To mark the end of the Summer holidays we asked the kids what they would like to do to celebrate. They both said they wanted to go on a train to the museum. It’s becoming a bit of a tradition that every year we visit the World Museum in Liverpool by train.

The World Museum in Liverpool is such a brilliant budget day out for the family. Entry to the museum is totally free and there are 5 amazing floors packed with things to explore. Here’s what you can find on each floor:

Ground Floor: Cafe, shop, lockers, information desk & learning base.

First Floor: Aquarium & Treasure House Theatre.

Second Floor: Bug House, Clore Natural History Centre & exhibition gallery.

Third Floor: World Cultures, Ancient Egypt & Weston Discovery Centre.

Fourth Floor: Dinosaurs, Natural World & Indoor Picnic Area.

Fifth Floor: Space, Time & Planetarium.

We decided to visit on the Monday before the kids went back to school. Booking our train ticket in advance saved us a lot of money. We travelled off-peak the ticket only cost £12.50 for the 4 of us. Taking our own packed lunch saved us even more money.

The kids were very excited waiting for the train, we played a few rounds of eye-spy before our train arrived. Our journey took around 25 minutes and the kids loved watching the world whizz by as we travelled.

The World Museum is just a short 5 minute walk from Liverpool Lime Street station. There is also a fabulous library on the way and the Walker Art Gallery, which is also free to visit.

Once inside the museum we decided to make use of the lockers and leave our rucksack in one until it was time for lunch. You can pick up a token in exchange for a £1 deposit which is refundable. We took the lift up to the first floor and started with the aquarium. Daisy and Jake loved looking at the variety of fish and underwater creatures. They even spotted Nemo in one of the tanks much to their delight.

Soon it was time to get in the lift and travel to the second floor. There are stairs as well as a lift but thy can be a little challenging when you have tiny humans with you.

We spent some time exploring the bug house, looking at the spiders and other insects. Jake thought the giant snails were amazing and we all thought the leaf cutter ants were brilliant.

Next we went to the natural history centre. This is my absolute favourite feature of the museum as it provides a totally hands on experience. We felt animal bones and skulls, coral, rocks and much more. Daddy and the kids used the powerful microscopes to examine fossils. I think we spent the most time on this floor as there is just so much to explore.

The new Ancient Egypt exhibition is fantastic. I did worry about it perhaps being a little frightening for the kids as they have 9 mummies on display but they were fine. They were quite interested actually and enjoyed looking at the hieroglyphics on the wall.

Soon it was time to go and find the dinosaurs on the fourth floor it was almost time for our lunch too. Daddy went to collect our rucksack from the locker and the kids and I looked at ancient dinosaur skeletons and ferocious stuffed animals in the natural world area.

Next we made our way to the indoor picnic area. On the way we looked out of the huge windows which provide an amazing view over the city of Liverpool. I pointed out some of the famous landmarks like the cathedrals and the Liver building.

We found the picnic room to be clean and spacious. It is heated and there are hand washing facilities available too. While we devoured our lunch while chatted about the things we had seen in the museum.

With our bellies full, we made our way to the fifth floor to look at the huge telescope in the Space exhibition. There was also a film playing of astronaut Tim Peake answering questions live from space. There is a planetarium on this floor too we have been in before but as they have introduced a charge for tickets we decided to skip it this time.

After a quick visit back to the aquarium it was soon time to head back to the station to catch our train home. We had a wonderful time and had lots to talk about on the relaxing journey home. I’m sure will be back again next summer for another visit.