Showing posts with label winchester science centre. Show all posts
Showing posts with label winchester science centre. Show all posts

Friday, 1 March 2019

Our February Half Term

January seemed to drag on forever and it felt like half term would never arrive! But finally it was time to relax...I say relax in the loosest sense as we had an action packed week planned. But still, there was no school run!

Here's what we got up to..

Abba Workshop / Upton Country Park

The first day of the holidays saw us having a split day - I spent the day with my choir on an Abba Workshop which was brilliant fun! The children had a day with Paul which was nice as they don't get to do it without me very often. The weather was a bit drizzly but he took them out for a long walk to a place called Upton Country Park. It's somewhere we love visiting and it's great because it's walking distance from our house, and there is always something fun to do!



He did make me laugh though, he packed a picnic for the kids but said they were still hungry and wanted something else....welcome to my life hah! Always blimmin hungry! 

Winchester Science Centre

This is fast becoming Elliot's favourite place to visit, in fact he's been there three times since December! We went along to review the half term activities and we had a brilliant day. There is so much to do and is definitely a full day out. Erin loves it too, she's too young to understand the science behind the experiments but give her a button to press and she's happy! 


Jawsome Sharks at Weymouth SEA LIFE Adventure Park

We've recently become Blogger Ambassadors for Weymouth SEA LIFE and it's somewhere we really enjoy visiting. The kids were looking forward to taking part in the Jawsome Sharks event and I was looking forward to seeing the Fairy Penguins - who are extremely cute by the way! 



We had lunch in the nearby pub too and they had a soft play area which was fab - more pubs should have this! It meant the kids weren't getting bored waiting for their food, and I got a few minutes of peace while they were off exploring. Not so easy getting them to leave though ;)

Dodging the showers at Kingston Lacy

Kingston Lacy is very popular at this time of year with thousands of people visiting to see the beautiful snowdrops. It certainly seemed like most of Dorset were there the same time as us judging by the number of cars in the carpark and queues in the cafe! 

It was a funny old morning with lots of sunshine and torrential showers but the kids didn't care about the rain, they just had lots of fun playing with their friends. We did have a muddy incident though...Erin decided that stomping in it wasn't enough and she ended up sitting in a very thick muddy puddle!


Looking for Zog at Moors Valley Country Park

Moors Valley is always a great place to visit as there are acres of forest to explore with lots of play trails along the way. There is also the brand new Zog trail! We didn't do the full trail which involves purchasing an activity pack from the information centre but we enjoyed spotting the Zog pictures along the way. 


We went with a couple of our friends and the children had a brilliant time playing on the wooden play areas. Thankfully we had no mud incidents although Elliot did manage to split his welly boots! 



Seaside Fun in Swanage


The weather looked lovely for Friday so we headed down to the seaside town of Swanage with some friends. Unfortunately the weatherman got it wrong and we drove into Swange in thick mist! It was pretty chilly too so not quite the warm Spring day we were hoping for. Never mind, we had lots of fun playing in the park, spending all our 2ps in the arcade - we even went to Wimpy, how retro! 


After lunch we decided to let the kids have a play on the beach - but it took them all of 5 seconds to get wet in the sea! Elliot's legs were drenched and his brand new wellies were full of water! Fortunately we had spare clothes and hypothermia was averted. They loved it though!!



Geocaching in our local area


On the last day of the holidays the sun was shining again so we decided to head out for a bit of Geocaching. If you've not heard of Geocaching before, it's a great activity that goes on all over the world and is basically a bit like a treasure hunt! 

We drove to a nearby village and followed a very muddy track that led us to several caches. Elliot was really excited to find his first geocoin too! 



The weather was absolutely gorgeous - mad to think that this time last year we had snow! 

So that was our half term holiday -nice and busy just as we like it! We did have a couple of days where we didn't go out and just chilled out at home - we all needed to recharge our batteries and it was nice not to have to rush out anywhere. 

We're on countdown to the Easter holidays now! 


Monday, 18 February 2019

Science of Magic - Half Term Fun at Winchester Science Centre



You may remember that we visited the Winchester Science Centre back in December and it was easily one of the best days out we've had as a family.

We were invited back to experience the brand new activities for half term and Elliot was quite excited to hear that the live science show was centred around the Science of Magic! He has several of his own magic sets so he couldn't wait to see what tricks he would watch.

The live science shows are running at regular intervals throughout the day ( 11am, 12pm, 1pm, 2.30pm and 3.30pm) and can be booked online when you purchase tickets for the Science Centre.

We opted for the 11am one so when we arrived we headed straight downstairs and took our seats in the science show room. There are plenty of seats but little ones might want to sit on the end of the row to get a better view!


The show began with a pretty impressive balloon trick featuring liquid hydrogen - science wasn't my strongest subject at school but the show taught me a few things! I won't give any of the secrets away but you can expect to see a scientific take on the cup and ball trick, and even the show's presenter setting his hand on fire! (Not to be tried at home obviously...!)




It's a great show and well worth seeing if you are visiting this half term. It lasts for 25 minutes which is just long enough to hold the attention of the younger members of the audience.

February half term also sees the return of the You Are Here!, a hugely popular 30-minute planetarium show that combines live performances with the immersive 360 full dome planetarium experience.


The show takes you on a journey through space to discover "the most incredible, remarkable, mind blowing thing in the universe". Aimed at children and their families, they will love zooming into the planets and learning some facts along the way. The light up umbrellas are pretty cool too! Elliot said he really enjoyed "You Are Here!" and he liked seeing Mars best.


In between watching the science show and learning about the planets in the Planetarium, we had lots of time to explore the interactive displays in the Science Centre. And there are so many things to see and do! The kids were immediately drawn to the Colon Cafe again where they learnt about good and bad bacteria and what goes in and out your body. Elliot also loved the Science of Sport Zone where he tested out wheelchair basketball, took part in a rowing race and even found out how high he could jump!





There are two floors of interactive exhibits, plus the new Explorer:Space zone featuring 20 fantastic modular exhibits. With so much to see, there is something for everyone. Even Erin - she might be too young to understand the exhibits but she enjoyed "helping" Elliot! She also loved the construction soft play area and spent lots of time in here whilst the boys explored the Space zone.



We had lunch in the Hub cafe again but there are plenty of seating areas on the lower level of the centre for people bringing picnics. I also spotted outdoor seating and play area so this will be great in the Summer!

We had another fantastic day at the Winchester Science Centre - it is fast becoming one of our favourite places to visit. It is perfect for a rainy weekend and I guarantee there will be something for all the family to enjoy. We can't wait to come back!



Ticket Info: 


Tickets cost £12 per person with under 3's going free. If you book online at least three days in advance you will save 25% off.

The Science of Magic activities are free with admission and run daily 10:00-17:00 from
Friday 15 – Monday 25 February.

You Are Here! planetarium shows are running at least twice daily 16 - 22 February. Tickets cost £5.50 per person with General Admission or £8.60 standalone.

There is a £2 charge for visitors wishing to park on site.

For more information, please visit https://www.winchestersciencecentre.org/

*Disclaimer - We were invited to Winchester Science Centre in order to conduct an honest review of the half term activities.