Join us for Summer at the Museums 2026!
21 July to 31 August 2026
Your local museums have a jam-packed programme of free and low-cost activities to keep the whole family entertained this summer.
- Take part in craft workshops and make your own masterpieces
- Enjoy hands-on science and handle museum objects
- Meet scientists and ask them your questions
- Take on a talk or trail
- Get out in nature and discover local wildlife
... and much more!
Sign up to the newsletter to receive a handy weekly events guide by email over the summer, making it easy to plan your next family day out.
Entry to many participating museums in Cambridge is free, and many are just a short walk apart.
It’s never been easier to fill your summer with affordable fun! As part of the UK Government’s Great British Summer Savings scheme, you can enjoy discounted adult entry to Cambridge University Botanic Garden and the Kettle’s Yard House. Plus there are free child tickets on local buses and plenty of food offers for families in Cambridge restaurants to help you make a day of it.
Visiting on the weekend of 15 or 16 August? Combine your museum visit with an open-air film screening at the Downing Site (next to the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology). Find out more about Screens in the City.
Here are just a few of the events you can enjoy this summer:
Join Professor Filbert on our summer trail and search for some amazing plant discoveries.
Discover a different gallery trail each week through the summer holidays at The Norris Museum – complete each week to earn a variety of stickers to fill your summer sticker book!
Get creative at the Fitzwilliam Museum's free, family-friendly outdoor sensory play experience.
Why do scientists build models? How can a model help us understand something too big, too small, or too complex to see?
Join us at the Polar Museum as we read some of our favourite children's books about the polar regions
Get up close with the ancient world at Hands On with the Romans.
Have you found a rock or fossil that you’d like identified? Perhaps found over the summer holidays? Drop in and meet our Museum scientists for help.
Join us for a day of Family Fun at the Museum of Zoology.
Step into the past this Summer with Museum of Cambridge.
View all Summer at the Museums events.
Tell us what you thought
If you take part in any of this summer's events, we'd love to know what you thought. Take part in our Summer at the Museums survey and be in with a chance to win a £50 Love2Shop voucher.
Participating venues
Summer at the Museums is delivered by the University of Cambridge Museums and supported by investment from Arts Council England.
Illustration by Carolina Rabei.
