Free Family Friendly Summer Fun at PHM

• Music is Hope • The Grimwood Museum Adventure • Doves of Peace •

People’s History Museum (PHM) has lined-up a summer of Family Friendly fun for visitors to the national museum of democracy in Manchester’s Spinningfields.

Music, adventure and peace are the themes that await discovery, plus two galleries that feature interactive exhibits. Along with entry to the museum, all the activities are free to take part in.

You can find out more at the welcome desk and in the Playful Protest space, which is dedicated to Family Friendly activities.

Music is Hope

Families that follow the Music for the Senses trail to People’s History Museum will be able to see not only the colourful guitar created by artist Ella Masters, Music is Hope, but take part in some creativity of their own.

Ella’s design is inspired by her autistic three year old daughter Winnie’s love of music and the connections that it gives her, when words can be hard to come by. Music is Hope is one of 50 decorated guitars that can be found around Manchester as part of the Music for the Senses trail, inspired by the city’s musical heritage and the musical happenings this summer. It is on display in the welcome area of the museum.

To accompany the art installation Ella has designed a colouring activity for younger children featuring the same figures seen dancing, playing and listening to music on the guitar. Whilst for older children, there is the chance to enter a design competition to decorate a guitar from your own imagination, with Ella set to pick a winner at the end of the summer holidays.

You can discover more about Music for the Senses by downloading the app or picking up a trail map from PHM’s welcome desk. Music is Hope activities take place until Sunday 31 August, are free to take part in, are suitable for children aged 3+ and no booking is required.

The Grimwood Museum Adventure: Rock the Vote!

From a trail to the museum to a trail in the museum! Arriving to PHM this summer, The Grimwood Museum Adventure: Rock the Vote! couldn’t be taking place in a more appropriate setting. In this adventure, the fifth in the series of books by author-illustrator Nadia Shireen, the crazy characters are electing a new Mayor and it’s your job to design a campaign poster. And if you need some design ideas, the museum’s galleries featuring historic posters are there to fuel your creativity!

Everyone taking part in The Grimwood Museum Adventure will receive a free Grimwood sticker and chance to enter their poster into a Kids in Museums competition. This is a free activity which runs from Sunday 3 August to Monday 25 August, is suitable for children aged 7+ and no booking is required.

Doves of Peace

The international symbol of peace, the dove, appears throughout PHM’s collection and greeting visitors to the museum is the Doves of Peace sculpture, by Michael Lyons, which depicts 15 doves intertwined.

During summer 2025, the dove is the inspiration for a brand new craft activity, with families able to make their own origami dove of peace from colourful paper to take home or to add to the museum’s ‘flock’.

There will also be the chance to find out about the women-led movement that used the dove symbol as part of its protest when it set up a camp at Greenham Common RAF base in 1981. And on the galleries you can see the dove featured on the Wokingham Peace Group banner (1980) which appeared at the peace camp.

This is a free activity which runs from Saturday 19 July to Sunday 31 August, is suitable for children aged 5-12 years with all the materials provided and no booking required. And if you fly your dove to nearby Comptoir Libanais during the summer holidays you will be able to enjoy 10% off your food bill.

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