Winter Holiday at the Science and Industry Museum

Creative Tourist

Visit now

Winter Holiday at the Science and Industry Museum

20 December 2025-4 January 2026

Always double check opening hours with the venue before making a special visit.

Boy looking at hands behind a shadow wall
Science and Industry Museum
Book now

The Science and Industry Museum is brightening the holidays with a season of hands-on science, playful illusions and family-friendly discovery.

Across the Winter Holiday programme, visitors can explore the science of illumination through interactive activities designed for curious minds of all ages. Create shadowy portraits at the Silhouette Station, experiment with colourful projections in a shadow skyline, and catch live science shows where expert Explainers put your brain to the test with mind-bending illusions.

One part of the programme is only here for a little longer. Operation Ouch! Brains, Bogies and You closes on 4 January, making this your last chance to dive headfirst into its gloriously gross exploration of the senses. Journey through an ear canal slick with wax, squeeze past sticky snot and poke around inside a giant eyeball as hands-on games and challenges turn biology into something tactile, silly and surprisingly enlightening.

Mother and daughter play with smell interactive_Operation Ouch! Brains, Bogies and You
Science and Industry Museum

Rounding out the visit is Power Hall: The Andrew Law Gallery, the museum’s newly reopened permanent space celebrating Manchester’s industrial muscle. Home to iconic historic engines – from early locomotives to mighty steam machinery – the gallery brings the city’s engineering past vividly to life. Model railways and toy trains have been a staple under the Christmas tree for generations — visit Power Hall and see the real-life locomotives that inspired these childhood favourites. Be inspired by these iconic engines and create your own using super-sized building blocks in the Revolution Manchester gallery.

One museum, a full winter programme, and a final chance to catch one of its most popular family exhibitions before it closes.

Where to go near Winter Holiday at the Science and Industry Museum

Manchester
Restaurant
Teppanyaki Chinatown

A Japanese teppanyaki restaurant in the centre of Chinatown. The focus is on high-quality food with a minimum of theatrics. It doesn’t disappoint.

Manchester
Music venue
Castlefield Bowl

The Castlefield Bowl is an outdoor events pavilion in the inner city conservation area of Castlefield in Manchester. The 8000-capacity arena is often used for food festivals and music events.

Dimitri's
Castlefield
Restaurant
Dimitri’s

Longstanding Greek taverna Dimtri’s delivers traditional, fuss-free Greek food, aimed at everyone from courting couples to multi-generational families in Manchester.

Great John Street Hotel in Spinningfields in Manchester.
Castlefield
Hotel
Great John Street Hotel

A converted Victorian school house nestled on the edge of Spinningfields, the Great John Street Hotel has a relaxed and decadent atmosphere.

Castlefield
Bar or Pub
Cask

Cask is a well-loved pub on Liverpool Road in Manchester. It has an excellent selection of continental beers and a cosy beer garden.

Castlefield
Event venue
Castlefield Viaduct

Launching in summer 2022, the National Trust and Twelve Architects and Masterplanners will be bringing a new lease of life to Castlefield Viaduct.

Campfield Open Day-3
Castlefield
Event venue
Campfield Market Hall

Having undergone years of transformative and restorative work, the complex will now be known as Campfield Mega Campus, Manchester’s most ambitious creative-tech destination.

Saul Hay Gallery
Manchester
Gallery
Saul Hay Gallery

Saul Hay Gallery, located one of Castlefield’s Victorian red brick buildings, is one of Manchester’s most important commercial galleries.

Manchester
Restaurant
Fenix

Modern Greek Mediterranean cuisine from the team behind Tattu.

Castlefield
Restaurant
Trading Route

Trading Route serves up time-honoured Sunday grub, in a modern Manchester setting. Worth a visit for the expertly-curated soundtrack alone.

What's on: Activity

Until
FamiliesSalford
We Invented The Weekend

Music leads We Invented the Weekend, with ENO’s mass Nessun Dorma and Afriquoi’s kora-fuelled electronic sound.

Free entry
Salford Lads Club Exterior
TourManchester
Salford Lads Club Tour

Salford Lads Club shot to global fame as the iconic backdrop on The Smiths’ album The Queen is Dead, but its significance goes far beyond its musical ties.

From £20.00
Horse and Jockey Chorlton
Walking TourManchester
The Secrets of Chorlton

From a hamlet on a road to nowhere to one of Manchester’s most desirable suburbs. What’s the story behind Chorlton-cum-Hardy?

From £20.00

Culture Guides

One Leg One Eye
Music

From drone metal to art pop, free festivals to gigs in museums, here's one of our more eclectic music updates.

Food and Drink in the North

There’s been lamb, there’s been champagne, there’s been okra. Look at what you could have eaten, then plan the next few weeks accordingly.

Hofesh Shechter - Theatre of Dreams at Lowry
Theatre

Dark comedy, visceral dance theatre, Fringe hits and open-air performances on a railway viaduct - try something new this season.

Exhibitions

From post-it-sized art to commissions that fill entire gallery walls, five exhibitions ask what the overlooked reveals.

Emily Lloyd-Saini as Grace in Space and Harrie Hayes as Lieutenant Strong in Horrible Science
Family things to do in the North

Whether you’re after storybook theatre, museum wanderings or illusion-bending play spaces, there’s plenty to keep curiosity ticking through winter and beyond.

A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night
Cinema in the North

There's no shortage of great films out at the moment, whether you're looking for the latest blockbuster, that hot arthouse flick fresh from Cannes or a cosy classic.