Top things to do in Birmingham with kids

Birmingham, the second-largest city in the United Kingdom is more famous for its industries, commercial centers and its vibrantly diverse culture. In fact, I had first heard about the city from a friend who visited the industrial center on official business. Birmingham was not on my radar till I was researching about kid-friendly cities to include in our UK trip and I stumbled upon some great insights on Birmingham with kids. And when we were invited by  VisitBirmingham, I was thrilled at the opportunity to discover Birmingham attractions with family.Birmingham is about two hours from London and can be reached via road or by train easily. The bustling city is also well connected to other major cities and has an airport of its own. You can easily travel within the city through the motorways or by bus. To my pleasant surprise, Birmingham has more miles of canals than Venice but they are mainly used for leisure purposes and tourist attractions. One of the crowning jewels of West Midlands, Birmingham is considered the social, cultural and financial capital of the English Midlands. Being a market town in the medieval ages and having played a very important role during the Industrial Revolution, this city has grown as a prominent nurturing ground for art, music, literary and culinary scenes. Infact, I hadn’t imagined ever writing about visiting Birmingham with kids. And while most travelers visit Birmingham in search of good theatre, festivals and great food, we set out to explore an offbeat side of this fascinating city.

Dudley Zoo

The first word that comes to mind when you land in Dudley Zoo is ‘unique’. Located a short distance away from Birmingham city, this animal center is located in and around the ancient castle ruins of an 11th-century castle. The first appearance of the zoo is more like an amusement park with a bunch of rides seen as you enter the premises. The ruins of Dudley Castle are on the hilltop and the animal enclosures spread across the castle grounds. The zoological gardens also boast of 12 listed Lubetkin-designed concrete structures built between 1936 and 1937 and are the greatest collection of surviving Tecton buildings in the world.The castle was originally built as the home for Lords of Dudley and their families. John Dudley was a royal advisor to King Henry VIII and Lord Protector to his son, King Edward VI. While reading the Dudley family history, I realized Lord Robert Dudley, a character quite commonly portrayed as Queen Elizabeth I’s favorite courtier in many period dramas, also belonged to the same family. It felt like a chance that somehow I had stepped into his family home without even knowing about it. Another fascinating detail that stayed with me is about Lady Grey, the ghost of Dorothy Beaumont who is said to haunt the building. While these tidbits were enough to keep me hooked, I saw kids really enjoying themselves all around me.The zoo houses a wide variety of about 200 different species including some endangered species like Asiatic lions, Sumatran tigers, Bornean orangutans, Tibetan red pandas, Rothschild giraffes, Madagascan lemurs and Humboldt penguins. A day trip can be quite educational here as the zookeepers keep the learning on through small commentaries to share more about the animals and birds. Watching them interact with the animals and birds especially during the feeding times is quite fun.You can also book a close encounter package where you can interact with the animals directly and feed them. You can also opt to spend your day at the Dudley Zoo as a zookeeper and I am sure it is a once in a lifetime experience.
If you need a break, hop on to the toy train or ride the vintage chairlift to the carnival zone and enjoy the rides. The Oak Kitchen at the Queen Mary restaurant at the top of the zoo, opposite to the sea lion pool serves a wide range of traditional hearty local dishes. We loved the sand zone where our little one got busy digging and we relaxed on the deck chairs. On our way back we spent some time at the adventure playgrounds, a fun children’s park designed especially for energetic youngsters. Our experience was amazing at Dudley zoo and we highly recommend getting there is you are visiting Birmingham with kids.
While planning a trip to Dudley Zoo, do keep in mind that Dudley is outside Birmingham and the zoo and the gardens are big enough to take a full day to explore. However, I highly recommend a day trip here when visiting Birmingham with kids.

LEGOLAND Discovery Centre

Going to Legoland for the first time is always exciting for a Lego fan and my son was really looking forward to this one. Legoland Discovery Centre is an indoor LEGO playground and is located in the heart of Birmingham city. While it seemed small from outside, we were happily surprised to find it quite spacious from the inside and full of interesting things to do for younger kids. As a first time experience of the Lego World, it is fun and a must-visit while in Birmingham with kids.There are 4D movie shows and Ninjago events, two theme park rides namely Kingdom Quest and Merlin’s Apprentice, soft play zones and creative lego building workshops. The Lego-themed 4D movies are really fun as you suddenly get sprayed with rain and blown by the wind to create the 4D magic. The laser tagging in Kingdom Quest ride is also quite amazing.As you keep moving around, you will find build and test sections with a lot of Lego blocks to help you embrace your lego passion. The Lego Duplo Farm is quite colorful as the small ones can let their imagination wild and help decorate the farm with their own lego figures. At the racing tracks, kids can build their own racing cars and race them.
Our favorite though was the Miniland which had recreated the city of Birmingham and nearby famous landmarks using over 1.5 billion Lego blocks. You can also get pictures clicked with the lego costumed characters. From Bertie to Wildstyle, Master Wu to LEGO City Policeman – there are lots of characters who will happily take selfies with you.

If you love Lego just like us, then you must visit Legoland Windsor, UK’s favorite kid theme park. Here are our tips on how to plan a trip to Legoland Windsor with small kids.

Birmingham Canalside

This was not part of our initial plan and it happened just by chance. In fact, while going in I didn’t realise that we were so close to the water. As we came out of the building after a wonderful time in the world of Legos, I happened to notice a sign below that said ‘More canals flow through Birmingham than Venice’. A quick look at Google Maps told that we could also reach the railway station by taking a longer route by walking along the canalside. And this detour proved to be the perfect way to end our trip to Birmingham.This area is filled with restaurants and pubs, some housed in old buildings that still retain their traditional industrial heritage. There are boats and water taxis that I am sure you can cruise in, however, we couldn’t try them, maybe the next time! With beautiful music in the background and stunning bridges, it did feel a bit like being in Venice.

Adios

An exit from the canalside took us along some modern shopping malls that stood in contrast to the magnificent age-old architecture of the older parts of the city. I was very impressed by the architecture of the Birmingham museum, art gallery and the city library as we passed by them. What fun would it be to explore this side, if you are in Birmingham with kids, wouldn’t it?! We were lucky to witness a few minutes of the live music event of the Jamaican Independence Day celebration that was taking place at Birmingham square and it was dazzling. The music was thumping and the energy was sizzling. I wish we had more time to explore but our train left the station soon. But I made a mental note to return back to Birmingham, this time to experience its vibrant historical and cultural side.

This article has been written in collaboration with VisitBirmingham however, all views and opinions expressed are mine.