The Kelpies and Helix Park

For a fun filled couple of hours not too far from Edinburgh (and most of central Scotland) we like to head to The Kelpies and Helix Park in Falkirk.

When it is sunny or even in some Scottish drizzle, I find that we can easily spend a decent amount of time here for little to no cost. All 3 kiddos enjoy coming here for a visit and are happy to come back time again so its a good day out to have in your pocket!

The site is split into two main areas: the Kelpies themselves and visitor centre, and then the Helix play park and lagoon. We love to take our scooters here as it saves tired little legs on the short walk/scoot between the two areas. Our kids can scoot the route in roughly 10 minutes (it is downhill from The Kelpies to the Helix park). Although be prepared to bring your running shoes to keep up!

The Kelpies

The Kelpies themselves are quite a sight to see, and the kids love that first glimpse of them as we approach on scooters. They usually then scoot up close to have a peek inside through the gaps in the metal. The paths and slight hills around the Kelpies make for an inpromtu skate park (as long as its not too busy!)

The visitor centre is beside the Kelpies and houses a cafe, toilets, small gift shop, and a lego and drawing area. No visit here is complete without popping in for a coffee, a wee juice and some pretty yummy cake. They do serve lunches and hot meals too. As soon as the cake is finished the kids head straight into the LEGO/drawing area which has always been well stocked with paper and pencils when we have visited. There is a bucket of LEGO to build with beside two impressive LEGO models of the Kelpies. There are also some cool models of famous landmarks which are all to scale, which make for a nice wee conversation point.

The Scoot Route

Once fuelled with cake the route down to the park takes you past the canal which always capture the kids attention, especially if there are some boats on it. There is also a woodland walk and a wetland area on the journey down the hill. There is a poster with some of the local wildlife to look out for – we usually pause here to see if we can spot swans, ducks, and moor hens. Be aware that there are no barriers along the canal or the boardwalk that traverses through the wetland area.

Once out of the wetland area the path is wide and sweeping all the way down to the park and it is a “bit” of a sprint to try and keep up with the kids as they love whooshing on ahead. By the time I reach the park the scooters have been abandoned and the kids have scattered onto the various bits of play equipment.

Helix Park

The park is a really large wooden one with lots of different sections for all ages. My kids especially like creating a Ninja Warrior course over the rope and climbing structure. There are also some really cool slides which you have to climb up through a tower to access. We can easily spend an hour or so in the park as there is a really good variety of equipment to keep the kids entertained. Its good to know that there are also toilets by the park so you don’t need to scoot back up the hill if anyone suddenly needs to go.

After we have exhausted the park we take a final scoot around the lagoon. There is a water fountain splash zone which the kids like to scoot through – but we have never been organised enough to have spare clothes so I am normally shouting “scoot fast” to avoid the inevitable drenching! I would advise taking a full set of spare clothes with you to let the kids run free in the splash zone on warmer days.

On the loop around the lagoon the kids always end up having a few goes around the spiral labyrinth (with no walls) frantically racing each other to be the first to reach the centre. The final scoot back to the car is normally enough to tire them out to ensure a quieter car journey home.