Engineers, Raves, Circus Training and Parkour — The New Face of Kids Activities

Since we launched in 2016, over 900,000 families nationwide have used Hoop to discover new things happening locally that their kids will love. From local baby stay and plays to coding camps, if it’s suitable for children, you’ll find it on Hoop.

Looking at the awe-inspiring breadth of choice for families reveals the passion and energy of the thousands of organisations across the country that inspire, educate and entertain our children.

Today Hoop lists hundreds of thousands of activities each year across 200+ categories. This offers us a unique insight into the key trends shaping family fun in 2018, and a snapshot of the access families have to family activities out of the home across different parts of Britain.

The Hoop Family Activity Report 2018 is our attempt to make sense of what’s going on for families across Britain and make sense of how families are spending their time out of the home.

To create this report, we used data for the twelve months ending 31st July 2018, and analysed 158,883 unique events, workshops and classes, representing 4,313,680 unique sessions of activities taking place across Britain for children.

The Hoop Family Activity Report also helps highlight the hotspots for parents looking for easy access to a choice for family-friendly, classes, workshops and events locally, with cities like Bristol, Liverpool and Glasgow enjoying up to three times as many activities as the national average.

Key Insights

• Britain’s got fun: Research shows that parent and child activities are becoming more diverse than ever, with parents seeking more experience-led activities.
• Top trends: The emerging trends driving this are baby raves & toddler discos, parent fitness, educational activities and adrenaline filled sporting classes, with the searches by parents for these activities increasing by 57% YOY.
• National Average: There’s an average of seventeen unique family events and activities per thousand children aged up to 11 years old happening across Britain per year.

• Best city for family fun: Bristol is Britain’s best city for families looking for family fun. Families have access to over twice the national average number of different activities per capita of children in Bristol.
• Best city for new families: Liverpool is the best city for new families, with more activities for babies per capita of children aged up to 12 months old than any other city in Britain.
• Best city for affordable activities: Glasgow is Britain’s best city for access to affordable activities, with 9.76 free activities per 1,000 children aged 0–11 years old.
• London: London has 50% more family activities per capita than the national average, with Kensington & Chelsea, Westminster & Islington proving to be the best boroughs for families.

The New Face of Kids Activities

2018 has been a pivotal year for new family entertainment, with emerging categories for family entertainment and education breaking through nationwide and connecting with a new audience of parents.

Millions of kids still enjoy storytime at the local library, do after school swimming lessons and other familiar family activities and classes, but it’s clear from our data that millennial parents are starting to invest in educational and inspiring experiences for their children that mirror their own aspirations for a life full of fun and learning experiences.

From raving to circus training, family activities are more diverse than ever. The emerging trends driving this are; baby raves & toddler discos, parent fitness, educational activities and adrenaline filled sporting classes, with the searches by parents for these classes increasing by 57% YOY.

Daniel Bower, Hoop CEO

Hoop data shows that the some of the fastest growing sports activities are adrenaline fuelled sports classes, such as parkour and parent-baby fitness activities, which have increased three-fold over the last 12 months. The relative search for these events on Hoop has also increased by 61%. When it comes to family fun, there has been a 56% increase in the number of baby raves and kids discos happening across Britain over the last twelve months.

Liane Katz, Co-founder & CEO, MAMA.codes’s classes are popular with millennial families

The number of educational activities for children listed on Hoop has more than doubled in the last twelve months. Notable categories include computers, coding and technology classes and workshops, which have more than trebled. The relative number of searches for educational activities for children on Hoop has grown by a huge 85%.

Click here to access the full report and discover the dynamism of the family activity industry, and how a new generation of modern millennial parents are shaping the sector as they seek out new and inspiring family experiences.

About Hoop

Hoop is a free app that makes it easy to discover what’s on for kids.

Started by a group of parents that regularly found themselves wading through parenting forums, local notice boards and websites to see what’s on for their kids locally, Hoop is now the UK’s #1 place to uncover new family activities.

Since launching in 2016, 900,000 parents have downloaded Hoop — equating to one in ten parents in the UK and one in five parents in London.

Designed for families with newborns to 11 yrs old, Hoop lists over 100,000 different family-friendly activities, classes, workshops and events each month. The helpful app was picked by Apple as one of it’s best apps of 2016 and 2017.