Glasgow Science Centre (Guest Post)
Hi everyone, hope you are all doing great, I have a guest post from the wonderful from Smelly Socks & Garden peas and her review of the Glasgow Science Centre from earlier this year, when she went with her extended family
Glasgow Science Centre
At the beginning of March 2020, we visited the Glasgow Science Centre while spending a couple of days with my husband’s sister and her family. We arrived about 11am and parked easily, at the reception we got day tickets and seats for the 360 theatre show. It came in at over £100 for four adults, three children and a toddler. Kind of on the expensive side, but I think if we lived locally we would buy the annual passport.
360 Space Show
The 360 space show was starting almost immediately so we went straight up to the area outside the theatre. There was a group of Cubs hanging around and large boy was impressed at what a great day out they were having. The show was excellent, as witnessed by all four children (aged between 2 and 8) sitting nicely throughout.
It was lead by a staff member and he interacted with the children with enthusiasm and made it really fun. Large boy proudly knew lots of answers and the younger children loved hearing about the constellations and planets. It was probably a good thing we saw that show because the later one about atoms and origins we’d seen twice previously at Leicester Space Centre
After the show we started exploring all the hands on displays. There were so many things to investigate and each display was engaging. The kids attention was held and nothing was broken or missing, they loved the wonky room and the heavy balls rolling down slopes.
Lunch Time
We had lunch in the cafe and timed it just right. By lunch my parents in law had arrived too so we were 10. The cafe seating is managed by staff so at 12.15pm we got the last big table and by the time himself went to order there was a queue of people waiting to be seated. The kids all had lunchboxes and the grownups had a variety of homemade, locally sourced hot food including goats cheese and beetroot wrap, haggis pizza and lentil soup. My nephew is dairy intolerant and they easily found food for him to enjoy.
Here we encountered an oversight by the centre – the men’s toilets didn’t have any nappy changing facilities. My brother in law went to sort out my nephew, only to find there was nowhere to change him. Really in this day and age, somewhere like this ought to accommodate fathers (or any man responsible for young children and babies) needing to change nappies. Maybe the disabled toilet had changing facilities, but why wouldn’t the men’s?
Bubbles
After lunch (clean plates for the win) we went back to the exhibits and I signed the three older children up for “Bubleology”. They totally loved this, it was simple but hands on. They each made a cone to blow bubbles and then had the chance to stand inside a giant bubble. It was great for younger children, except holding a cone and sticking needed an extra pair of hands. For older ones the activity was easy but a bit more content about how bubbles work wouldn’t have gone amiss. For a free activity aimed at 2-10 year olds it was pretty perfect.
Flames
Just as Bubbleology was finishing, the flame show was starting in the theatre next door. Himself went and got a seat with large boy, but the other kids missed out because there wasn’t enough time between the two events. Large boy loved this though, it was just right for his age and knowledge and really fun. They looked at all different ways of making fire and what conditions are needed to set a fire. Six months later he’s still joking about setting fire to cotton wool ball sheep. While large boy and himself were learning about fire, the younger kids went into the messy play area. They played with a crane and bricks, water management, and air flow music making.
Electricity
On the next floor there’s an energy section about different ways of making electricity. The boys loved turning handles to make Scalextric cars go, create hydrogen and explode it, see a current wave, and finding our how magnets and coils work. My father in law, however, explained that many of the techniques being demonstrated were a bit outdated.
Time’s up
We would have loved to continue up to the BodyWorks on the top floor. However, it was 3.30pm and we needed to get home so himself and I could go out for the evening. So, we called it a day.
Overall
It was a really great day out, the museum is well laid out and caters for a broad range of children’s ages. The only glitch was finding somewhere for a man to change his child’s nappy.
Small boy’s favourite bit was the bubble show, as was his cousins’. Large boy loved the flame show and their 2 year old cousin had a fab time in the role play area being a builder.
If we lived locally, we would definitely have annual passes as it’s a great place for a wet day out and so big that you could pop in for a couple of hours and always find plenty to keep little minds occupied.
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Disclaimer - This post was written before Covid -19 and the restrictions for Covid-19 were in place, once everything is back to normal, then you can go, this is post is just a guide of places to visit once restrictions are lifted or if your local. This review was not gifted either, the tickets were all paid for by the reviewer
What places did you visit are you going hopefully to visit this year?
Thank you to Smelly Socks and Garden Peas for your review of the Glasgow Science Centre, it looks a great place to visit with families or adults interested in Science and STEM.
I know my elder brother has had issues when taking my nephews when they were little to the men's toilets.
If I go to Glasgow again I will hopefully add this to my list of places to visit
You can find Smelly Socks and Garden Peas on her blog @ Smelly Socks & Garden Peas and on social media Facebook, Instagram & Twitter
