Family Fun

Bournemouth’s Oceanarium lets even the smallest faces get up-close-and-personal with stingrays, sharks and other awesome marine life, or to watch turtles being fed. Hire a selection of bikes from Bournemouth seafront with Front Bike Hire, including baby trailers, tandems and free child seats. Parks and Gardens: The Central and Upper Gardens provides a beautiful, buggy friendly, decked walk from Bournemouth Town Centre and up to Coy Pond; which plays home to a variety of koi carp.

Alum Chine Beach is baby and toddler central! The Blue Flag award-winning beach has a pirate-themed award-winning play park as well as a water play area especially designed for toddlers. The car park is very near the beach and so access is easy. A short walk from the beach, the Green Flag award-winning tropical gardens provide a fascinating walk.

Land trains – Simply hop on and off the scenic land trains that run between Alum Chine, Bournemouth Pier and Boscombe Pier and Gardens every 20 minutes all summer long.

In the summer, the LV= Kidzone scheme, which runs along Bournemouth’s beaches provides a safe environment for children as they wear colour-coded wristbands, with their parents’ mobile numbers so that they can be quickly reunited with their parents by dedicated members of staff, should they wander too far.

If walking up hill is too much after a long day on the beach, then you can take one of Bournemouth’s three cliff lifts that are situated in West Cliff, East Cliff and Fisherman’s Walk in Southbourne.

Hire one of Bournemouth's 1400 lovely beach huts. They are available for hire by the week or day year-round. For a really chic option, book one of the designer beach pods opposite the new artificial surf reef at Boscombe.

Bournemouth’s Russell-Cotes Art Gallery and Museum runs a weekly Saturday art club for small children and a ‘Fun for Under-5’s’ session every Friday morning in term-time. There’s also a children’s activity area, baby changing facilities and story area.

The Bournemouth Balloon provides a unique experience with spectacular views 250 feet in the air. The huge helium balloon is tethered to the beautiful Lower Gardens by a steel cable and on a good day you can see up to 20 miles away. Children under 2 years old go free

Have a good old-fashioned ride on the golden galloping carousel at Pier Approach, just beside the beach.

All Fired Up ceramics cafe in the heart of Bournemouth Town Centre. Children and adults can paint and decorate...