Exploring Greenhead Park with a toddler

We are making the most of the slightly improved weather this half term by getting out and about to some parks we haven’t been to since last year. Today we went to Greenhead Park in Huddersfield and had a brilliant morning exploring the ponds, trying all the different swings and clambering on the climbing frames.

Planning your visit to Greenhead Park

Greenhead Park is about 5-10 minutes walk from the main bus or train station, and there is plenty of free parking on the road surrounding the park. In the summer we found it got very busy for parking after around 9.30, but we always found a spot and never had to walk far. There are several gates to the park dotted around the edges so you can get in from any side.

Exploring the ponds and feeding the birds

There are two big areas of water in the park, one which is a pond for ducks and water birds, and the other is a paddling pool in summer but gets taken over by the birds in the winter. The cafe at the bottom of the park sells pellets to feed to the ducks and birds, for 20p a bag. We got two bags today as they are pretty small and Olivia really loves feeding them to the birds.

Playing in the main park for younger children

Greenhead Park has a brilliant big play park that is perfect for younger children, There is a climbing frame and swings, but also some really unusual lovely touches like a tunnel with an Astroturf roof to climb, a set of beautiful wooden and metal musical instruments to play, and an awesome big rope climbing structure. Olivia loves it all but especially likes to balance precariously on the grass roof!

Checking out the bigger adventure playground

For the first time since we have been coming here Olivia decided she was big enough for the adventure playground for older children! It was really fun to explore this with her and a great chance for me to trust in her to know her own ability and show me what she felt capable of doing. There is a huge wooden climbing structure with a big tube slide which we went on together, a big round swing which you can climb on and some different style swings which go really high and fast – perfect for this little adrenaline monkey!

Warming up and snacks at Greenhead Park

There are two main cafes at the park, one at the top and one at the bottom. I prefer the one at the bottom, it tends to be quieter, has more space and the food is much nicer. That said, some of the staff are a bit grumpy! We still had a lovely cup of tea there this morning when we wanted to warm up, and the young girl working on the counter was lovely with Olivia, letting her choose and pay for her bird food. We took a picnic for lunchtime and there are lots of benches to choose from around the park.

Have you been to Greenhead Park before? What is your favourite bit to explore? I always love to hear about other parks you love which we should try out.

Manor Heath park in the winter

I don’t know about you but we are really ready to get outside and enjoy some fresh air after the rubbish weather we have had recently! Olivia loves being outside but hates being cold, so we have invested in some awesome warm all in ones and thermal gloves and socks in a bid to make sure we spend more time outside in the run up to spring. One of our favourite outdoor places to go is Manor Heath Park in Halifax, and we went recently on an unexpectedly sunny afternoon.

Planning your visit to Manor Heath Park

The park is easiest to get to by car, but you could get a bus to King Cross and walk down from there in about 5/10 minutes. There is a small car park at the top of the park but also lots of on street parking all the way around. The park is free to get in but the butterfly house is £1 per child.

Exploring Manor Heath Park playground

The play areas are really great, with something for all ages. The main park has a range of climbing frames, slides, baby swings, a big netted swing, a playhouse structure and a roundabout. There are also some lovely touches like some talking/listening tubes which allow children (or grownups!) to talk to each other across the playpark.

Mucking about in the water play at Manor Heath Park

A brilliant feature at Manor Heath is the water play area – in the summer there are buttons to press to make the water flow and then all kinds of troughs and sluices etc to get them children involved in directing, building up and releasing the water in different areas. It really is fascinating and a great way to learn and play at the same time. In the winter though, the water is turned off to avoid ice. Even so, Olivia loves running around and climbing over the troughs, plus what toddler doesn’t love poking a stick around some muddy rainwater for a while?!

Meeting some animals down at Manor Heath Park!

If the winter air gets a bit too fresh after a while and you need to warm up, you can head to the butterfly house for £1 per child. This small tropical conservatory has meandering paths to run along, an amazing array of tropical plants and some fish, terrapins, butterflies and occasionally quails to say hello to. Olivia loves it in here and calls it the ‘turtle house’. It is a lovely way to warm up and explore a different environment.

Are there any particular parks that you enjoy going to in the colder months? Bonus points if they have somewhere indoors to warm up when needed and a place to have a sheltered picnic!

The Smith art gallery and library for toddlers

As we love visiting Bankfield Museum so much I thought it would be a great idea to look at other local galleries and museums which might offer some fun learning experiences for Olivia. Before doing a ‘gallery’ search on Google maps on my local area I had never heard of the Smith Gallery in Brighouse, but I quickly found out it also contained a library and had some gardens to explore, so we decided to check it out.

Planning your visit to the Smith Gallery in Brighouse

The Gallery is located just outside the centre of Brighouse, about ten minutes walk from the main Sainsbury’s bus stop. It has a handy car park with plenty of spaces too. It is closed on Wednesdays and Sundays but other than that opens every day from 10 until 4. Entry to the gallery is free, there is a donation box if you want to pop some change in.

Exploring the art gallery

There are two main rooms to the gallery, one which is full of beautiful paintings, both portraits and landscapes, from a range of artists. There was a particularly lovely one by the famous artist Atkinson Grimshaw. Olivia enjoyed looking at all the different people and their clothes, and really loved posting lots of change in the donation box! The other room has visiting exhibitions which change throughout the year, and at the moment there is a really interesting display of local maps – I enjoyed finding the location of my house on a few. There aren’t any children-focused displays in the gallery but it was interesting to look round and plenty of space for toddlers to clamber around.

The Brighouse library

In the same building is the main Brighouse library and they have a really lovely section for younger children. There were lots of books to look at, some comfy eats and a small table with colouring materials. Olivia also quickly spotted the shelf of sticker books which were for sale at £1 each – great value for some fun and educational activity books. We spent most of our time in the children’s library as it had much more to interest our little ones.

The Smith gallery gardens

To run of some steam we explored the gardens outside the gallery, and spent a surprising amount of time out there. There are paths to run around, benches to sit on, rocks and trees to clamber on, and of course puddles to splash in!

Lunchtime at the Smith art gallery

There isn’t a cafe there so I would recommend taking some snacks and enjoying them in the gardens. If it is a bit chilly then there is a small cafe (The Old Post Office) 2 minutes walk up the hill on the right. We went in for a brew and they were happy for Olivia to have her picnic in there whilst we had tea and toasted teacakes, perfect!

Toddlebeast rating 3.5

We had a fab time here but there isn’t as much to entertain the little ones as at Bankfield Museum. I think it is definitely worth a visit though, especially in the spring when you can spend time outside in the gardens too.

This was our first visit to anything in Brighouse – do you live nearby? I would love to hear your recommendations for fun things to do in this area.

Toddlers investigate the toy library!

Have you ever been to a toy library before? I didn’t even know they existed until my friend invited me to the one in Hebden Bridge. What a great idea though – a place where your children can explore new toys and borrow one they really like for a week. I’m a big believer in not cluttering up our home with every toy under the sun, as I find Olivia gets a lot more out of a smaller number of imaginative toys – she gets overwhelmed and bored when there is too much going on in her playspace. The library means you can try out new items before spending a fortune, brilliant.

Planning your trip to the toy library

The Hebden Bridge toy library runs on a Thursday morning at Hope Baptist Church, opposite the cinema, 10-11.30am. It is really close to the main bus stop, 5 minutes walk from the train station and there are several car parks signposted in the centre of Hebden so it is super easy to get to.  The only tricky bit on our first visit was getting in the building – the entrance you want is around the side of the church, up a small ramp. Once inside, head upstairs to the first floor and you will see the toy library room – and hear the unrecognisable sound of lots of toddlers!

What do they have at the toy library?

The group is run by a lovely lady called Sarah (I think, apologies of I have her name wrong, my memory is shocking and I fully blame sleep deprivation 😉 ) and she has chosen a brilliant range of toys to have at the library. They had everything from a fully equipped wooden dolls house, fire engine and huge spiralled car ramp, to some lovely open ended Grimms and Little Stars toys, plus a beautiful ball run and some great quality dolls. Olivia really loved playing with the doll in the sturdy wooden pram, and also enjoyed the Haba ball run which had this amazing spinning cog that went round the ball track. All the toys at the toy library can be hired for a week and range from 50p-£1.50.

Food and drink at the toy library

A lovely surprise at the end of the session was snack time with fruit, biscuits and breadsticks, followed by a short singing session, which the toddlers loved. If, like us, you are ready for lunch afterwards, I can highly recommend Marco’s pizza just 5 minutes walk away. The freshly made pizzas are the best I have ever eaten and the owner is extremely friendly to families, even providing a little table with toys and books to keep them entertained.

Toddlebeast rating: 3.5 (I really enjoyed this trip out and we will definitely do it again, but Olivia is battling with sharing at the moment so the session was a bit intense at times. This is only natural though and I look forward to going again soon).

Have you been to a toy library before? Do you regularly hire toys out? We didn’t borrow anything this time but definitely will on our next visit.

Trampolining with a toddler in Halifax

A new trampoline park opened recently in Halifax, and we couldn’t resist a visit to try it out. Airtime is based in Ovenden in Halifax, so only a 20 minute drive for us, and I was confident that Olivia, being full of energy at all times, would love the opportunity to ricochet around a huge room full of trampolines!

Apologies in advance for the quality of the photos – not easy to do when trampolining!

Planning your visit to Airtime trampoline park

I would definitely advise booking your session at airtime – the toddler sessions run daily at 10am and come to just £5 for one under 5 and a parent. They are proving popular though so make sure you book online and don’t have a wasted journey. As Airtime is situated on a business park in Ovenden, there is plenty of parking . Just make sure you park in the bit signposted for the trampoline park – I went in the wrong bit and had to move my car, not much fun in the snow we were having that day!

Exploring the trampoline park

Once inside, you check in at the desk, buy your grippy socks (£2 for a reusable pair) and head in to put all your belongings in a locker and watch a short safety video. It is pretty much common sense really – watch out for small children rocketing around and don’t all crowd on to one trampoline. Then you head into the trampoline park for an hour of bouncy fun!

There are huge areas of open trampolines for jumping and running across, big blocks for jumping off, a balance beam over a foam pit and a huge air bag to dive on to. There are also some ball and sports based activities which I imagine would be great for the older kids.

Olivia particularly loved the balancing beam, jumping into the foam pit and running very fast across all the trampolines!

Eating and drinking at the trampoline park

A great little addition to the trampoline park is that you get free entry into the play gym and cafe during toddler sessions. We headed in after our bounce session to have some lunch and wind down. The food was reasonably priced, although I did think they could have more in terms of healthy options. Also, it gets really busy so I think an additional picnic area for those who bring packed lunches would be a fab idea.

Toddlebeast rating: 4/5

Overall it was a really fun morning out and definitely worth a visit – have you ever taken your smalls to a trampoline park? Which is your favourite?

Bankfield Museum is full of fun for little ones

Have you visited many museums with your little people? It’s not something I would have thought of as child-friendly before having Olivia, but museums and art galleries are something we do regularly now and Olivia absolutely loves it. For us, the trick is knowing which ones have suitable interactive exhibits and activities to keep her entertained. It makes a lovely change from busy play gyms in the winter, and Olivia gets the chance to see and learn lots of new things whilst exploring. We visited Bankfield Museum last week and had a really fun morning.

Planning your visit to Bankfield Museum

Bankfield Museum is one of our most local museums, and is hidden away in a small park just 5 minutes from Halifax town centre in a car, or 15 minutes walk from the main bus station. There is a large car park right by the front door, although they are doing up the antique flooring at the moment so you need to use the side entrance, which is more pram friendly anyway if you are using one. There isn’t a cafe at the museum so I would recommend bringing your own snacks and drinks, we usually have a picnic outside or a ‘boot picnic’ if it is raining! There are nice clean toilets and baby changing facilities, and I always manage to find a comfy chair to breastfeed Olivia if she wants to. Although these days she is often too busy exploring!

The galleries

There are two sprawling floors of lots of rooms, it really is like a maze in there! Olivia loves exploring the different areas, running down the corridors and climbing the beautiful staircase. Much of the museum has a military theme but there are also exhibits on vintage toys, artwork, costumes and antiques. What makes Bankfield Museum so lovely for a young child to explore is that they have taken care to add interactive elements to most of the galleries, including dress up clothes, soft toys, bookcases, ball games and drawing tables.

 

Crafting and singing at Bankfield Buddies

By far my favourite thing about Bankfield is that every Friday morning they run a toddler session called Bankfield Buddies. Run by Fiona and Geoffrey, two of th calmest most lovely people, it is an hour of playing with toys, reading books, making craft projects and singing songs. It is held in the Ackroyd Library at the back of the museum and each week has a different theme; this week was polar bears! I feel like Olivia gets a lot out of the sessions, and she loves taking her craft project home to show Daddy – we have quite a collection on the kitchen wall now!

Toddlebeast rating: 5/5

You can check out the museum on Facebook and see the dates of the Buddies classes too. Have you been to the museum yet? What did your children think to the new Harry Potter-themed library?

 

Exploring Eureka with a toddler

If you haven’t heard of Eureka before then it won’t be long before you do – we are very lucky to have this children’s museum just 10 minutes drive from home, but I know people come from miles away to bring their little ones to explore its galleries and activities.

I often meet friends with their children at Eureka but today we went on our own for the morning for a play and some lunch.

Travelling to Eureka

Eureka is right next to Halifax train station, and only a few minutes walk from the bus station, so it is super easy to get to by public transport. There is also a huge car park and plenty of on street parking so you are never stuck for a spot. The museum opens at 10, but there are some lovely gardens and a sandpit to explore if you get there early. If you are going to visit more than once in a year it is worth getting their annual pass, it’s the same price as a day ticket and is such good value.

The Eureka galleries

All the areas or galleries in Eureka have a theme, and at the moment they cover:

• A sensory jungle garden – with fab areas for younger babies and some fun dressing up for toddlers
• Sound and music activities – with lots of buttons to press and different sounds and styles of music to identify
• Everyday life interactive area – with a supermarket, house, bank and garage
• Two technology areas – with different games to play, robots to control and some amazing robotic block building kits
• The desert discovery area – with some fun physical activities including a ball winching machine and big building cubes
• The body area – brilliant interactive displays all about our bodies, with a dentist room, dancing skeleton and a digestion display that has a burp button!

There really is a lot to explore, at the moment I find Olivia particularly enjoys the supermarket, the body area and playing in the technology rooms.

Additional activities at Eureka

As well as the whole museum to explore, Eureka often has extra activities for you to join in with, including crafting and drawing in the Creative Space, storytime in the house, and themed events during times like Christmas and Easter. A nice touch is that you can do drawing and painting in the Creative Space then hang your art up to dry so you can take it home as a keepsake.

Eating and drinking at Eureka

There is a fab cafe with a lot of space, but it can still get busy so we tend to lunch a bit early to make sure we have plenty of room and a bit of peace and quiet. The menu choices are varied and there are plenty of healthy options. They do children’s snack boxes but Olivia isn’t really a fan and much prefers beans on toast or some of my jacket potato!

There is a small room upstairs for feeding/changing babies if you want a quiet space, but it’s not very roomy or comfy so you are probably better off in the cafe or one of the picnic areas. I have breastfed Olivia countless times at Eureka over the past 2.5 years and we always manage to find somewhere to sit and relax whilst she nurses.

The staff at Eureka are very friendly and helpful and the exhibits are impressive in the range of subjects and learning styles they cover. We love going and tend to visit a couple of times a month. Have you been to Eureka? What did you think? Leave me a comment to let me know 🙂