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Families | Ideas worth sharing

People's History Museum is Family Friendly throughout, with hands-on stuff in every gallery for all visitors to enjoy.

Image of children playing in the Co-op shop in Main Gallery Two at People's History Museum.
Image of young child in suffragette dress up at People's History Museum.
Image of toddler opening display drawer in the main galleries at People's History Museum.
Image of visitors enjoying the juke box in the Time Off? section in Gallery Two at People's History Museum.
Image of Visitors enjoying the Co-op shop at People's History Museum
Image of Exploring the interactive digital experience Grunwick strike (1976 1978)
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Family favourites

  • Explore hands-on activities and digital interactives for all ages in every gallery
  • Visit the suffragette kitchen to play the Pank-a-Squith board game
  • See how fast you can work at the Bryant & May match factory through an arcade style game
  • Go back in time at the Co-op shop
  • Play your favourite songs on a vintage jukebox

Find out what's on
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Facilities

  • Take time out in the family break area, which is perfect for those with younger children
  • Pick up a pocket money friendly souvenir from PHM’s shop
  • Enjoy a sustainable, ethical, and delicious food experience at Open Kitchen Cafe & Bar
  • Enjoy a packed lunch in the picnic area
  • Baby changing facilities and gender neutral toilets are available – if you get caught short ask for a free emergency nappy!
  • Breastfeeding welcome throughout the museum and cafe

Plan your visit
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Access

  • There is a Quiet Room by the Info Desk
  • This Visual Story will show you what to expect in each space in the building
  • Get in touch if you have queries or require any assistance in advance of your visit on 0161 838 9190 or access@phm.org.uk

 

We are committed to supporting all visitors during their time at PHM.  We understand that everyone has different access needs.

Click the button below for further information on access at PHM.

Access at PHM
What to see and do at PHM

Exhibitions and events

Family Friendly activities at People’s History Museum

PHM offers an engaging programme of Family Friendly exhibitions, installations, events, workshops, and activities, to connect you and your family with the museum’s unique collections and stories.

Suitable for a range of ages, see individual event information.

What's on for families

PHM shop

People's History Museum shop, Manchester

PHM shop is filled with books about inspiring people from history, to inspire little radicals for the future.  Pocket money friendly souvenirs and gifts such as jigsaws and playing cards inspired by the museum’s collections are perfect for keeping little ones entertained.

Recurrent winner of the “Toymark” Good Practice Award, PHM shop is recognised for its inclusivity and for challenging gender stereotypes by the Let Toys be Toys campaign.

Browse PHM's online shop

Open Kitchen Cafe & Bar

Open Kitchen Cafe & Bar at People's History Museum

Take a break from exploring with a sustainable, ethical, and delicious food experience at Open Kitchen Cafe & Bar at PHM; offering breakfast, lunch and drinks to grab and go, or sit in and enjoy.

Open Kitchen has worked with PHM to develop a Family Friendly offer to ensure the cafe is welcoming and affordable to all families.  There is a child friendly menu that balances healthy with appealing, even for picky youngsters, with their lunchtime menu for kids including sandwiches, pasta, or pizza from £3.50.

Take a break
Ideas worth exploring at home

Doodle Den

Doodle Den with People's History Museum

 

 

 

 

 

Make your own Doodle Den at home, pick up a pencil and explore PHM’s collections through sketching, scribbling and silliness.

Suitable for ages 5+

Get doodling!

What is Protest?

What is 'protest'? image

 

 

 

 

 

Use this comic to help explain what protest is to children, exploring the complexity of emotions that might be felt and how you can be an ally to someone who needs support.

Suitable for ages 5+

Read comic

Create a multi-ended story

'Stories are a way we can empathise with someone else's experience ... feel connected and know that we could be similarly understood.' Storytelling at People's History Museum

 

 

 

 

 

Discover the power of storytelling in addressing climate grief and create a multi-ended story where the reader chooses the destiny of the planet.

Suitable for ages 7+

Create your story

Build a window farm

Hydroponics experiment by artist Colette Whittington. Image courtesy of People's History Museum

 

 

 

 

 

Make a hydroponic experiment to build your own window farm.  Recycling a plastic drink bottle with a bit of fabric and some gravel, get your first crop planted.

Suitable for ages 7+

Get growing

I Spy nature activity sheet

I Spy nature activity sheet from People's History Museum

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lots of the banners at the museum are decorated with images inspired by nature.

Go for a walk and see how many of these images you can find, then design your own banner with the images of nature you found on your walk.

Suitable for ages 5+

View activity sheet
Family Friendly throughout

Family Friendly Museum Award winner

We Love Kids in Museums logo

PHM is proud to be a previous winner of the Kids in Museums Family Friendly Museum Award, Britain’s only museum award where families pick the winner.

‘The museum staff were amazing.  They were friendly, welcoming and informative.  They came and chatted to the girls (not just to me!) and asked if we needed any help, and gave great feedback to the art work they were creating.’
Comment on PHM from Kids in Museums family judge.

Find out more

Kids in Museums Manifesto

We've signed up to the Kids in Museums Manifesto

The Kids in Museums Manifesto is a set of simple guidelines for museums created with children, young people and
families.  It sets out what they feel makes a museum a great place to visit.

PHM is pleased to be one of over 1,000 museums, heritage sites and cultural organisations signed up in support of the Manifesto, and we are committed to following the guidelines and welcoming visitors of all ages and families of all shapes and sizes.

Find out more

Family Arts Standards

Family Arts Standards

PHM follows Family Arts Campaign’s Family Arts Standards, helping families to find arts activities that are suitable for all ages, covering the basic considerations for families visiting an arts experience.

‘Each time we go, we find something different and as my children get older they see and engage the exhibitions differently and get different things from the experience.’
Family feedback on PHM.

Find out more
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