Explore-at-Bristol Centre

What WE Say...

We drove to Bristol, and navigated our way through the mildly alarming city centre traffic fairly painlessly. The underground car park was simple to find, and you emerge mole-like blinking into the sparkling daylight of Millennium Square, just yards from the Explore-at-Bristol centre.

Explore-at-Bristol is… actually very difficult to describe succinctly. It is a science museum... kind of. It is interactive, and educational, and interesting and... well, read on and see.

It is all about discovering how science and the world around us works, and is completely and totally hands ON – making it just a brilliant day out for the whole family.

Upon entry we immediately booked ourselves into the planetarium – splitting into two shows, as under 5’s cannot go in. Which is disappointing and a bit frustrating for parents of young children, but understandable once you are in there. Even if it means two of you go in singly, still book yourself in, you don’t want to miss it.

Once we stepped into the main hall we could see that there was a huge range of exhibits, but we were coerced into the ‘Jet set go’ airport section first. Here Ella was thrilled to dress as an air hostess and pour tea, whilst Joe and Toby were very willing pilots (no stereotypes there then…). All the boys loved the flying simulation game - despite Cams 10-yr-old nonchalance at first glance at this ‘baby area’ - and equally the two-way screens with control tower.

Once we could get them out of the airport we started investigating the brain exhibition. This was fascinating, and again included lots of interactive displays that worked on so many levels – Ella enjoyed running and bashing and watching the lights change. The boys all enjoyed the challenges, and were strangely fascinated by the skeleton who moved when you touched the brain. Ella had a lo-o-ong conversation with a  life-sized giant tortoise (“un Dorduss Mummy!”).

The downstairs hall is very open plan, and it was tempting to the boys to use a simple scattergun approach and simply dart wherever took their fancy. But we felt they would miss a lot working that way, so we reined them in a little and worked our way through the sections.

By late morning we were still only half way round, and Mr Laura and Cameron headed off to the planetarium. I stayed downstairs and took the younger ones into the Jungle zone – home to yet more amazing fancy dress costumes, quiet reading area with cushions and some intriguing sticky squishy stepping stones – and to investigate the bubble section. They were all strangely attracted to sitting in the padded ‘womb’.

For lunch we decided to stay on-site and use the Explore Café – which turned out to be a GREAT choice! I’m often wary of on-site cafes, as you never know how much advantage they take of their captive customers. But we had such a nice meal! Toby (and Ella) opted for a ‘lunch box’, which was a build-your-own selection process, healthy options, plentiful, and great value. Joe and Cam both felt like something more substantial and chose from the hot kids menu, and Mr Laura and I had a full lunch too. The food was excellent, the prices are very reasonable, and the café is light and bright and a good place to eat with children. 

After lunch we headed upstairs, and I took the younger two boys for my own trip to the planetarium show. Having listened to Cam and Mr Laura wax lyrical about how great it was I was really looking forward to it – but have to admit my heart sank at the entrance. A large school trip of teens was noisily crowded around, clearly also waiting. The ‘guide’ allowed us to sneak in first and take our pick of the seats, but I was dismayed when we were closely followed by a very large crowd of noisy teens – they filled every other seat in the large auditorium, and the noise (and ‘colourful’ language) was rather intimidating to my 6 and 7 yr olds.

Three times the guide had to stop the show to ask the rowdy school trip to be quiet, and eventually a teacher arose (Hurrah!) and threatened them with removal if they did not comply. My boys enjoyed the show, and didn’t seem to mind too much about the ‘company’ once it had started – but for me the experience was ruined. If you book yourself in – check there are no school trips on your screening! It’s a shame, because I was really looking forward to it, and what wasn’t interrupted was very interesting – the boys and I all loved the experience of leaning back in our seats and looking at the entire night sky appearing on the inside of the dome around us. And we can all now spot Leo!

For the rest of the afternoon we explored the upstairs exhibits – the boys were utterly engrossed by the TV production room and the virtual volleyball, thought the wonky room was hilarious, and a very tired Ella was happily employed for a full half an hour examining small creatures with a magnifying glass.

As parents we found ourselves at one point simply playing at a rotating table filled with sand – and we weren’t alone. Children were not allowed near as frazzled grown ups hogged the peaceful activity, drawing squirls and soothing patterns in the fine grains of rotating sand.

The ‘explainers’ in purple shirts were unfailingly fun, informative and patient and definitely added to a curious 10 yr olds experience. The availability of colouring pencils/paper in most areas meant that Ella was easy to employ or distract and no matter where we looked there was something new for us all to examine.

We arrived at the centre just after 10, and finally left the building not much before 5, utterly exhausted. Yes, we could have ‘seen’ it all in a couple of hours, but the children were having a ball, and what would have been the sense in pushing them through when they were so happy exploring? They must have revisited the TV production room 4 or 5 times, played endless games of virtual volleyball, run through the utterly bewitching fibre optic cables outside the planetarium countless times… and why on earth not?

When we left we found the sun shining and the fountains in Millennium Square looked just too enticing – so we whipped off shoes and socks and let them have a 20 minute splash. Of course, it was THEN that the tantrum hit… just one treat too many for an oh-so-weary toddler…

Website: www.at-bristol.org.uk

Explore-at-Bristol Centre

What THEY Say...

Explore-At-Bristol is one of the UK's most exciting hands-on science centres!
Discover interactive exhibits and special exhibitions, take in a Planetarium show or join our Live science team for fun experiments and activities. Explore-At-Bristol is the first of it's kind - A true 21st century science centre combining the best of hands-on activities with the very latest multi-media techniques. In Explore-At-Bristol science is brought alive through stunning visuals and over 170 interactive experiences – many of which are aimed at under 6’s.

A registered charity, Explore runs formal and informal learning programmes and aims to make science accessible to all.

Website: www.at-bristol.org.uk