All about Eureka!

Eureka! is an extraordinary fun-packed day out for kids aged 0-11

Explore Eureka!

We’re not like other museums…

In our museum nothing is trapped inside a glass cabinet! We’re the only fully interactive museum totally dedicated to children aged 0-11 anywhere in the UK.

We love the weird and wonderful questions children ask and work hard to provide some of the answers. And, as the UK’s leading hands-on museum for just for children, we know how to make learning fun.

We’re a registered charity

Our vision is to bring extraordinary opportunities for creative play and learning to all children. Could you support our work by sponsoring, donating or volunteering?

Fundraise or Donate to Eureka!

The making of Eureka!

  • 1985

    The story of Eureka! begins...

    Eureka! is registered as an educational charity and launches a campaign to build the first Children’s Museum in the UK.

  • 1990

    Building work starts...

    Eureka! takes three years to build at a cost of over £9 million, the majority raised by the museum’s benefactor, Dame Vivien Duffield, DBE CBE, Chairman of the Clore Duffield Foundation, along with active support from the Council and many local businesses.

  • 1992

    Eureka! opens

    HRH The Prince of Wales becomes Eureka!’s Patron and officially declares the museum open on 9 July 1992.

  • 1996

    Things gallery opens

    A new permanent gallery called “Things” opens with examples of contemporary design and technology and its place within our lives.

  • 2000

    Leigh-Anne joins the team

    Director, Leigh-Anne Stradeski, is appointed to lead Eureka! and visitor figures surge when the national press reports that Eureka!’s Me & My Body gallery is superior to the one in the newly opened Millennium Dome.

  • 2002

    Our Global Garden

    Europe’s first fully interactive environmental gallery for children, “Our Global Garden”, opens to mark Eureka!’s 10th birthday.

  • 2004

    SoundSpace launches

    SoundSpace, a permanent futuristic-style gallery exploring the science of sound, opened by Take That’s Mark Owen.

  • 2005

    More for under 5s

    SoundGarden and Desert Discovery, two galleries designed for the under fives, are opened by Floella Benjamin OBE.

  • 2010

    Explore your senses!

    Eureka! marks its 18th Birthday by opening the Wonder Walk, an outdoor sensory trail.

  • 2013

    All About Me!

    All About Me opens - the biggest development in our 21 year history - which is named the UK’s best interactive exhibition for children by parenting website Mumsnet.

  • 2015

    Gold Standard

    Awarded Gold at the VisitEngland Awards for Excellence 2015 – Access for All Category.

  • 2017

    Igniting a Spark

    We celebrate our 25th birthday by opening our Spark Gallery. The gallery launches by hosting digiPlaySpace, created by Toronto International Film Festival, bringing it to Europe for the first time!

  • 2022

    Branching out!

    We open our sister site in Merseyside: Eureka! Science + Discovery as part of our 30th birthday celebrations!

The Eureka! Mission

To engage children from birth to 11 in a range of play-based learning experiences which facilitate their emotional, intellectual, physical, social and creative development.

Download our Impact Report

Ideas and development.

Ideas and development

Everything we do has children at its heart, and that includes how we design and develop our museum. We work with Ideas United, our child advisory panel, whenever we develop new programmes and spaces!

Read More About Ideas United

We are proud to be ‘Award Winners’

  • Charity Awards 2016: ‘Arts, Culture and Heritage’ category
  • TripAdvisor certificate of excellence
  • Gold at the VisitEngland Awards for Excellence 2015 – Access for All Category
  • international Promising Practice Award by the Association of Children’s Museums and Metlife Foundation
  • All About Me named UK’s Top Interactive Exhibition for Children

Eureka! The National Children’s Museum
Discovery Road, Halifax HX1 2NE. Map