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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