COVID-19 UPDATE: There have been so many changes for businesses lately it’s hard to keep up! This section will be updated in due course as things return to normal, in the meantime you can use the ideas here as a rough guide or can check our A-Z of Days Out here for more recent info and links. You can also like our Facebook Page here for updates
If you run a relevant activity or business that’s not listed yet (or if you’re a parent with a recommendation) please feel free to get in touch with details.
Basic listings are free, information on upgraded listings (with up to 200 words, social media links & photos) can be found here.
Daily: 10am – 5pm
Grand Parade, Tynemouth, North Tyneside, NE3O 4JF
Tel: 0191 2581031
Over 40 different displays, from local waters to the more exotic, including black tip reef shark and cownose rays. Watch colourful fish all around as you walk through the ocean tunnel.
Prices: £8.50 – £10.95
Family: from £37.90
(show bus/metro ticket when purchasing your tickets to save £2 pp).
Sunday – Thursday: 9.30am – 8pm
Friday – Saturday: 9.30am – 9pm
Coble Dene Road, North Shields, North Tyneside, NE29 6DL
Tel: 0191 258 0287
Brewers Fayre pub with large multi-tiered soft play, with slide, ball pit, climbing, bridges and toddler area. Serving pub classics.
90 minutes of play: £3
Wednesday – Saturday: 9am – 5pm
Sunday: 10am – 4pm
114 Park View, Whitley Bay, North Tyneside, NE26 3QL
Tel: 07852 101 016
Arts & Crafts Studio offering drop-in craft & create sessions, Sunday workshops, pre-school sessions Wed-Fri mornings, parties & events and a monthly ladies night. Hot and cold drinks available.
Drop in sessions:
Adults: £6 per hour
Under 14 years: £3.50
Materials costs vary (e.g. canvases, MDF shapes, wooden letters, journals etc.)
Open access.
Cullercoats Bay, North Tyneside, NE30 4BY
A sandy bay enclosed by two piers, with nearby dining options including cafe, takeaway and pub. Moderate coastal walks of around 3-4 miles to Whitley Bay beach or Tynemouth beach.
Free.
Thursday: 5.30pm – 11pm​
Friday – Saturday: 12pm – 11pm
Sunday: 12pm – 5pm
(Monday – Wednesday closed for events)
201 Whitley road, Whitley Bay, North Tyneside, NE26 2SY
Tel: 0191 252 6532
Restaurant with small indoor play area with baby/toddler toys, including vehicles and road mat. Serving lunch and main meals.
Free.
Monday – Saturday 10am – 7pm
Sunday: 10am – 5pm
Preston North Road, North Shields, North Tyneside, NE29 9DN
Tel: 0191 257 6821
Pub with soft play including giant slide, ball pit fun and house, plus a separate toddler area. Serving pub classics.
Kids: £3
Under 2’s: Free
Weekdays: 9.30am – 6pm
Weekend: 10am – 6pm
34 Albion Road, North Shields, North Tyneside, NE30 2RQ
Tel: 0191 296 4944
An old church with three-tiered soft play, two separate toddler areas, car track, large ball pool and bouncy castle. Cafe serving breakfast, lunch, main meals and treats.
Under 4’s: £3.95
4+ years: £4.25
Under 1’s: Free
📌9 Marine Avenue, Whitley Bay, North Tyneside, NE26 1LY
📞0191 389 6434
Role play cafe including supermarket, cinema, doctors, American diner, beauty salon, ice cream palour, dress up and ride on toys and road. Cafe serving snacks and treats.
Beach: open access.
Mini-golf, daily: 9am – 4.30/5pm
Inflatables/Scavenger Hunt, weekends/holidays: 10am – 5pm
Grand Parade, Tynemouth, North Tyneside, NE30 4JL
Tel: 0191 258 7593
Beach with around a mile of dunes and cliffs. Tynemouth Park with boating lake, dinosaur themed mini-golf, pirate themed maze & scavenger hunt, and inflatable play areas for toddlers and older children. Cafe serving snacks and takeaway serving fish & chips.
Free.
Pedalos/Golf/Inflatables/Scavenger hunt: from £3
Film times vary, see website for details.
Osprey Drive, Wallsend, North Tyneside, NE28 9NP
Tel: 0333 006 7777
‘ODEON Newbies’ are regular baby-friendly screenings of the latest releases with softer volume and slightly brighter lights for the comfort of under 2’s. ‘ODEON Kids’ are special value screenings every Saturday and Sunday morning, plus throughout the school holidays.
Tuesday, Thursday – Saturday: 10am – 6pm
Wednesday: 10am – 9pm
12a Russell Street, North Shields, North Tyneside, NE29 0BL
Tel: 0191 2728333
Offering sit in and mobile pottery painting services, with a wide selection of pottery to choose from, plus delicious pancakes! Various parent and child courses run throughout the summer holidays (6+ years), such clay building, mosaic and polymer clay.
Pottery from £4.
Daily 6.30am – 6.30pm
Caf̩, daily: 10.30am Р4pm
Opening may vary seasonally, check with organiser.
North Road, Wallsend, North Tyneside, NE28 8RH
Tel: 0191 643 7897
Victorian park with formal gardens, lake and woodland walks, sports courts, skate park and playground with swings, slides and toddler playframe. Plus a water play feature with trough and pump. Cafe serving snacks and treats.
Free.
Open access.
Cafe opening:
Weekdays 9am – 3.30pm (4.30pm during holidays)
Saturdays 9am – 3.30pm
Sundays 10.30am – 3.30pm
Rising Sun Countryside Centre, Whitley Road, Benton, North Tyneside, NE12 9SS
Tel: 0191 643 2241
162 hectares of woodlands, grasslands, farmland and nature reserve with ponds. Walking and cycling trails, play area and a hillside water play feature with shallow stream, mini waterfalls and pebble mosaics. Cafe with terrace.
Free.
June – mid Sep, daily: 10am – 5pm
Times change seasonally, see website.
Buddlestreet, Wallsend, North Tyneside, NE28 6HR
Tel: 0191 236 9347
The most excavated and developed fort along Hadrian’s Wall, featuring a 35m high observation tower, Roman garden and colliery. Museum displaying Roman artifacts with interactive displays, kids craft activities and cafe.
Adults: £5.95
Under 16: Free
Open daily, tides permitting.
Whitley Bay, North Tyneside, NE26 4RS
Tel: 0191 200 8650
St Mary’s Island is reached by a short causeway covered by tides twice a day, with exhibits on the lighthouse’s history and surrounding Nature Reserve, including cliffs, grassland, beaches and rock pools. Brave the 137 steps to enjoy spectacular views from the top.
Adult: £3.30
Child: £1.70
Family: £7.70
April – Oct, weekends: 11am – 4pm
Plus bank holidays and school holidays.
Middle Engine Lane, North Shields, North Tyneside, NE29 8DX
Tel: 0191 200 7146
Steam railway museum with interactive exhibitions and a range locomotives and carriages. On Sundays, bank holidays (and selected dates) take a four mile return trip on a vintage locomotive in 1950s passenger carriages.
Free, donations welcome.
Train ride: £5 – £7
Under 5 years: free
Family: £17
(pay once, ride all day)
Daily: 11am – 11.30pm
Foremans Row, Whitley Bay, Seaton Delaval, North Tyneside, NE25 0QG
Tel: 0191 237 0060
Pub with enclosed outdoor play area with slide and swings, plus indoor area with play kitchen, trolley, tent and drawing and colouring. Serving breakfast, lunch and main meals.
Free.
Monday – Thursday: 9am – 5:30pm
Friday: 9am – 3.30pm
Saturday: 10am – 3.30pm
Unit 1 at 305 Whitley Road, Whitley Bay, North Tyneside, NE26 2HU
Tel: 0191 447 9191
Cafe with three-tiered soft play, plus separate baby/toddler area with toys and sensory corner. Regular activities such as crafts and stories included with entry fee. Additional classes for babies to teens offered. Shop selling traditional toys and children’s wear. Cafe serving snacks, lunches and treats.
£2.50 – £4.50
Under 1s – Free
Weekdays: 9am – 6pm
Weekends/bank holidays: 10am – 6pm
1a Claremont Crescent, Whitley Bay, North Tyneside, NE26 3HL
Tel: 0191 251 4422
Three-tiered soft play with rope bridges and slides, plus toddler area with log climb and slide and baby area with play mats and toys. Story time on Mondays and Fridays included in entry fee, also two resident talking trees. Cafe serving lunch and main meals.
£3.50 to £4
Under 1 Year: £1
Toddler discount selected times Tuesdays/Thursdays: £2
April – Sep, daily: 10am – 6pm
Oct, daily: 10am – 5pm
Nov – March, weekends: 10am – 4pm
Pier Road, Tynemouth, North Tyneside, NE30 4BZ
Tel: 0870 333 1181
An English Heritage site on the headland of Tynemouth, with fantastic views overlooking the river Tyne and North Sea. There are interactive exhibits on the history of the site, including the ruined castle, priory, 15th century chapel, restored gun battery and cannon.
Adult: £6.30
Child (5 to 17 years): £3.80
Family: £16.40
Public swim times vary, check with organiser.
The Links, Whitley Bay, North Tyneside, NE26 1TQ
Tel: 0191 643 2600
Swimming pool with wave machine and flume slides, and children’s play pool featuring pirate ship with small slides. Compact two-tiered soft play, gym, spa and coffee shop serving snacks and treats. Also after school and school holiday activities offered.
Adult: £1.80 – £6.50
Child: 70p – £4.40
Family: £9.30 – £21.70
Cardholder discounts
Monday – Sunday: 10am – 9pm
Hillshead Road, Whitley Bay, North Tyneside, NE25 8HP
Tel: 0191 291 1000
Open all year round for fun, exercise and developing skills. There are open sessions and various classes, including a gentle introductory class for 2-6 year olds. There is a weekly skate disco on Friday nights. You can also watch Whitley Warriors Ice Hockey team matches.
Prices from £6.50
Open access.
Whitley Bay, North Tyneside, NE26 4RS
Tel: 0191 2008535
A long sand and rock beach, with a tearoom, pancake house and restaurant within the seafront Spanish City dome, which hosts an annual fun fair in late August. Nearby is Whitley Bay Water Park playground & sports area, with sand pit and water splash pad, including a variety of spray features and a paddling pool.
Free.
