Families
We can’t wait to welcome you to Salford Museum and Art Gallery!
We are FREE and welcome all children to get involve in our exhibitions and activities. Please see our FAQs and planning a visit pages for more information to help you get the most from your visit (All under 8’s must be accompanied by an adult who is responsible for them).
A family friendly museum
At Salford Museum and Art Gallery we strive to be family friendly throughout, with accessible ways of engaging with our collections and lots of hands-on activities. Online resources and activities are also available to bring our collections to life for visitors of all ages!
- Pick up a pocket money friendly souvenir from the Shop
- Enjoy a freshly-made meal or snack in our friendly Café, situated on the ground floor. Our friendly café staff can advise you on allergies and intolerances. Anyone needing to warm or cool a baby bottle can be provided with a jug of warm or cold water.
- Enjoy a packed lunch in the lovely Peel Park behind the museum, or enquire at Reception to see if there is a picnic space available inside
- Baby changing facilities are available on the ground floor – if you get caught short ask for a free emergency nappy!
- Breastfeeding is welcome throughout the Museum and Café
- Free Wi-Fi available throughout the building
- There is a lift to the first floor galleries.
- We aren’t currently able to offer buggy parking, but all our galleries are accessible for buggies.
If you have any questions before you visit us, please call us on 0161 778 0800 during our opening hours.
What's on offer?
Salford Museum and Art Gallery is a great place for your family to have fun together! We try to let visitors be as hands-on as possible, to explore and discover something new each time!
Highlights include:
- Dressing up as a Victorian on Lark Hill Place our atmospheric Victorian street
Weighing and measuring using traditional scales outside Mt. Tomlinson’s corner shop - Sing your favourite nursery rhymes in our Victorian Gallery, inspired by the beautiful paintings in our permanent collection.
- Get crafty at home with our fun Heritage Makes craft videos – don’t forget to share on social media and tag us in!
We love welcoming our very youngest visitors to Salford Museum & Art Gallery, and strive to make any visit as hassle-free and fun as possible.
A visit to the galleries includes lots of different sensory experiences for babies and toddlers, from bright open spaces to dark spaces, with different noises and things to touch and explore.
Nursery Rhyme Trail
Do you like spotting things? Our Victorian Gallery is full of beautiful paintings with lots of things to discover and talk about. Here is a fun way of interacting with them with your little ones!
If you’re in the Gallery, simply look out for the speech bubbles near each artwork, spot the animal or object and sing together! There are song sheets for you to use in the Gallery too.
Simply click on a rhyme here, and find the words, signs and painting it links to.
Can you make the Makaton sign for each animal or object? Can you spot any other rhymes in our paintings? Do let us know in person on social media if you do!
Gallery Babies
For our pre-walking babies we have our monthly Gallery Babies sessions. Term time only. Read our latest blog post about the sessions.
Keep checking back on our What’s On pages for details of activities and events for young children.
Facilities
We have baby changing facilities available on the ground floor. High chairs are available in the café, as well as coffee and cake for grown-ups! Anyone needing to warm or cool a baby bottle can be provided with a jug of warm or cold water. If you need any assistance, please speak to one of our friendly staff members.
We look forward to welcoming you to Salford Museum & Art Gallery. We are committed to making your visit as enjoyable as possible.
- The museum is free to enter. Children under 8 must be accompanied by a responsible adult
- The museum is a member of the Visit England Quality Assurance scheme and is assessed annually
See our Accessibility page for more information.
If you would like help to plan your visit, for example to be advised of quieter times, please contact us in advance of your visit on 0161 778 0800 or email salford.museum@scll.co.uk.
Heritage Makes Craft Activities
You don’t have to visit us in person to be inspired by our collections and use your imagination! Check out our Heritage Makes activities below, and download and watch to get creative at home!
Don’t forget to follow us on social media to be the first to find out about fun events and activities and share your creations using #HeritageMakes.
Be inspired by our Pilkington’s Pottery collection, which you can see on your next visit to Salford Museum and Art Gallery. The designers, potters and chemists at Pilkington’s were known for their cutting-edge techniques and beautiful designs, often featuring animals and plants.
What will you put on your own vase design? Will the colours be bright and bold or soft and light? How big would the vase be? What would you put in it?
Watch our short video, download the design sheet and have a go! Don’t forget to share your #HeritageMakes with us on social media!
Be inspired by our Pilkington’s Pottery collection, which you can see on your next visit to Salford Museum and Art Gallery. The designers, potters and chemists at Pilkington’s were known for their cutting-edge techniques and beautiful designs, often featuring animals and plants. Their tiles were used around fireplaces, on walls and on floors.
What will you put on your own tile design? Will the colours be bright and bold or soft and light? Where would the tile be used?
Watch our short video, download the design sheet and have a go! Don’t forget to share your #HeritageMakes with us on social media!
Maker’s marks were used by potters to show who had made each piece. When you visit us at Salford Museum and Art Gallery next, you can see lots of different maker’s marks for the dozens of potters who created the beautiful Pilkington’s ceramics in Salford.
Have a go at designing your own! How will you show that it is yours, and nobody else’s?
One of the most-loved paintings at Salford Museum and Art Gallery is The Fancy Dress Ball by Arthur Perigal. It was painted between 1828 and 1830, and shows 3,000 guests at a fancy dress ball during the Manchester Music Festival in 1828. Local businessmen and important people paid a guinea (£1 and 1 shilling) each to attend, and paid the artist a further guinea to be included in the painting.
What would your fancy dress costume have been? What do you think it would have been like at the ball? We think it might have been rather hot! Why not have a go at making your own fan to keep cool! We’d love to see a photo of you keeping cool in your fancy dress – share on social media with #HeritageMakes!
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Cup-and-ball toys have been popular throughout history, and during many different time periods. They are often made out of wood and string, but here you can have a go at making your own with items you can find around the house! You can make your own design to personalise it too.
Watch our short video and have a go! Don’t forget to share your #HeritageMakes with us on social media!
Peg dolls have been popular with children for centuries. Originally they were carved out of small pieces of wood, and then became another way of using pegs from washday to make cheap toys, using scraps of fabric from around the house.
Check out the video for a bit of history and some simple instructions to make your own at home! Don’t forget to share your #HeritageMakes with us on social media!
Thaumatropes were popular Victorian toys, that were part of the craze that the period saw for scientific play and learning. When the disc spins, the images on either side blur together, and they appear as one image to us. Popular designs were birds and cages and birds and trees.
Have a go at making your own! They are very simple, just make sure you put the 2 images the correct way up on the disc!
Don’t forget to share your #HeritageMakes with us on social media!
Learn about some of the key people making Pilkington’s ceramics and make your own lovely playset!
Pilkington’s Pottery made a huge range of beautiful pots and tiles during its 117 year history. We have picked some of the pieces on display in our museum to create this lovely mobile template. Just match the vase shapes, stick together and hang with string – our video will show you how!
Don’t forget to share your #HeritageMakes with us on social media!
Family events and activities
Gallery Babies
Come along to our gentle sensory sessions for pre-walking babies and their carers. Explore the activities together in the relaxed…
Gallery Babies
Come along to our gentle sensory sessions for pre-walking babies and their carers. Explore the activities together in the relaxed…
Gallery Babies
Come along to our gentle sensory sessions for pre-walking babies and their carers. Explore the activities together in the relaxed…
