Families

We love welcoming families to the museum.

Check out our What’s On pages for information on upcoming family events.

Around the museum

Amazing Animal Adaptations  –  World Wildlife (first floor)
Five to eleven year olds will love our fun, interactive family activity area where you can find out about how animals have adapted in amazing ways to live in their environment.

Try and spot the camouflaged animals and add to our display of your favourite amazing animals. You will also be able to see our collection of wild animals in the World Wildlife Gallery and see our famous gorilla, Alfred.

Dinosaur activity area (first floor)
Create and draw your favourite dinosaurs or fossils and learn about these amazing creatures from our displays, interactives and dinosaur library.

Curiosity – under fives activity area (ground floor)
Act out a performance on stage, play with puppets, games and read a story or two! Children must be accompanied by an adult at all times.

Other galleries to explore
Other galleries that children love to visit are Dinosaurs, Egypt, British Wildlife, Sea Dragons and Geology. And don’t forget to visit our ever popular Romany wagon on the first floor.

Family friendly facilities

  • Baby changing facilities on ground floor
  • A free picnic room open during weekends and school holidays
  • Pushchair and buggy park
  • Lift access to most galleries (please ask our front of house staff for help accessing Sea Dragons)
  • Breast feeding friendly throughout – Bristol Museum & Art Gallery is part of the designated ‘Welcomes Breast Feeding’ scheme and has a dedicated space for breast feeding available on request
  • Lockers available on ground floor including extra wide ones for folding buggies.

A member of staff will be happy to help you with anything you need.

Bristol Museum & Art Gallery is autism-friendly

Visiting a museum with an autistic child can be a stressful experience. Here at Bristol Museum & Art Gallery we’re doing everything we can to make the experience fun, engaging and stress-free. We’ve worked with Bristol Autism Support to make your visit everything it should be:

  • Our staff have been trained in autism awareness. We understand the difficulties you may face and are there to support you.
  • Please give us a call on 0117 9223571 before your visit so we can discuss your needs and advise when the museum is likely to be quieter.
  • You can borrow a free ‘Little Bag of Calm’ from reception. These contain ear-defenders, fiddle-toys and visual prompts.

If you have any questions or think we could do more to help support your child, please contact us.

With thanks to Bristol Autism Support for all of their advice, training and generosity.