Here are a few of our fave indoor spots to hang out & play & get you through the summer rain. Rainy day fun in Glasgow. Some alternatives to soft play…
East End
Glasgow’s One Hundred and Something Parks
I needed some motivation to get us spending time outside, so a few weeks ago I decided I was going to try to visit every park in Glasgow over the next few months. And I made a big list of every park in Glasgow!
Mount Vernon Gruffalo Trail
A hidden gem in the east end. Gruffalo trail, wooden play areas including a train station and wee adventure play area.
Cuningar Loop
Cuningar Loop is a really pretty park, and will be even prettier as it continues to grow. The whole place is one big adventure, and there is tons to do. My kids adore it here. It’s well worth a visit!
Meet The Glasgow Forts’ Christmas Elves
Take an elfie selfie with at the Fort & post to social media with the hashtag #elfatglasgowfort & you’ll be entered into a £250 gift voucher prize draw!
Outdoor Playgroups & Forest Schools in Glasgow
Outdoor playgroups & forest schools in Glasgow for kids 0 – 12. Climbing trees, playing with sticks and mud, den building, marshmallow toasting, all the rustic fun!
Reidvale Adventure Play Area (RAPA)
Reidvale Adventure Play Area is a really wonderful wee community driven place right in the heart of Dennistoun. There’s so much for kids to do and loads of space for them to just play and be kids.
Flip Out
We went along to check out the new inflatable play area at Flip Out Glasgow as a wee after school treat the other day. There are a ridiculous number of things to bounce on and we had so much fun. All of us!
Glasgow’s Best Low Cost Family Activities: The Indoor Edit
Glasgow has loads of indoor places and activities that are either completely free to visit, or pretty low cost. Here’s a list of some of our favourites we’ve visited in the past 5 years!
Baltic Street Adventure Playground
Baltic Street Adventure Playground is different to any other play area we’ve been to. There’s loads for them to climb and swing on and jump off and play with. It’s fun, it’s exciting; it’s risky play at its very best. And it’s completely free.
Tollcross Park Children’s Farm
Tollcross Park Children’s Farm a nice place for a runaround with a toddler, and the indoor education bit is brilliant. It’s definitely one for younger kids but Tollcross Park itself has beautiful rose gardens and is nice for a wander or scoot round too.
Flip Out Mini Flippers
We all really enjoyed the Mini Flippers session at Flip Out. I think you forget as an adult how much fun jumping actually is! The kids had an absolute blast and we were all exhausted by the end. At £4 per person for almost unlimited time it’s great value too. Flip Out is definitely our favourite trampoline place in Glasgow so far!
Play Kingdom
We were over near The Forge recently and decided to check out Play Kingdom soft play while we were around. (I’ve managed to delete and lose all but one of my photos from this soft play. Apologies). The Play Area The main play area is a reasonable size. There are a few levels for them …
Swimming at the Gorbals Pool
We hadn’t been swimming in ages and we’d heard that the Gorbals pool is good for kids, so we gave it a go.
The Pool
There are two swimming pools. The main pool is for ‘proper swimming’. It has lanes on one side and a larger unlaned area that’s good for having a wee swim with kids; for example if you’re practising your baby swimming. 🙂 It’s still pretty warm – certainly not cold like Tollcross pool.
The second pool is a zero-entry pool (sloped entrance like a beach). It’s nice and warm, and is shallow enough at the top to let tiny littles sit and get used to the water, or run and leap around in! As it gets deeper it turns into a little lazy river with rapids that go around a little area that appeared to be a jacuzzi that wasn’t on, (which meant it was a great bit for jumping in!) There were a bunch of floats and pool noodles/woggles you could use to go round the rapids.
There’s also a flume, but we didn’t go on it. It was closed when we were there, but I made the assumption it was for quite a bit bigger kids anyway.
The Change Rooms
It’s a Glasgow Life pool. They’re pretty standard, generally. They are basic and not the loveliest in the world, but not the worst I’ve seen either.
There were quite a few family change rooms (which are a really good size). The family change room we were in had a seat attached to the wall that you can strap your little tearaway into if need be. The straps were broken though, so it didn’t work.
It’s 20p for lockers, and apparently they’re really fun to climb in.
The Cost
It’s £3.20 for adults if you’re a non-member (free for members) and free for kids under 5. With a YoungScot Kidz Card it’s free until they’re about 19.
The Verdict
It’s a nice, warm pool so it’s great for teeny tinies. We still have a warma on, but the little lady lasted ages in there. With the rapids etc. there’s enough there to entertain the younger and older kids. Excellent.
The Gorbals pool is located in Gorbals Glasgow Club, Ballater St, Glasgow, G5 0YP.
Back Bouncing & Rhyming
We went back to bounce & rhyme for the first time in AGES this morning. There’s songs & rhymes & stories & lots of other babies & toddlers. It’s still just as entertaining for the little lady as it’s always been. And it’s free. The groups are in libraries all over Glasgow. You can find …
Some Triking at Free Wheel North
We checked out Free Wheel North recently. Most people I speak to haven’t heard of it, but it’s a fantastic charity run cycling centre down at Glasgow Green next to the big sandy playpark & climbing frames across from the templeton building. If you’ve been down there you’ve probably seen it; you just didn’t know …
People’s Palace & Winter Gardens
We checked out the People’s Palace & Winter Gardens a few days ago.
The Museum
Apart from being a place to run around in, the museum itself doesn’t really cater for young kids. There isn’t much for them to do & we didn’t come across any interactive exhibits or anything at all aimed at young kids.
However since stomping around on her own little mission is my little lady’s favourite thing in the world, it didn’t really matter.
Her favourite thing in the museum was the giant Clyde mascot which she attempted to climb a pillar to get to, and had a tantrum when she was unsuccessful.
The Winter Gardens & Cafe
The Winter Gardens are really nice. It’s warm, there are a lot of plants for a toddler to sniff and there’s a good bit of space to run around in.
The Winter Gardens are my new favourite place to meet up with mummy friends & their babies/toddlers. It’s reasonably central; there’s so much space (plenty space for a bunch of prams), loads of high chairs; and loud toddler voices get lost in the vastness of the giant greenhouse!
The food is decent & they have a nice selection of cakes. And their scones are pretty damn good.
Breastfeeding support in Glasgow
I’m a breastfeeder. Or I am with my little lady. (Who knows what’ll happen if I eventually have another kid.) As I’ve written about before, it was difficult at the beginning. And I didn’t know what I was doing. But after the first few weeks it had all worked out and we were doing well. …
Bounce & Rhyme
We’ve been going to Bounce & Rhyme in the Mitchell Library for the past month or so. It’s exactly what it sounds like it’s going to be: a group of parents & babies/toddlers/pre-schoolers sitting singing songs and nursery rhymes whilst the babies get bounced on your knee and the toddlers attempt to escape from the kids …