Potter followers, a go to to the College of Glasgow campus is a should.
Hearsay has it that the historic college was the inspiration behind Hogwarts when JK Rowling was writing her first books in Edinburgh.
We don’t know if that is really true – there are numerous locations laying declare to having impressed the Harry Potter books, however regardless, it’s laborious to not really feel transported to Hogwarts if you see the grand Gothic-revival-style constructing, with its lovely Cloisters and plenty of towering gothic spires.
As you wander by means of the grounds and courtyards admiring the structure, don’t miss the big tree within the courtyard of the Jap Quadrangle, which many consider may have impressed the Whomping Willow.
The Hunterian Museum
Whereas visiting the College of Glasgow, save a while to pop contained in the College’s Hunterian Museum, one other of one of the best museums in Glasgow for teenagers.
Youngsters can study in regards to the historical past of Scotland by means of the museum’s various assortment of historical artefacts, with every thing from Egyptian mummies and Roman ruins to animal skeletons and dinosaur fossils.
The museum additionally presents loads of academic workshops and occasions for teenagers of all ages, together with particular household talks, arts and crafts, themed trails, and extra.
The Riverside Museum of Transport and Journey
The award-winning and free Riverside Museum is house to over 3,000 objects that inform the story of transportation and journey in Glasgow and past.
Most well-known for its ship-building historical past, there’s extra to find although, together with town’s very important function in prepare manufacturing.
Youthful friends will love exploring the museum’s interactive reveals, which embrace an previous cobbled Glasgow avenue with retailers relationship from 1895 to the Eighties, in addition to the prospect to climb aboard classic steam trains, trams, buses, and even a working fireplace engine.
There are additionally loads of hands-on and academic actions that permit youngsters to study in regards to the mechanics of transportation and check out their hand at driving a simulated prepare or automotive.
The Tall Ship Glenlee
Situated on the River Clyde, simply in entrance of the Riverside Museum, you’ll additionally discover the UK’s solely floating Clyde-built crusing ship, the Tall Ship Glenlee, now over 125 years previous.
You may step on board the historic ship and expertise what life at sea was like throughout its heyday by wandering across the restored rooms and exploring the exhibition area.
The Glenlee has loads of enjoyable actions to entertain youthful youngsters too, together with an under-5s comfortable play space within the cargo maintain and plenty of household pleasant occasions, reminiscent of storytelling classes, arts and crafts, deck video games, treasure hunts, and extra.
Plus, there’s no entrance charge to go to the Tall Ship Glenlee, making it among the best free issues to do in Glasgow with youngsters if you happen to’re visiting on a price range.
Glasgow Police Museum
The Glasgow Police Museum is a small hidden gem within the metropolis centre with numerous reveals and shows showcasing the historical past of policing in Glasgow.
Children can study in regards to the totally different roles and duties of law enforcement officials and listen to actual tales of historic crimes handled by the Metropolis of Glasgow Police pressure, the primary metropolis police pressure in Britain. They’ll even gown up in police uniforms and pose for footage.
When arriving on the museum, make sure that to ask in regards to the two youngsters’ competitions to problem youthful guests.
The Lego Manhunt is for teenagers 8 years and beneath and includes trying to find Lego cops and robbers hidden among the many museum shows. The Museum Quiz is for teenagers 9+ and requires looking for clues and answering a sequence of inquiries to earn their ‘Junior Detective Award.’
Scottish Soccer Museum
For those who’re visiting Glasgow with younger soccer followers, don’t miss the chance to go to the Scottish Soccer Museum, Europe’s first nationwide soccer museum.
Situated inside Hampden Park, Scotland’s nationwide stadium, this museum presents a unbelievable expertise for soccer followers of all ages.
The interactive reveals and shows will educate you all about Scotland’s soccer historical past, with loads of fascinating memorabilia, together with interactive video games and challenges all through the museum for teenagers.
And for an much more memorable expertise, add on a stadium tour for a behind-the-scenes preview of considered one of Scotland’s largest soccer stadiums.
There are additionally different stadium excursions on provide when you’re visiting Glasgow with youngsters, together with an opportunity to discover Celtic Park
Scotland Avenue Faculty Museum
[EDIT: TEMPORARILY CLOSED] Scotland Avenue Faculty Museum is a novel expertise in Glasgow for teenagers and adults alike. The museum is ready inside the previous Scotland Avenue Faculty, which was designed by the well-known Scottish architect Charles Rennie Waterproof coat.
Inside, you’ll discover a vary of interactive reveals that deliver to life the historical past of training in Scotland and permit youngsters to expertise what it was prefer to be a scholar within the early twentieth century.
Little ones will love dressing up in conventional faculty uniforms and enjoying make-believe within the recreated lecture rooms, full with desks, chalkboards, and dunce hats.
The Botanic Gardens
On a sunny day, look forward to finding Glasgow’s botanic gardens full of households – though it’s unfold out a lot that it by no means felt crowded after we visited.
The kids’s backyard goals to assist educate and encourage youngsters, however can be a stunning peaceable spot to play in Glasgow for toddlers together with a small picket home which saved my daughter entertained for a stunning period of time.
The youngsters’s backyard can be subsequent door to a (much less peaceable but additionally enjoyable) playground which is useful if you happen to’ve received older siblings as nicely.
However you can too wander by means of the rose backyard and arboretum, discover loads of open area to run round and uncover the plant homes, significantly with older kids.
Better of all, there’s no entry cost if you happen to’re searching for free issues to do in Glasgow with toddlers or have an hour to kill when you’re visiting town.
Take a look at our evaluate of our go to to Glasgow Botanic Gardens with a toddler.
Kelvingrove Park
There are some pretty parks in Glasgow in addition to the Botanic Gardens, and wrapped across the Kelvingrove museum constructing, Kelvingrove Park is ideal to mix with a go to – there are shaded paths alongside the river Kelvin or a number of playgrounds (and skatepark) on the opposite facet.
Throughout holidays, you may anticipate extra actions going down, but it surely’s a stunning place for teenagers to stretch their legs regardless – or head additional into the park for a calmer spot if you happen to want someplace to relax out after a busy day within the metropolis.
Both approach, if you happen to’re searching for good walks for buggy naps whereas visiting Glasgow with toddlers or to let older youngsters burn off some vitality after wandering round a museum, maintain this on the checklist.
Glasgow Inexperienced
Glasgow Inexperienced is a lovely park within the east finish of town, sitting on the north financial institution of the River Clyde. It’s additionally the oldest park in Glasgow, relationship again to the fifth century.
Together with strolling routes, there’s numerous inexperienced area for teenagers to run round and stretch their legs, a number of playgrounds, a motorcycle rent station, and a skatepark.
However it’s the Glasgow Inexperienced Play Village which is among the highlights of the park for households, with two unbelievable play areas to select from. One space is for toddlers and youthful youngsters, whereas the opposite has a sequence of climbing frames and slides geared toward older kids.
The park can be house to the Individuals’s Palace Museum, which is free to enter and supplies an perception into town’s historical past (higher for older kids/teenagers).
Glasgow Necropolis
Set on a hilltop with some superb views again over town, this lovely Victorian cemetery is an enchanting if uncommon place to probe for guests of all ages.
The Necropolis runs guided excursions, that are good for households, with educated, pleasant, and interesting tour guides serving to to make the expertise appropriate for youthful kids.
Alternatively, you may obtain this app to study extra in regards to the cemetery on a self-guided tour and even print out some enjoyable information and puzzles for kids from the Necropolis web site, serving to youngsters study in regards to the lives and tales of well-known Glaswegians buried right here as they discover among the many elaborate headstones and monuments.
Pollok Nation Park
For those who’re searching for a enjoyable household time out in Glasgow away from the busy metropolis centre, look no additional than Pollok Nation Park, sitting simply on the outskirts of town.
The expansive parkland consists of loads of actions to maintain youngsters entertained, together with woodland walks to a big journey play space, and a small hedge maze, in addition to numerous open inexperienced area. You should definitely maintain an eye fixed out for the various highland cows roaming across the open grassland.
The park can be house to Pollok Home, a historic stately house, and its lovely gardens, for an fascinating perception into upper-class life in Glasgow in the course of the Victorian interval.
The Glasgow Mural Path
The Glasgow Mural Path is a peculiar and thrilling technique to discover town’s vibrant avenue artwork scene in addition to Glasgow itself with youngsters.
With over 30 murals scattered all through town, the path is a enjoyable and interactive technique to uncover Glasgow’s wealthy historical past and tradition. From big portraits of well-known Scots to whimsical cartoon characters, there’s one thing for everybody to get pleasure from alongside the path.
It might probably take a number of hours to finish the complete mural path, so if you happen to’re planning on doing it in a single go, that is perhaps a bit an excessive amount of strolling for little legs (and shorter consideration spans). However you may at all times simply decide one space of town to concentrate on and attempt to see as many as you may.
You too can take a avenue artwork tour of Glasgow on a 90-minute stroll across the metropolis
Metropolis Sightseeing Hop-On Hop-Off Bus Tour
The Metropolis Sightseeing Bus Tour is an effective way to discover Glasgow with kids – particularly these with little legs who could battle strolling round massive cities.
The open-top bus takes you round lots of the metropolis’s hottest websites and sights, together with Glasgow Cathedral, Glasgow Inexperienced, and the Kelvingrove Artwork Gallery and Museum.
You may hop on and off at any of the 22 stops as many instances as you want for both 1 or 2 days, relying on which Metropolis Sightseeing Glasgow ticket you purchase, making it a straightforward technique to get across the metropolis.
And when you’re shifting across the metropolis, youngsters can even study some enjoyable information about Glasgow’s historic landmarks by way of the onboard audio guides.
Go Quest Journey
For a enjoyable and weird technique to spend a household time out in Glasgow, set your self the problem of taking over the Go Quest Journey.
The web recreation includes the entire household fixing clues and puzzles, and finishing challenges, as you head out exploring Glasgow’s iconic landmarks and extra hidden websites. You’ll additionally uncover numerous enjoyable information and fascinating tales in regards to the metropolis’s historical past alongside the best way.
Nice in case your youngsters (otherwise you!) don’t fancy the thought of a conventional strolling tour of Glasgow too. All you might want to do is buy the Glasgow Quest, obtain the app onto your cellphone, enter all gamers (as much as 5 folks), and get going.
The quests are appropriate for teenagers of all ages, though kids underneath 10 could discover among the questions and challenges slightly troublesome.
Head to the theatre
There are some nice theatres in Glasgow for teenagers as nicely, together with household exhibits on the King’s Theatre and Theatre Royal – take a look at among the newest theatre productions in Glasgow for households right here.
For those who’re visiting town with toddlers and youthful youngsters, there are different choices focused on the youngest guests. The Tron Theatre has performances focused on the underneath fives, together with Tiny And Tall Tales
Or if you happen to’re travelling with barely older kids, it’s price testing the performances that are going down at Sharmanka Kinetic Theatre as nicely.
Glasgow Climbing Centre
One of many first devoted indoor climbing gyms in Scotland, right this moment the Glasgow Climbing Centre is the most recent indoor roped climbing centre within the west of the nation.
With choices for all ages and ranges, you don’t must have tried climbing earlier than with classes for novices in addition to household choices. There are sometimes additional actions in the course of the holidays as nicely.
Take a look at my information to Glasgow with youngsters for extra recommendations on visiting town
Issues to do close to Glasgow with youngsters
The town additionally makes an excellent base to discover among the surrounding countryside, with a string of simple day journeys from Glasgow. Listed below are a couple of concepts for household days out.
Loch Lomond Nature Reserve
Round an hour from town by automotive, lovely Loch Lomond provides you a style of the Scottish Highlands and Lowlands, because it stretches throughout each landscapes.
Head to the RSPB Loch Lomond Nature Reserve on the banks of the loch, the place you may spot deer in addition to hen galore – together with fishing osprey if you happen to’re fortunate.
Go to in spring and also you’ll see a carpet of bluebells, or watch buzzards hovering overhead in summer season, plus the attractive altering colors of the woodland in autumn. There are sometimes household actions going down throughout holidays in addition to pushchair-friendly trails.
Stirling Fortress, Stirling
Lower than an hour from Glasgow by prepare or automotive, Stirling Fortress was constructed within the fashion of a French Renaissance palace to make James V’s French queen really feel at house – youngsters even get the prospect to fulfill Marie of Guise, mom to Mary Queen of Scots, alongside the king throughout visits.
In addition to encountering royalty and seeing the lavish Royal Palace, you may head into the Nice Kitchens and down into the palace vaults with their interactive exhibitions on music and artwork, in addition to jesters and tailors.
There’s additionally a household path within the unicorn backyard for teenagers to comply with. Again inside, an exhibition on the fortress, telling its historical past – together with the 50-year interval when the fortress modified palms eight instances in the course of the Wars of Independence.
Plus the Nice Corridor, peaceable Queen Anne Backyard, the Chapel Royal and the fascinating Stirling Heads, enormous Sixteenth-century oak medallions carved with pictures of kings, queens, nobles, Roman emperors and characters from the Bible and Classical mythology.
Edinburgh
You’re actually not in need of issues to do in Glasgow with youngsters, however with direct trains linking town to Edinburgh, it’s simple to mix the 2.
And there’s heaps extra household enjoyable to be discovered within the Scottish capital, from museums and historical past to quirky excursions and child-friendly sights.
Together with the unbelievable Edinburgh Zoo, there’s heaps to find for Harry Potter followers, ghoulishly ghostly enjoyable for teenagers and even some chocolate as an added temptation.
Take a look at my decide of the highest issues to do in Edinburgh with youngsters right here
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Glasgow science centre/Botanic backyard copyright MummyTravels, avenue artwork by way of Picfair, all others courtesy of Depositphotos