When it is pouring outside and the children have had enough of staying at home, Silesia offers plenty of choice. Interactive museums, trampoline halls, play rooms with moving floors and small science centres operate under a roof in Gliwice, Katowice, Rybnik, Żory and Będzin, among other places. Below is an overview of what each of these places offers and what age it is meant for, based on the venues' own websites and the portal's entries.

Gliwice: three venues at one address

At Pszczyńska 315 in Gliwice, on the grounds of the Europa Centralna shopping centre, three attractions stand side by side and are easy to combine into one day.

Funzeum covers 4,000 m² and works on the principle that a child is here to do things, not to look at exhibits. The space is built around four zones: Build, Create, Discover and Move. There are workshops on building vehicles from bricks, designing clothes and staging a catwalk show, spectacular chemistry experiments and making slime, and for the youngest a zone with large soft blocks. What the children make in the workshops they take home.

Kolejkowo is an interactive model on more than 700 square metres, showing the Gliwice landscape with trains, bridges and tunnels. According to the venue's website, 12 railway vehicles run here, and cars move at a speed of 0.34 km/h. The model has more than 500 buildings and more than 5,000 figurines, and the weather is imitated by a storm with real rain and a cycle of day and night. It makes an interesting contrast for a visit on a day when it really is raining.

For children who need to run around, there is House of Air, an indoor trampoline park of more than 3,000 m². The main activity zone is open from age 4, and younger children use the Kids Zone. Anti-slip socks are required, and everyone using the activity zone must have a signed declaration.

Jumping and climbing: entertainment halls

Trampoline halls are the simplest way to burn off energy. JUMPCITY Katowice at Kościuszki 227 has 3,000 m2: a main arena with trampolines and parkour obstacles, an Airtrack acrobatic track, a self-belay climbing zone, an inflatable amusement park and a zone for the youngest. Entry is from age 3, and up to age 18 consent forms are required.

Freak Park in Będzin is housed in a new, air-conditioned sports hall. According to the park's website there are trampolines, a place for jumping onto a cushion, the labyrinths of Monkey Grove, climbing walls and a zip line. The trampoline zone is intended for people aged 5 and over, children aged 3-14 play in Monkey Grove, and children aged 1 to 3 use the toddler zone in the café room under a parent's supervision. Children aged 5-7 stay under adult supervision, and from age 7 they can use the attractions on their own if an adult is in the park.

Pixelowo in Dąbrowa Górnicza offers a different kind of movement: an interactive play room where the floor becomes a game board. Participants move across illuminated squares, complete tasks, score points and avoid obstacles, alone or in teams. The organiser recommends booking a time slot in advance. Pixelowo also has rooms in Sosnowiec, Tychy and Katowice.

Places where children learn without noticing

Rybnik has two ideas for a rainy day. SOWA, short for the Zone of Discovery, Imagination and Activity (Strefa Odkrywania, Wyobraźni i Aktywności), is a small science centre on the grounds of the Ignacy Historic Mine. It holds 28 interactive exhibits, and next to them is an experiment workshop where you can also take part in age-appropriate workshops. No more than 25 people can be inside at the same time. The venue belongs to a nationwide network of small science centres modelled on the Copernicus Science Centre in Warsaw.

Edukatorium Juliusz is housed in a former hospital on Klasztorna Street, built in 1868-1869. The permanent exhibition “Medicine and Pharmacy” uses the old hospital wards, and individual medical specialities, such as ophthalmology, orthopaedics and surgery, are presented at interactive stations. It is more of a proposal for older children and teenagers, to whom topics from human anatomy and old-time medicine can be shown in practice.

In Żory there is the Fire Museum (Muzeum Ognia), a multimedia exhibition in a building shaped like a flame. The exhibition is divided into five themed zones and tells of the relationship between humans and fire, its destructive force, firefighting and its physical properties. Visitors will see a reconstruction of a prehistoric cave, a wall of fire and a fiery jukebox, and will also carry out experiments: lighting a virtual Olympic flame, putting out a fire and checking their own body temperature. The subject is no coincidence: according to the museum, between 1522 and 1882 the town burned more than 30 times. A visit takes about an hour according to the museum's website.

For fans of machines and games

Children who like fire engines will enjoy the Central Fire Service Museum in Mysłowice, the main institution in Poland devoted to the history of the fire service. The collections number more than 4,000 exhibits, including hand-operated and horse-drawn fire pumps, fire engines, uniforms and helmets. One of the oldest surviving fire pumps in Poland is a four-wheeled horse-drawn engine from 1717. Part of the display is outdoors, so on a rainy day it is better to plan mainly for the indoor halls. The museum also runs fire safety education, among other things with a mobile simulator of fire hazards in a single-family house.

In Katowice, at Bogucicka 7, there is FunHouse Katowice, a museum of pinball machines and arcade games in which the exhibits are meant to be played. According to the venue's website, the collection holds more than 200 retro machines, and with a ticket you can play without a time limit and without inserting coins. Children up to and including age 13 must be accompanied by a guardian.

Older children and teenagers can be shown Carbonarium, an exhibition on the history of coal in the former Moszczenica miners' bathhouse in Jastrzębie-Zdrój. The organiser runs an educational offer for groups and guided tours, but the website does not describe any interactive stations, so it is more of an educational visit than play.

How to choose

For toddlers up to a few years old, the best are places with zones for the youngest: Funzeum, House of Air and Freak Park. For pre-schoolers and younger pupils, Kolejkowo and SOWA work well. Older children will appreciate the Fire Museum, Edukatorium Juliusz and FunHouse. Rules, entry ages and availability of places change, so check them on the venues' websites before setting out.