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Hillhead with kids: books, fossils and family art

Display cases and a central animal skeleton beneath the balcony in the Hunterian Museum main hall
The Hunterian, University of Glasgow

Hillhead offers two different ways to slow down with children: shared reading and making at the Byres Road library, and fossils, paintings and carefully reconstructed rooms on the University of Glasgow’s Gilmorehill campus. The Hunterian’s public museum and art gallery have family trails and free entry, while the Mackintosh House has a separate adult charge and significant stairs. Choose a library programme for your child’s age, or build a self-paced museum visit around what catches their curiosity. Book a dated tour or family art session separately rather than assuming the everyday opening hours include an organised activity.

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Start small with books and songs on Byres Road

Hillhead Library is a free indoor starting point on Byres Road, with books to browse and a programme that changes the pace of a family visit. It opened in 1975 and has public computers, study spaces and community rooms as well as its library collections. Borrowing and wider membership services use a Glasgow Libraries membership; simply choosing an activity is a separate decision.

For babies, toddlers and children under five, Bookbug is a shared session of songs, stories and rhymes with a parent or carer. The owner lists Monday 10.30–11am as a Gaelic session, Tuesday 11.30am–noon and Saturday 10.30–11am at Hillhead. Sessions are free and no ticket is required, but places are limited and first come, first served. Stay with your child and check the next meeting if you are travelling especially for it.

The library opens Monday–Thursday 10am–8pm, Friday and Saturday 10am–5pm, and Sunday noon–5pm. Baby feeding is welcome and baby changing is in the first-floor ladies’ toilet. The activity access information explicitly says there are no accessible toilets; call 0141 276 1617 to discuss what you need before setting off. The operator lists a portable hearing loop and a free car park at the rear off Burgh Lane.

  • Hillhead Library

    Browse books on Byres Road or make a family visit around songs, crafts and building activities.

  • Bookbug at Hillhead Library

    Songs, stories and rhymes for babies, toddlers and under-fives with their carers.

Match the library activity to your child

Kids Craft Session is for children aged four to twelve making things together with their parents. The Thursday slot is 3.30–4.30pm in the citywide arts timetable, with the branch’s own activity page confirming the 3.30pm start. It is free, drop-in and no ticket is needed. This is shared creative time, not a childcare booking.

For children aged five to eleven, Lego Fun has its own Tuesday 4.30–5.30pm slot at Hillhead Library. The library supplies Lego sets for imaginative building and says there is no need to book. Sunday Colouring Club is a different, whole-family option from 1.30–2.30pm, with themed sheets, pens and pencils provided. Both are free drop-ins; the library’s general opening hours are not the same as an activity’s meeting time.

Teenage Lego Club is specifically for ages twelve to seventeen, making it relevant to a twelve-year-old but not to younger siblings. It starts at 3.45pm and the prose says the first and third Wednesday of the month. Because the heading also describes a two-week pattern, confirm the actual meeting with the library. All Lego is supplied and the session is free; no finish time is given. Check holiday changes for any programme before making a special journey.

Follow a fossil or a Roman story through the Hunterian

The Hunterian Museum occupies the Gilbert Scott Building on the Gilmorehill campus. It is a public museum with free entry, not a room reserved for university students. Displays range from the Bearsden Shark, gems and fossils to dinosaurs, Roman settlement along the Antonine Wall and Lord Kelvin’s scientific instruments. Let a child choose a subject to investigate rather than trying to see the whole collection in one visit.

Pick up a family trail or try the Creative Corner. Children’s portable steps and stools help with looking, and the museum provides accessible toilets with baby-changing facilities. Lift access reaches the museum; the balcony lift needs staff assistance. For young neurodivergent visitors, ask about a sensory bag and the wheelchair-accessible wee calm-space tent. A visual storybook is available to help prepare for an unfamiliar place.

Opening is Tuesday–Sunday 10am–5pm, with temporary and public-holiday changes on the notices page. The separate Hunterian Zoology Museum is in the Graham Kerr Building, a five-minute walk away. It displays preserved specimens from elephants and echidnas to giant squid and glass sponges, not live animals. Its timetable is weekdays only, Monday–Friday 9am–5pm. There are three entrance steps with a chairlift and three steps into the main room with a ramp; it has no accessible toilets. Choose the building that fits your day rather than assuming all Hunterian venues share a timetable.

  • Hunterian Museum

    Look for fossils, dinosaurs and Roman Scotland displays in the university’s public museum.

  • Hunterian Zoology Museum

    See preserved animals, from giant squid to glass sponges, in a weekday university museum.

Separate the Mackintosh House ticket from the free gallery

The Mackintosh House carefully reassembles the main rooms from the Glasgow home of Charles Rennie Mackintosh and Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh. It is part of the Hunterian Art Gallery but has its own admission. General entry costs £12 per adult, £8 for concessions, and is free for under-eighteens. Concessions include students, people aged sixty and over, Blue Light Card holders and unemployed visitors. Specified membership, staff and student free-entry categories need the stated valid card; Carers Card holders are also listed for free admission.

General tickets are bought at reception on the day. Opening is Tuesday–Sunday 10am–5pm, last admission 4.15pm. On Fridays and Saturdays, general admission starts after the guided tour at 11am; an earlier visitor may need to wait. Guided tours are a separate booking: £20 per person, under-eighteens free, maximum twelve visitors, booked in advance through Eventbrite. The advertised Friday 30 October 2026 tour is 10.15–11am, with a 9.15am sales cutoff. It is a design-and-history tour, not a Halloween workshop. The booking page allows refunds up to two days before the event.

Plan the stairs before choosing the house. There are four levels and 62 steps; wheelchair and mobility-impaired access is currently limited to the introduction gallery, orientation room, hall and dining room. The virtual tour offers another way to explore. American Express and Diners Club are not accepted. For the wider campus, ordinary weekday parking is permit-only and Blue Badge visitors must register for a visitor permit. Free child admission does not make a family’s paid adult visit free, and a booked tour does not remove the access limits.

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