Babies & Kids in the City 2013 is available to buy now online! It's completely new with some fab ideas on what to do with children aged 0-11years.

Days out in Manchester - Babies & Kids in the city

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Bizzy Bouncers

I’ve just bounced, slid and jumped around for 2 hours at the UK’s first fully inflatable indoor play centre and what a giggle it was! Although aimed at children, Bizzy Bouncers is a big hit with all the mums too – “better than the gym” I heard one gasp as she haired up the giant inflatable slide with her 3year old for the hundredth time – big smiles on both faces.   Housed in a large industrial unit a couple of minutes down the road from IKEA, this play centre contains seven inflatable structures of varying sizes and includes slides, ball pit, obstacl...

Cheeky Chimps Activity Centre, Oldham

Cheeky Chimps Activity Centre is surprisingly homely for a soft play venue. It isn’t enormous but the space is excellently used with a three-tier main play area containing toddler and baby sections. There is a superb supply of toys for the children to play with, and a few fast and steep slides. The staff are friendly and keep everywhere immaculate – the baby-change facility with pretty pictures, a mobile above the changing mat and free nappy sacks was one of the best I’ve seen. The café’s menu is simple, tasty and reasonably priced. The children opted for the lunc...

Cheeky Chimps, Bolton

Cheeky Chimps is based on the first floor of a converted mill in Atherton, with plenty of parking space available. Access is via an old goods lift. There are two toddler areas, one with a slide leading into a ball pit and the other also with a slide plus loads of soft shapes to play with. For older children there is a climbing wall and a football pitch. The main structure is only two storeys but with interactive elements dotted throughout. Because of the style of the building it’s a little dark and you may need to encourage the children to play. There are plenty of tables and chairs and ...

Funtastic, Radcliffe, Bury

We are having some lovely weather over the summer hols, so soft play centres may not be as popular at this time of year but when you are meeting a friend who is eight and a half months pregnant and who already has three young children, a contained, safe place is the perfect spot whatever the weather. Funtastic in Radcliffe is billed as Bury’s number one new play centre and we thought we would check it out.   Situated in a warehouse just off the main high street in Radcliffe, there are bags of free parking spaces outside. Having paid £5.75 per child for entry which includes...

Head Over Heels, Cheadle

Soft play centres have just moved into a different orbit with the arrival of this new Head over Heels off the A34. I went with high expectations as the sister establishment in Chorlton has always been a favourite – I wasn’t  disappointed. It was a rainy Tuesday in half-term so inevitably the queues to enter were long despite the fact it was before 10am. It took me around 20 minutes to get in which is much slower than one would like but hopefully this was just teething problems. Security for the children is high – all kids are fitted with numbered locking waist belts on e...

Head Over Heels, Chorlton

Head Over Heels is one of the largest play centres in the UK and the proud owner of an award-winning restaurant (The Observer 2006/7).   There are leather sofas and comfy chairs next to the main play area which, at three storeys high with a three-lane astro slide, keeps the children suitably busy. There is also an exclusively under threes soft play section – quite sizeable and really well equipped, with things like a ball pool with air fountain, slide, perspex tunnel, soft play roundabout and animals, play house, ride-on cars and play panels, among other things. Worth a special me...

Kiddly Beanz, Failsworth

Situated within a parade of shops in Failsworth, this centre is essentially half-café and half-soft play. The soft play section I’d say is more aimed at the younger end of the market. Set out over two levels, it’s quite small in comparison to others, but our little ones found enough to do to keep them happy for half-an-hour or so. And the staff are extremely friendly – clearly a place for locals....

Land of Play, Trafford Park

Reputedly where footballer Ryan Giggs held his daughter’s birthday party, the brand new Land of Play is in a bright and airy unit close to The Trafford Centre. The toddler/crawling baby section is excellent, with a good range of toys and soft play objects. The large indoor climbing frame has all the usual attachments, though isn’t quite as big as others we’ve been to – frankly this made it quite nice if you’re going with younger ones as you’ve not got lots of gallumping 10-year-olds running wild!   The motorised go-karts on a small custom-made racetra...

Little Monsters Mayhem, Irlam

Little Monsters Mayhem is a very well thought out centre. Its three areas contain a baby part with soft shapes, mirrors and wall activities; an under threes section with slide and ball pit; and the main larger area for older children with a three-lane astro slide, zip wires, climbing walls and a perspex car you can pretend to drive. What does catch your eye is a mini-circuit with scooters that adjust to become ride-ons. There are comfy leather sofas and lots of tables and chairs. The café menu is simple but healthy with toasties, sandwiches and jackets. For £2.90 you can get a plat...

Mr Clown’s Fun Zone, Glossop

The main stand-out feature at Mr Clown’s is undoubtedly the Sensory Suite. Two small rooms with their own entrance located to the side of the main area have been appropriately decorated with bean bags and padded areas. They utilise tools such as colour-change lighting, bubble tubes, UV light, fluorescent materials and fibre optics – all designed for visual and tactile stimulation. You do have to put your name down for the Sensory Suite in advance of your visit. You can either book a single space or can get a few friends together and reserve it entirely for yourselves for half-an-ho...

Party and Play Funhouse, Bolton

Party and Play Funhouse is huge and being housed in a massive warehouse, allows the parents’ seating area to be in the middle of all the equipment so you can see your child playing almost anywhere in the room. The giant doors of the building are actually fully retractable, so in good weather they’re opened up making this a great venue even on sunny days.   All the usual climbing structures can be found here – a four-lane wavy slide, a curly tree slide and perspex tunnels to crawl through. There’s a good toddler area for under fours which has the bonus of Little T...

Play Factore, Manchester

Play Factore is the newest kids’ play centre on the block and is an impressive addition, both in terms of quality and scale. It’s located next to Chill Factore (though the two are not related) and is vast – a staggering 26,000ft with huge internal height too. Which is all well to the good as it features the biggest indoor play centre wavy slide in the world!! Not for the faint –hearted (or the under 5’s) this four person, 40 metre-long monster slide is hugely popular with its target audience. And I think that is where Play Factore stands out from its competitors i...

Prendoolys Indoor Play Centre

We turned up at Prendoolys adventure play in St. Helens on a rather rotten wet day in March looking for a fun diversion from the dreary weather for the kids …we couldn’t have done better!  A warm welcome greeted us on arrival and our two three years olds rushed straight into the Under 5’s specific play area.  They had a good romp round there but then the lure of the big blue slide in the larger play structure proved too tempting! Obviously we went up with them and the next hour involved zipping up and down the wavy slide, belly flat down the helter skelter and mess...

Rough'n'Tumble, Marple

Meeting a friend over in Marple, we decided to convene at Rough‘n’Tumble. Based in a large old mill on a bit of a hillside, the car park for the centre is on a different level so you will initially encounter outdoor steps down to the entrance. Once in, there are basically two sections; the first for little ones, where the majority of the café’s tables and chairs are situated, together with sofas, laid out around the area so that you can keep a good eye on them. The second section, for the older children, is around the corner. I thought the toddler bit here was very good...

Run of the Mill, Stockport

Run of the Mill is really well thought out. We especially like this play centre because it seems particularly geared towards the younger set and isn’t overwhelming like some of the others (despite the fact that it’s big – over 10,000 square feet). There are up and over climbs, leapfrog trampettes, wavy slides, an enclosed sports pitch, sky gliders, a giant ball zone and a junior traverse wall, amongst many other things! For toddlers, there is a sweet little vehicle area with various ride-ons as well as a specially designed playframe for under fours, which also includes a baby...

The Jungle, Warrington

The Jungle has got good equipment and is nice and clean. Highlights are probably the four-lane bumpy slide, which is long and fast, and the two enclosed trampolines. There are two small areas for under threes, a ball pit and an enclosed helter skelter slide.   Sandwiches, toasties and soup are offered plus good coffee. Seating areas are on two levels. Friday from 4-6pm is Disco Night, where the lights are turned down and the music turned up. Every day from 10am-3pm is a toddler session with arts and craft activities, music, book reading and ‘funky fitness’. There is also an ...

Zoom Play Centre, Stockport

Minutes off the M60 at the Pyramid roundabout in Stockport, a previously dingy and wholly uninviting soft play centre has been given a very successful facelift by new owners – Didsbury mums Antonia and Patricia. Now called Zoom – the play centre is bright and clean with new carpets; it serves amazing cupcakes and very good coffee – surely that’s the most important thing?!   We went along with our two youngest – 20 months and one year – and found that this age group was perfectly catered for. There’s a dedicated toddler area with manageable climb...

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