Indoor skydiving

At the Airkix centres in Milton Keynes, Manchester and (newly opened) Basingstoke, lucky kids can find themselves blown up in the air by a powerful wind machine to create a floaty feeling similar to skydiving.
• 0845 331 6549, airkix.com. Minimum age four, from £30pp

Caves

Visiting a cave is a great wet-weather option. Some of the biggest and best include: in North Yorkshire, Ingleborough Cave near Clapham Village (adults £7, kids £3.50) and the nearby White Scar Cave (£8.50/£5.50); in Derbyshire, Speedwell Cavern near Castleton (£9.50/£7.50), which has underground boat trips; Cheddar Caves (from £16.65/£10.80) in Somerset; and Dan-yr-Ogof (£13.75/£8) in the Brecon Beacons.

Waterparks

If they're gonna get wet, they may as well get really wet, in one of the UK's massive indoor waterparks. Waterworld (adults £14.50, kids from £7.49) at Festival Park in Stoke-on-Trent has rapids in the dark, ringos and a wave pool; Wet 'N Wild (adults £11.95, kids £6.95) in North Shields, Tyneside, is one of the UK's biggest, with a flume running down three floors and a black hole ride; the LC in Swansea (adults £7, kids £4) offers up Wales's biggest indoor pool, with a rollercoaster water slide and whirlpool.

Climbing walls

Build confidence and learn what could be a thrilling lifelong hobby. There are hundreds of indoor walls around the country: download a list of some of them from the British Mountaineering Council or see ukclimbing.com to search for one near you.

Indoor skate parks

Suitable for over-fours, skate parks offer sports including BMX, scootering, inline skating and skateboarding, with lessons and sessions for youngsters. Prevail Skate Park (from £3.50 an hour) in Poole, has skate and BMX schools in the holidays, plus under-13s sessions and parties. Unit 23 Skatepark (£9 for two hours) in Dumbarton, has rails and a foam pit. High ollie competitions, coaching, and a new foam pit this summer are part of the package at Rampworx (from £5.50 for two hours, summer holiday pass £99) in Liverpool.

Indoor adventure centres

Adventure Kidz in Aylesford, Kent (adults free, kids from £4.95) has indoor high ropes, quad bikes and a soft play area; Kidspace adventure parks in Croydon and Romford (adults from £2.75, kids from £5.95) offer classes in football, dance, music and karate, plus climbing frames and slides; Playzone in Swansea (adults from £1.25, kids from £1.99) and Portsmouth are massive warehouse spaces filled with slides, tunnels and climbing frames.