Free festive fun in Leeds

by Leyla [Thisdayilove] - 09:37

We have had an inset day today and I thought it would be nice to make the most of our school having a holiday whilst many other children were still in school. Given the proximity to Christmas I looked for something free or inexpensive to do with the children and also I wanted something festive too. Not an easy task to find especially with the differing age ranges of my children, but I stumbled across the Leeds City museum and it appeared I had found a match.

Initially we were going to travel to Leeds via train but due to me losing my camera and spending ages looking through the house to no avail we missed the train and I had to drive instead. I was dreading the drive with the Christmas traffic but actually it was really easy and we didn’t actually encounter any traffic. Parking was easy too, but very expensive. It cost me £12.80 to park for 4 hours. I would have loved to have stayed longer but the cost was just too much.

After a short walk from the car park we arrived at the museum. The grand entrance looking over Millennium square and the Christmas markets it made us feel very festive indeed. Once inside we were greeted and given a clue sheet to hunt for Jack Frost. He had been up to no good in the museum.

We started on the ground floor, as we had stopped for something to eat in the cafe first, and began looking for Jack hidden in the animals. The girls asked lots of questions as to if they were real animals and why they were here. Little Man ran around pointing out the things he could see and interacting with all the hands on activities. He found Jack and pointed to him for our first clue. The hunt was on.

As we wandered around the museum Jack had been up to mischief and it was up to us to help. He had broken a pot which we fixed and knocked over a temple which Little Man took great pleasure rebuilding. Our clues took us all over the museum. We tried on wigs, dressed up and even solved puzzles. There was so much for all of them to see and to do. My eldest at 9 and Little Man at 3 were equally entertained, all of them finding their own way to explore the museum and interact with the exhibits.

Our Jack Frost hunt lead us to discover a very Christmas word and this gave us a very special treat from the gift shop. Upon leaving the museum we were faced with Leeds Christmas market and it would have been rude not to have a walk around. Little Man spotted donuts and after purchasing a variety we ate them walking back to the car.

Leeds City museum had something for all of my children and given it was free to enter and walk around was a great way to spend a day and keep out of the cold! There are lots of free activities happening all year round that I am sure we will be back again to visit soon.