Yorkshire Sculpture Park

We have been meaning to take Olivia here for ages, so we were super excited to go finally on a day trip with her friend Ivy. The girls had an amazing time and it was genuinely fun for the grown ups too – win win!

Planning your visit to Yorkshire Sculpture Park

YSP is near Wakefield – it takes around 40 minutes in the car from Halifax, but you can also get a bus straight there from Wakefield or Barnsley. There is a cafe and toilets, plenty of picnic spots, and even some tables under cover for having lunch outside if it is rainy.

YSP indoor galleries

They have some brilliant exhibitions on in the indoor galleries. When we went, there was a beautiful collection of woodland creatures by Mr Finch, and, my favourite, a stunning display of tree-inspired sculptures by Guiseppe Penone called Tree In the Woods. When we entered the Tree in the Woods section we borrowed an art park from the box for Olivia to draw pictures of the sculptures. She loved creating different shapes with the charcoal and magnifying glass.

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The YSP gardens

The sun came out halfway through our visit so we went outside to explore the gardens. They are beautiful in their own right, but it is especially fun to come across the amazing sculptures dotted around. the girls loved peeking through them and running round the secret pond.

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We had a fab day at YSP and we are planning to go back again – there is a lot we didn’t get chance to see, especially outside, so it would be good to go back on a sunnier day. One of the best bits was seeing Olivia just loving running round the gardens!

National Science and Media Museum for toddlers

I remember going to the National Science and Media Museum as a kid, and absolutely loved it, but I was delighted to find it has been completely revamped and extended since my childhood visits, and has even more to offer families with young children.

Planning your visit to the National Science and Media Museum

Based in the centre of Bradford, the Museum is 5 minutes walk from the bus or train station, and there are several long and short stay car parks dotted around, including a really handy one right outside the back door which is only £1 on Sundays – brilliant! The museum can get quite busy on a weekend, but we have found that afternoons after 3 are much quieter, and it is open until 6 so still plenty of time to explore. I was amazed that entry into the Museum is still completely free, so it’s a fab option for a day out on a budget.

The Wonderlab

One of our favourite parts of the museum is definitely the Wonderlab – this gallery has a huge range of interactive exhibits which encourage children to explore ideas around the senses, our environment and perception. Olivia loves running through the hall of mirrors and playing with the glow in the dark shapes. She also really enjoyed showing her hot little tummy to the infrared camera! 😂

Exploring the galleries

The other floors of the museum have a range of themed galleries which you can explore, and during certain times like science week and half term etc they have great craft activities for the children to take part in. Olivia loves playing on the retro games machines with her Daddy and spends a good chunk of times jumping up and down all the stairs too!

Eating and drinking at the National Science and Media Museum

There is a pretty spacious cafe on the ground floor, which does hot lunches, snacks, cakes and sandwiches. Although the food is nice, it is very expensive and we generally take our own snacks. There is a handy indoor picnic room where you can take packed lunches, and it’s nice and big so great if you have a little monkey who likes to climb and run whilst they eat.

Olivia had a brilliant time at the National Science and Media Museum – it’s such a fab place to learn and explore and is a great free resource to have on our doorstep. We look forward to going regularly as there is a lot to intrigue children of all ages. Do you have a favourite part of the Museum?

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!

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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.