Science Museum – 19/05/11

OK, so this subject has probably been blogged to oblivion but let’s get this straight.

I  L O V E   T H E    S C I E N C E    M U S E U M!!!!!!!!!

Always have done. Did so as an 8-year-old visitor to London. Did so as a starry-eyed 20-year-old who’d just moved to London. Did so with a 1-year-old. Did even more so with a 2-year-old.

Why? Well, it just always feels like a big treat to go there. Although bits of it look distinctly less futuristic than they did in 1988, it’s still pretty wowzy. And my work sponsors a wing of it, so I can wander round feeling superior to Nathan and (occasionally) mentioning it.

Sorry for the lack of decent photos by the way…he didn’t stay still long enough to take many.

Top bits for toddlers – The Garden in the basement is a special area for under 6s and there is a cafe, buggy and baby change next door. Also a picnic area for school children but try and block them out as best you can. It’s worth it. You will probably get lost the first time you try and find it (we did), so don’t take the first set of lifts you come to – they only go to the cloakroom (we did). Instead, head past the shop and the cafe, through the main exhibition space on the ground floor and THEN down in the lifts.

The Garden when/if you get there really is ace. A water play area with pumps and boats (they provide raincoats but a determined toddler will still get wet underneath, somehow. Take spare clothes). Giant lego bricks (don’t let your husband hog them all and sit there snarling at 5-year-old girls who are threatening his “structure”). Seats that make noises when you sit on them. Panels on the wall with wellies and springs to touch. Distorted mirrors, a drum panel and lots more I can’t remember. Just toddler utopia. Toddlertopia? No, that doesn’t work.

Upstairs, the pattern pod is great too (It’s in the blue section, next to the Deep Blue Cafe. The blue section isn’t an official term, it’s just kinda blue there…). Lots of things to do, dressing up, screens to play with and…oh,just go there. There’s also Launch Pad which isn’t quite as amazing as it seemed when I was 8 but still pretty fun for older children (and a toddler who loves watching the bubble tubes). And never understimate the power of lots of trains and cars

VERDICT: Go there! It’s free! What’s your excuse?

More details here (official website)