Play Street Museum - Lowry

About

You cannot just turn up. Play here is by reservation only, in set sessions through the working week, and weekend playtimes appear on the events calendar rather than on a fixed timetable, so check it before you promise anyone a Saturday morning.

The booking is also what makes the place. A parent whose eleven-month-old prefers small, uncrowded rooms says the reservation slots mean it is never crowded, and that is why it suits their daughter. The play city is detailed enough to hold a four-year-old for a whole session: a supermarket stocked with play food, suitcases to load onto the airplane, coloring pages, a Duplo table, and a live bearded dragon in the pet shop. The same parent found that the slot went by quickly.

Its reviews come from the younger end, running from that eleven-month-old, who had just started walking, through an eighteen-month-old, to one six-year-old who had a good time. Strollers stay out of the play area and food stays outside altogether, though drinks are allowed. Children are handed a snack on the way out instead, which three separate reviewers mention, and one grandparent watched their grandchildren spend the visit being shopkeepers and pilots.