National Play Day - Victoria Square, Bolton

So the school holidays are here, and to be honest I've not got two pennies to rub together! As you can imagine with a 4 year old and a 7 year old, both energetic boys, this lack of funding was a problem...

As I was planning my (free) holiday activities I remembered National Play Day www.playday.org.uk , this is an initiative I found by accident about 4 years ago when I had to leave my newborn baby on his own in the middle of Victoria Square in Bolton whilst I rescued my over adventurous 3 year old from the top of a very high bouncy castle slide!!! The idea of Play Day is that around the country towns arrange things to basically encourage play. This is a fabulous idea, not enough people play any more, particularly adults! So I had a nosy in the free book you get from school (the school holiday bible in my opinion) and it said Victoria Square in the centre of Bolton was doing something for Play Day - so off we trotted at 10am this morning, yes I was the slightly hysterical mother that everyone looks at because she's screaming at her bored, fighting children....

Well my children were well entertained for about 2/3 hours which saved my sanity and their ears from being screamed at further!

I shall show some of the activities they did now!

The beach! only little but both the boys had loads of fun! The water just made it more exciting!

 

Connecting things! I'm at a loss as to what these are called but for me they were great fun, the staff were very helpful and Benjamin was assisted in making a wonderful double decker bus that he was incredibly pleased with....














Sunglasses and a sun visor! This was the craft stall, we managed to arrive early but I expect this would have been very popular as the afternoon went on, again thank you to very helpful staff - one of which went on the hunt for elastic for Elliott's falling off sunglasses! My only criticism is these would have been much better printed on card for ease of putting them on.

 

There was loads of other activities, even for bigger children ie.teenagers. There was a cardboard city which looked very popular even at 10am, a climbing wall, football in copious amounts, extra large Chess and Connect 4,  Bolton market was there but my children didn't allow me near the nice smells... All the boxes were there, much to my 7 year olds excitement - he is obsessed with where Box 1, 2, 3 and 4 are going (these provide free entertainment at various sites all over Bolton in the holidays, we saw Box 2 in Moss Bank Park yesterday which gave free Henna tattoos....

Over all we had a good few hours here and even better it was all free!!!! Now to look to Bolton Food and Drink Festival which is the actual highlight of my year http://www.boltonfoodanddrinkfestival.com/

I must apologise for all the children pictures, I normally keep them child free in my blog - but it was after all a Play Day so I think I can be let off.

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All my opinions are my own!

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Knowsley Safari Park

 

The last time I came here I was a child - I absolutely loved it and after purchasing a Key 103 deal where the full price for a family of 4 was £26 it seemed the perfect Good Friday day out. On arrival we were greeted by a lovely young man, well mannered, helpful and polite (always a good start). We purchased two (best not to start a riot first thing in the morning) guide books at £2 each... a bargain for full colour informative animal books! 

And so we started (after a toilet pit stop) our Safari drive!

 

view across the park

 

The drive itself is 5 miles long! It is split in to 'zones' and basically one leads after the other, culminating in a huge car park where you can get out. We saw on our drive lions eating meat, baboons, deer, emu's, just to name but a few of the animals! Aside from the odd erratic driver who was no concern to me but obviously in a rush.. the drive round is very calm and very relaxed, there's the obvious 'blockages' where the most popular animals are but this is to be expected, they're amazing - who wouldn't want to stop off for a picture!

We witnessed an animal being taken on the back of a pick up to safety covered in a blanket. I like that my children saw that and that they realised that the staff were trying to help him, it provoked a good conversation between a 4yr old and 7yr old about the need to help animals and that maybe it had died (although I really hope it hasn't and was just tranquilised) but that's what nature is.

At the end near the car park there's a good selection of fair ground rides for the children at £5 a wristband, face painting which was around £4.50 per child for just basic face painting - which was incidentally fabulous, or you could get packages which included ears and tails for more money.

 

 There is an eating area called 'Oasis' which is new for 2013, it seemed to have a good selection of food and was very busy so must be decent.

 

We went to the sealion show for our first stop, this is included in the price and the sealions are such show offs, I was worried they wouldn't like it but my goodness, it's very evident they are loving it!

 

 

 

 

Our next stop took us to the bat area, I don't like flying creatures so the children were promptly taken by my other half, they came out full of chatter and excitement so I'm presuming that was a success!

 

The giraffes and elephants were our next visit..waw these are amazing and so close... all the animals were clean and well looked after and their food was obviously given them to be a challenge as it would in the wild.

 

 

Our penultimate stop was for an ice cream for the kiddys' and warming hot chocolate for grown ups as it was freezing!

 

And then the obligatory trip to the gift shop. Fabulous gift shop, absolutely full to jam packed with all kinds of animal paraphernalia, some of it for adults too which in itself is rare..prices from 50p.

In summary our day at Knowsley safari park was fab, even with snow on the ground at Easter it didn't dampen ours or anyone else's spirits. It was still as I remembered it as a child but there was far less to do 20 years ago! The animals are amazing and the way they just literally wander where they want too without bothering about your car or holding you up ten minutes whilst they wait in the middle of the road for their lunch is really quite liberating and isn't something children can experience very much in the UK.

The staff were plentiful and you could tell really cared for the animal and I would definitely come again, if you are contemplating a day out it is definitely one to try.

 

www.knowsleysafariexperience.co.uk

 

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Museum of Science and Industry - MOSI

Right in the middle of the hustle and bustle of Manchester is the Museum of Science and Industry - otherwise known as MOSI. Accessibility wise this couldn't be easier. It's well sign posted with a smallish car park of its own, disabled parking right outside and more privately owned car parks within easy walking distance. There is a train station on Deansgate, again within easy walking distance.

On entering today we were greeted by Tim, I didn't get chance to read his job description underneath his name badge but he was extremely knowledgeable, very amenable and clearly enjoyed his front of house role. I saw him again at various times throughout the day speaking with other people and his enthusiasm never waned..

The museum itself is really quite large! It consists of 5 areas, I'll not spoil your own trip by telling you about the history of the museum because it takes it away from the idea of going to a museum in the first place, but the five areas are 1. Great Western Warehouse 2. 1830 Warehouse 3. Station Building 4. Power Hall and across a small road is 5. Air and Space Hall (this road has a zebra crossing by the way so perfectly safe with little ones)

 

All the areas bring something different to the museum and all are equally as interesting as the others.

There are 2 eating establishments in MOSI, one being a coffee type shop with Paninis, sandwiches, cakes etc and one on the 1st floor of the Great Western Warehouse which sells THE best pizzas ever, soup etc and is more of a formal eating affair. It is however very child friendly as restaurants go and fairly good value for money.

The museum is just too big for me to talk about it all but I will just cover a few of our favourite areas.

The Experiment area on the 1st floor of the Great Western Warehouse (main building) is fantastic for children, teaching them essential principles of Science without them really knowing it... a bonus in my eyes! Suitable for all ages, literally from toddlers right through to adults.

 

The Air and Space hall is fairly self explanatory in its title in that it contains possibly every type of air and land vehicle that you can think of, including a milk float, old fashioned motorcycles, huge aeroplanes, jets.. you name it and it's probably in there. An amazing exhibit which delights young and old.











The Power Hall is the warmest place in the museum and is home to working Locomotives and Mill Engines. Always a hit with my children as the trains all have viewing platforms to look in to the cabs, and they are all up close and personal, not hidden away by fences and barriers. They also do performances throughout the day, suitable for all age groups from 7+  I would say - relative to the learning about the engines/locomotives.

There are always extra activities on in the school holidays, and it's always worth checking the website for these. As it stands at half term February 2013 they are doing a Steam, Sweat and Sewers theme and my children and the adults in our group all enjoyed it, the children had fun dressing up in Victorian costume, trying their hand at the Victorian stalls outside and being taught to weave by again very knowledgable, friendly staff.

I have also been to a Thomas Day Out at MOSI in the past, MOSI is a good host to Thomas because apart from the museum itself for children to explore it has a working train and train track which granted doesn't really go very far or to a destination, but it is good enough for the children to feel like they've been on a working steam engine. The normal steam engines are replaced by Thomas the Tank Engine and his friends obviously on this day! I've been to Thomas Day Out at various places and organisation wise this was the best. The Station Building turned into a huge arts/crafts, building and storytelling room and outside became the face painting area!


There are plenty of toilets around, we only used one set but they seemed to be clean on the most part. There are lots of lifts around, equally with lots of steps, but you mustn't forget that this building has kept all of its' old charm and subsequently the museum has fitted around the buildings rather than vice versa so steps and ramps are inevitable.

I would say definitely worth a day out and i've been probably around 6/7 times and my partner 3 times and both of us this time said we thought we'd seen things we hadn't seen before. I think this is due in part to the size of it..

They ask if you could to donate £3 per person to the running of the museum on entrance, although no pressure was added. There are a few areas in MOSI in which children and yourselves could spend extra money, i.e. the little train ride would have cost my family of four £6, a little pricey I thought for the distance it goes, maybe a family ticket for £4 or £5 would be better. And the 4d cinema which the children invariably want to go in to requires a paid ticket. There are more free areas in the museum than paid, and if you so desired you could spend the day there for free apart from your transport/parking/train ticket cost to get there.

www.mosi.org.uk

Thanks for reading and I hope this review is useful to you. If you have any more questions please feel free to ask.

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Legoland Discovery Centre - Manchester

I have been going to the Legoland Discovery Centre in Manchester since the day it opened. That's right, I don't know how - but I even managed to get tickets to the opening event in 2010! I have seen it go from quite small in its infancy to quite a large attraction in the present day.

Since then we have been regular visitors every school holidays and all the special events throughout the year, so it only seemed fitting that my first review had to be of the Legoland Discovery Centre.

From entering Barton Square at the Trafford Centre you only have to walk in a short distance to see the bright yellow signs and the captivating and bright window displays.

front entrance

You are drawn to enter as soon as you see it, the colours and theming start right at the front door and continue all the way through the entire attraction. Even down to the Lego Chef that stands at the side of the cafe.

The queues at the attraction can invariably look terrifying... they sometimes snake right outside the door.. This only shows how popular the centre is and I highly recommend getting here as early as possible, although the queues go down very quickly even when busy. It can get quite busy inside and the quietest times are before 11.30am in the school holidays, after school and obviously when the kids are in school ie. term time.

The first part of the attraction is the lift up to the first floor in to Professor Brick's factory tour. This never fails to entertain and even though we must have seen it fifty times and my children know the whole routine of 'lego brick making' we still have to go through it.

The next step on your Lego adventure is the Kingdom Quest ride…. the queues again are scary looking but the interspersed Lego boards on the wall and the very efficient chatty staff make the queue go down very quickly, my longest wait has been 10 minutes. This ride is fab, a shooting the target type ride which entertains the children....and very competitive adults alike……

Miniland is your next stop, this is where you see the true potential of Lego - the Beatles,  Blackpool Tower, and Alton Towers are just a few of the constructions which turn from daylight to dark and back again. The fireworks on the wall are a nice touch! 

The attraction then opens up to form a Cafe area in the middle which serves sandwiches/paninis, cakes, drinks etc. with a seating area and then around the outside of this area includes the Master Model Builders workshop ( a classroom type setting in which you are shown how to build a model), a Lego 4d cinema, Lego Friends attraction, Fire Academy (a large play area split as half for big kids and half for little kids), Lego racers (car ramps and building), Merlins apprentice (a ride that involves cycling to go higher - great fun), Duplo village for little ones, Forest Pursuit (a driving game) and lots more.. 

Star Wars Miniland

They are also guest starring a special Star Wars miniland which is available from 1st February 2013 to 2nd June 2013, this is a definite must see and very impressive!

Of course the centre ends with a huge gift shop down stairs, this is a Lego paradise ending with a Lego paradise, there will be things that you and your little ones will want to spend a fortune on…. But don’t worry there are also plenty of pocket money toys to pacify them as well..

If like me you want to know the nitty gritty from a parents point of view I will tell you that the toilets are immaculate and always have been every time I go, the basins are easily accessible for my 4 year old, as are the hand dryers… making it much easier for Mummy to actually wash her own hands!

The café is immaculate - with fruit and no deep fried greasy chips in sight!

All in all this is a fabulous day out. I would say a morning or an afternoon is a perfect amount of time but if like me you get carried away with trying to make the biggest and best car in the Lego racers area then you could quite happily stay for the day.  The nice touches like the huge spongy Lego bricks in the Fire Academy play area make it a hit for my boys and the healthy sandwich boxes make it a hit for me. 

I must just mention the staff before I draw to a close... excellent staff, knowledgeable, extremely friendly and all of them really look like they are enjoying their time working there. I was most shocked when buying two different Legends of Chima swords today in the shop that the young lady behind the counter actually could tell my two boys which characters they would be after receiving them.

I don't know whether it's the fact that Lego Managers have the staff move around different attractions within the Centre before they get bored or whether they really enjoy their job but as for efficiency professionalism and consistency they rate very high.

My only criticism would be that it would be nice for more seating areas for parents, but having looked around I'm not sure where this would go and it helps parents to actually interact with their children and not just plonk themselves down with a drink.

I will draw to a close by saying I hear people all the time say "oh it's not like Windsor", and I agree, but then it does not profess to be like Windsor……. Legoland Discovery Centre is a brand of its own and an experience of its own and if you love Lego as much as we do then you will definitely have found heaven here!

http://www.legolanddiscoverycentre.co.uk/manchester/

The birth!

After reading blogs for quite a few months now of various people I thought “hmmmm... I can do this” and so it got pushed to the back of my mind (as things do when you are busy working full time and looking after a house and children) until I was talking to a very good friend of mine at work about a planned trip with my 4 year old and 7 year (boys), her  response was “oh you do lots with them” just a passing comment but one that has been said before, then it came to my attention that perhaps this could be of benefit to other people and myself.

A document of places I visit both with and without my children sounded a great idea. Many a time I have trawled the internet, searching for reviews, hours and hours and hours, reviews and experiences from people like me. It's very difficult to find a Thomas Day Out review…

I try to take my children out as often as possible, and I suffer a severe well documented case of cabin fever if I do not entertain myself with some kind of daytime outing at least once every couple of weeks. Children grow up very quickly and life experiences that hopefully are born from fun rather than practical experiences are very important in their general upbringing.

And so exciteddaytripper was created.....

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Hope I don’t bore you too much and thanks for reading!