17 Things To Do In Birmingham With Toddlers

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As one of the largest cities in the UK, there are huge number of things to do in Birmingham with toddlers.

Some of the country’s most legendary attractions can be found here, including Cadbury World, LEGOLAND, and SEA LIFE Centre but there’s plenty more else to do as well.

We’ve got the run-down on all the best days out with toddlers in Birmingham, from soft play to craft cafés, farm parks to swimming and even some toddler-friendly museums. Whether you’ve just got a couple of hours to spare or need to fill a whole day, there’ll be something on this list to suit.

Let us know if we’ve missed out your top Birmingham toddler day out!

Fun Things to do in Birmingham with Toddlers

Cadbury World

One of Birmingham’s most famous attractions and one that’s ideal for the whole family is a trip to Cadbury World. It’s located just outside of the city centre in Bournville. Make sure you come ready to eat! 🍫

A museum with plenty of bonus attractions, Cadbury World consists of a self-guided tour telling the history of chocolate and the Cadbury company. Kids will love the 4D chocolate adventure, Cadabra ride, interactive Purple Planet, going back in time to the Victorian Bull Street, and playing in the amazing African Adventure Play Area — it’s three storeys high! There’s also a separate toddler-friendly zone for the under 5s.

Chocoholics will absolutely love the Have A Go! section where you can get really hands on and learn traditional chocolate making techniques. And make sure you check out the largest Cadbury shop in the world before you check out!

Forge Mill Farm

Forge Mill Farm is a farm park in West Bromwich that’s beloved by toddlers and young kids. It’s actually a part of the Sandwell Valley Country Park so can be made into a full day out if you so desire.

The farm is home to a number of rare breed farm animals including pigs, goats, horses, sheep, cows, chickens and more. They host plenty of fun and educational programs and themes, particularly over the school holidays, that will get your kids interested in local agriculture and farming — look out for the Amazing Machinery demonstration! They’ve also got an amazing hay bale maze to get lost in at the moment.

Forge mill is open every day from 10am until 4pm and tickets can be bought in advance online for a 2-hour slot. Ticket prices are very reasonable with under 2s able to enter for free.

Sandwell Valley Country Park

Sandwell Valley is the larger country park that Forge Mill Farm above is just a small part of, and so there’s plenty more to do once you’ve finished at the farm.

One of the biggest attractions in the park is the huge wooden adventure playground that’s home to slides, swings, a roundabout, double zip wire, play tractor, sandpit, suspension bridge and more. There are plenty of different walks and trails to explore as well.

Although all the animals are living at Forge Mill Farm, there is another farm here too — Sandwell Park Farm — which is worth a visit for the tea rooms alone. A great place to refuel with delicious food and drinks.

Cocks Moors Woods Leisure Centre

The Cocks Moors Woods Leisure Centre just south of the city centre is home to one of our favourite swimming pool experiences for toddlers and young kids.

There’s a huge pool with a 50-metre flume slide and even a wave simulator for older kids and adults who are confident in the water. Water babies will be at home in the shallower toddler pool that’s wonderfully warm and not quite as boisterous as the main pool!

Aside from swimming, there’s always plenty on for kids at Cocks Moors Woods, including soft play, kids’ fitness, holiday clubs, and swim sessions dedicated to pre-schoolers. There’s also a small outdoor play park to really wear them out at the end of a session!

Scallywags Soft Play Centre

There are plenty of soft play centres in and around Birmingham but one of our favourites is Scallyways, and it actually has two locations — one just outside Birmingham in Brierley Hill and one a little more central in the Fort Shopping Centre.

Both Scallywags are fitted with a huge and exciting play frame, complete with tunnels, soft play, slides and much more. There’s a separate Toddler Village for younger ones and even dedicated Toddler Time sessions that run before 3pm on Monday to Friday in term time. These sessions have discounted admission (adults go free!) and often play host to music and dancing activities as well.

There’s plenty of seating overlooking the play area where you can sit and relax with a coffee while your child plays.

LEGOLAND Discovery Centre Birmingham

Very nearby the SEA LIFE Centre is the brilliant LEGOLAND Discovery Centre, right in Birmingham’s city centre. Unlike LEGOLAND Windsor, the Discovery Centre is all indoors and so a perfect rainy day option if you’re out with the kids.

There’s a huge amount to see and do here, and it’s absolutely perfect for lego-mad kids and adults. Toddlers won’t be left out though — make sure you take them to LEGO City: Soft Play for some fun and tumble, as well as the DUPLO Farm for some age-appropriate building.

The Discovery Centre also hosts dedicated pre-school sessions where you can buy a combined adult and toddler ticket, and get really stuck in to some DUPLO sessions — playing, story time and exploring the farm yard. Check out the website for more details.

Café Craft

If you fancy tapping into your child’s creative side, then stopping by Café Craft in Bearwood is a great idea.

Just like it sounds, this is a craft café where you can enjoy paint-it-yourself pottery, jewellery making, clay prints and more in this fun and relaxed environment. They can also help you make foot and hand prints with your children — these make amazing gifts for family and are such a special way to capture the memory of your children when they’re little.

It’s not only about the crafting at Café Craft — they’ve got a fabulous coffee lounge serving up hot and cold drinks, paninis, bagels, cakes, desserts, muffins and pastries, as well as a fantastic frozen yoghurt bar.

Cannon Hill Park

toddler days out birmingham
By Oosoom at English Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 3.0 licence)

For a fun, free and outdoors activity to enjoy with the whole family, look no further than Cannon Hill Park in south Birmingham. It spans a massive 250 acres and is full of fun stuff to do and explore.

If you’ve got young kids and toddlers, the land train is a great way to get around the park without tiring out little legs as it stops at all the major attractions. Some of the best bits to take toddlers to include the Fun Park, which includes plenty of age-appropriate rides like the Hill Billy Railway Train Ride, Jumping Boots Ride and Busy Bees. You can also take them boating on Swan Lake and to the brilliant Nature Centre (see Birmingham Wildlife Conservation Park below) for a bit of education while you’re here.

For some light refreshments, head over to the Garden Tea Room, which is set up as a classic old-fashioned tea room and full of plenty of treats.

Rush Trampoline Park

Rush is a national indoor trampoline park franchise and they have a site just outside central Birmingham in Bournville, nearby Cadbury World.

Energetic kids (and adults too!) absolutely love Rush with its huge number of trampolines as well as other features like tumble lanes, dodgeball court, giant foam pits, basketball lanes, assault course, trapeze and much more.

For the under 4s, they have dedicated toddler Open Jump sessions that run Mondays and Fridays from 10-12pm during term time. Under 4s can’t join in the normal Open Jump sessions for their own safety so this is a great option if you want your little one to experience trampolining in a safe environment.

National SEA LIFE Centre Birmingham

The SEA LIFE Centre, located next to the LEGOLAND Discovery Centre in central Birmingham, is another of the city’s most legendary attractions. It’s home to the UK’s only 360° Ocean Tunnel!

Toddlers and young kids are well known to love aquariums and the SEA LIFE Centre is truly a sensory experience for them. Some of the features they’ll be most interested in will include the Penguin Ice Adventure, Kingdom of the Seahorses, Clownfish Kingdom, Octopus Hideout, and even getting hands on in the Rockpool.

There are regular talks and feeding sessions held throughout the day — including with the sharks and penguins — so your little one can learn more about their favourite aquatic creatures.

Thinktank Birmingham Science Museum

Thinktank is one of Birmingham’s best museums for young kids and can be found in the centre of the city. It’s a truly interactive experience with over 200 hands-on exhibits and is a great way to introduce your toddler to the world of science.

Some of their best features include MiniBrum — a mini city where the kids are in charge, aimed at the under 8s. This has a number of different play zones within it, including role play and sensory areas. There’s also an incredible outdoor science garden with 30 hands-on exhibits, and of course, the brilliant Planetarium.

You can stop and refuel at the family-friendly Signal Box Café, which has plenty of food and drink, and can even cater to various dietary requirements.

Teenie Weenies

Teenie Weenies is a fantastic indoor soft play and amusement centre just outside the Bullring shopping centre in central Birmingham.

It’s home to a three storey play frame, slides, rope bridges, spider’s web, ball pits, zip wires and much more. Toddlers will be right at home on the toddlers frame which is of a really good size with plenty to do and separate from the main frame.

There’s plenty of seating and an onsite café so you can sit in peace and watch your child as you relax with a hot drink and a bite to eat. Prices are very reasonable and tariffed according to whether it’s peak/off-peak times.

West Midland Safari Park

Around a 40 minute drive from central Birmingham is West Midland Safari Park in Bewdley. This is a blockbuster attraction for the whole family.

The main draw is undoubtedly the 150-acre drive-through safari park, which is home to over 165 different animal species, including zebra, giraffe, buffalo, rhino, lion, cheetah, elephant, monkey and many more. There’s also a large adventure theme park, which has a number of kid-friendly rides including the Congo Carousel, Flying Lion Kings, Desert Convoy and Slippery Snake Slide.

If you’ve got any dinosaur-mad toddlers in your family, make sure you also make time for the brilliant Land of the Living Dinosaurs, which is the UK’s largest animatronic dinosaur attraction.

Monster Mayhem

Monster Mayhem is another indoor soft play and amusement centre for kids that’s found in Star City in Aston.

It’s home to a large, two-storey play frame, as well as an area for quad biking and an elevated 5-a-side football pitch. Little ones will love the special interactive zone that’s set aside from the main play area to keep them safe. Monster Mayhem also host amazing themed parties if you’ve got a birthday coming up.

There’s a good size café on site that overlooks the play frame where you can relax with refreshments and your kids can refuel in between sessions!

Woodgate Valley Country Park

what to do in birmingham with toddlers with toddlers
By Paul Collins / Paths and Bridge in Woodgate Valley Country Park / CC BY-SA 2.0

If you fancy treating the kids to some outdoor time, then make sure you check out Woodgate Valley Country Park to the southwest of central Birmingham in Bartley green.

The park spans over 450 acres and isn’t only home to beautiful open green space (although there’s plenty of that too) — the play area is a sure fire hit with children of all ages, while Woodgate Valley Urban Farm hosts a variety of rare breeds as well as a demonstration garden. There’s also pony trekking and a café open daily from 10am to 4pm.

The car park at Woodgate is free to use with plenty of spaces, and there’s also accessible toilets in the Visitor’s Centre at the start of the park.

Hickory Dickory’s Playhouse

Hickory Dickory’s is found just south of Birmingham in King’s Heath and is one of the larger indoor soft play centres in the area, with enough to do for older kids as well as little ones — great news if you’ve got kids of a variety of ages.

The multi-storey play frame is huge and home to a number of slides, including one of the highest in the UK! There are separate areas for under 5s and under 12s to keep everyone safe. The under 5s area has a large soft mat area, obstacle course, toy area, ball juggler and slides. There are also lots of toddler sessions and pre-school activities on offer throughout the week.

The under 12s can enjoy a whole host of adventurous activities in their area with trampolines, huge slides, ball cannons and even sport pitches. A café with plenty of seating allows you to sit in comfort and watch your kids as they play.

Birmingham Wildlife Conservation Park

things to do in birmingham with toddlers
By Elliott Brown (CC BY-SA 2.0 licence)

Birmingham Wildlife Conservation Park is also known as the Nature Centre, and can be found on the edge of Cannon Hill Park.

It’s home to a huge variety of animals from all over the world, many of which are endangered. You can expect to see red pandas, lynx, monkeys, ratsnakes, meerkats, wallabies, otters, lemurs and more.

If you arrive in time for the daily feeding sessions, you’ll be able to get a really up-close view of the animals and learn more about them from the knowledgable zoo keepers.


Looking for another location? Check out our Days Out section for more ideas.

AUTHOR PROFILE

Stephanie Osborn

Hi - I'm Steph! I'm a mum to a crazy toddler and there's nothing I love more than taking her out to explore both locally and further afield. Babies and toddlers benefit hugely from experiencing new places and it's great for families to spend this quality time together outside the home. I'm committed to finding the best days out, holidays and activities for families with toddlers, as well as providing you with the best tips, tricks, and product recommendations for making the most of your trips.
Stephanie Osborn

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