Days Out: Smart Choice
Your kids won’t even know they’re learning at these genius places
CITY FOR KIDS
Have your kids ever dreamt of becoming a pilot, a firefighter, or the next award-winning singer? Let them take charge at Kidzania London, a child-sized city for 4 to 14 year olds where they can take part in over 60 real-life adventures at the bank, on stage, or fighting crime on the streets as a police officer! The city for kids includes a supermarket, an estate agency, a hospital, a hotel, a police station, and even a radio station and theatre! • Tickets from £18 • www.kidzania.co.uk
IN THE LAB
Treat the kids to a full science experience at the Life Science Centre in Newcastle. Take them through the Centre’s Brain Zone, where they can explore the human mind, and then into the Experimental Zone where they can enjoy doing real science experiments. And don’t forget to visit Dino Jaws, an amazing exhibition featuring life-size animatronic dinosaur heads, including the terrifying T-rex • Tickets from £6 • www.life.org.uk
TELL A TALL TALE
We all have our favourite stories, no matter how old we are. At the Shakespeare’s Telling Tales Literary Festival, the family can enjoy seeing Shakespeare’s tales brought to life. Taking place from 28 to 30 July, the festival at Shakespeare’s Globe in London will celebrate the joy of storytelling with interactive workshops, creating a fun way for everyone to learn. • www.shakespearesglobe.com
SYLVANIAN ADVENTURES
Get the kids learning about nature at the Sylvanian Families Nature Trail at Hatchlands Park in Clandon, Surrey. Equipped with an activity sheet, young naturegoers can spot Sylvanian characters Freya Chocolate Rabbit and Ralph Walnut Squirrel who appear on specially designed signs along the trail. Each sign provides questions about nature, with the characters
providing handy, rhyming clues! • Tickets from £3 • www. nationaltrust org.uk
HIGH TIME HERITAGE
Take the kids on a trip back in time to enjoy the Junior Heritage Skills Workshop at the Black Country Living Museum in Dudley, where they can take part in a range of hands-on traditional arts and crafts activities that teach them about the rich manufacturing heritage of the area. The open-air museum near Birmingham is a collection of rebuilt historic buildings, built on former industrial land reclaimed from a railway goods yard, disused lime kilns and former coal pits. The workshop takes place on 1 July and on the first Saturday of the month until December. • Tickets from £3 • www.bclm.co.uk to book
GO DIGITAL
Get the kids flexing their digital media muscles at digiplayspace – an interactive touring exhibition at the Eureka! National Children’s Museum in Halifax. At this fully interactive museum, kids get to experiment with digital art installations, paint on a virtual canvas, race virtual cars, and even star in their own animated videos there’s lots for them to touch, control, and play with! The exhibition opens on 8 July and runs until the end of the year. • www.eureka.org.uk
HERE BE DRAGONS!
See dragons come to life and leap out of story books at the Here Be Dragons exhibition at the Victoria Art Gallery in Bath. From 22 July to 9 October, the worlds of literature, film and art bring these fearsome firebreathers to life through images created by some of the UK’S best children’s illustrators and writers. Kids can expect to encounter a real Dragon’s den crammed with creatures from their favourite books. They can also take part in fun dragon events, workshops, and storytelling sessions. It’s a fun day out for the whole family to enjoy. Copies of famous dragon tales will also be on sale. • Children enter free. £4.00 for over 21’s. • www.victoriagal.org.uk
HANDS ON SCIENCE
Enjoy an exciting range of hands-on science among the domes and telescopes of a former world famous observatory in Hailsham, East Sussex. The Observatory Science Centre offers over 100 exhibits, telescope tours, science shows and an outdoor discovery park. Take your kids to the Centre during the summer holidays for interactive workshops – Noisy Nature on 26 July, and Wonderful Weather on 27 July. • Tickets from £11.25. Booking is essential. • www.the-observatory.org