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Home educators

A young girl in an indoor museum, looking at a large dinosaur skull exhibit with a smile. Other children and adults are in the background, some taking photos.

Shape a visit that supports your children’s interests, confidence and curiosity. Use our galleries, trails and digital tools to create flexible learning experiences that work for your home education style.

Home-educating families are welcome to visit the Museum for free at any time during our opening hours. If you’re bringing more than six children, please let us know through our group booking enquiry so we can support your visit. You’ll find quieter times early in the day or later in the afternoon, especially outside school holidays. You can also use instAcademy®, a free app linking objects in the Museum with curriculum concepts from Early Years to KS4, offering trails, learning prompts and guidance from educators. And our Home Educators E-News shares new resources, activities and opportunities throughout the year.

Visits, resources and activities

We want to support educators to make the very most of a museum visit

Free self-led visits

Cost: Free

The museum is free to visit and you are very welcome to bring your family or group any day (Tuesday to Sunday).

If you’re visiting with more than 6 children, please just let us know you’re coming for a learning visit by completing a group booking enquiry.

GROUP BOOKING ENQUIRY

Some handy hints

During term time, Manchester Museum gets quite busy between 10.30am and 2pm, and also during school holidays. You may find it more comfortable to visit outside of these times.

Check What’s On for other activities you may want to attend as individuals/families.

WHAT'S ON

instAcademy @ Manchester Museum

instAcademy® is a FREE app that you can use in the museum to help connect the learning opportunities you encounter in the museum with curriculum concepts, from the Early Years Development Framework, through KS1- KS4. This was developed by researchers at the University of Manchester.

With instAcademy®, you can:

take part in a curriculum-based evolution trail, learning about Science concepts
see what other visitors have learnt about in relation to the same objects
access stories and expertise from certified educators to help learn more
use SparkAI, our A.I. tutor, to help you to recognise where objects are related to the curriculum and how to explain and understand the concepts in an age or stage appropriate way
record your learning as part of a learning journey that you can continue after your museum visit and stay connected in the museum

Download the trail or you can pick up your free trail to use at the museum from the Front Desk, just ask a member of the Visitor Team for the instAcademy® museum trail. Download instructions to go with the trail.

SIGN UP TO THE APP