bristol

Some museums are awesome aren’t they? Awe-inspiring exhibits, new discoveries waiting around every corner… and chock full of things that fill you with wonder (about how completely brilliant our world is). We the curious in Bristol is one of those museums. Designed with playfulness in mind, its exhibits invite visitors to interact, experiment and question just about anything and everything. It’s the most interactive museum I’ve set foot in, for sure.

Last week I visited for the first time, and I took the Not So Tiny One with me. Friday saw the venue open its doors for a Toddler Takeover event, where the smallest people have free reign to enjoy all it has to offer without getting under anyone’s feet. It was fabulous! There is so much to see there. We made rainbows, giant bubbles, flew parachutes, constructed things, drew our own Aardman animations and held a 6 month old foetus (a pretend one, of course – from their pregnancy life cycle exhibit).

We the curious is housed over two floors. The ground floor plays host to their biggest exhibits. This is where we had fun exploring the textures of different fruits and vegetables and getting to grips with knife skills in the demo kitchen; where we learnt about the life stages of the aforementioned human foetus and other cool stuff about the human body; and where we sculpted with sand, played with interactive light installations and explored the kinetic forces at play when we jump, to name but a few.

Upstairs, it’s all about light, sound, designing and making and all things sensory. Here we used ginormous bubbles to create our own rainbow effects; donned our hard hats and constructed walls and bridges and spent an unfeasible amount of time playing with the topsy turvy ball run. The ball run was a massive hit with the 18-24 month crowd. I could barely drag the Not So Tiny One away!

As well as all of this, we visited the Planetarium, which **exciting fact alert** is housed within the iconic giant silver ball that sits in Bristol’s Millennium Square. I’m not kidding, we were INSIDE the ball. Amazing. We added a Planetarium show to our visit for an extra £2.50 (for me as the Not So Tiny One was free as an under 2) and it was brilliant. We did the Space Explorers show, which takes you on a whirlwind adventure around space, spotting stars, constellations, planets, galaxies… and more!

For under a tenner (on a Toddler Takeover day anyway) I thought it was a great day out and I’ll certainly be taking the Little Big One there too (probably with the hubby as I’d be tied up in knots keeping track of both girls – there are just too many exciting things to explore!)

All the info you need can be found on the we the curious website: https://www.wethecurious.org

Toddler Takeover prices are as follows: Adults £8.20 / £7.20 concessions, children 3+ £6.20, under 3s free / extra Planetarium shows from £2.50. (Bearing in mind that adult tickets usually cost £14.50 and over 3s, £10.45, it’s certainly worth looking out for the Toddler Takeover events). Check the website for upcoming dates.

Way back in March (yes, I’ve been meaning to write this one up for a while now!), the Little Big One and the Not So Tiny One had their first taste of the theatre. This wasn’t any old theatre, this was Dragonbird Theatre; a hugely interactive, highly engaging and genuinely really funny performance all rolled into a neat 12 minutes (the perfect length for holding little ones’ attention). Dragonbird was set up by two former drama teachers and performers – Tilly Langdon and Lotte Norgaard – who do everything from creating great props and writing scripts to embodying some brilliant characters that perfectly capture children’s imagination.

Chef Gherkin and Princess Pompusknickers

We booked tickets for Chef Gherkin and his Magic Mixing Machine, which was a fabulous story about a French chef and his magic mixing machine… and a royally fussy eater called Princess Pompusknickers! As mentioned above, the performance was relatively short, but was engaging throughout. Audience participation was actively encouraged with the children helping Chef Gherkin and Princess Pompusknickers make the worlds biggest pizza, balance cheese, stir tomato sauce and wrestle spaghetti!

After the show, we were all invited to step into the story and help create some of our own magic. Before helping Chef Gherkin create his culinary masterpiece, we joined in with a song about washing our hands (a good lesson in food hygiene) and our armpits (because, well why not?) Then we made our own stick-on pizzas with velcro toppings and took them up to the front so that Chef Gherkin could put them in his oven. Finally we all sat around a big “table” together and made a giant plate of spaghetti (made of ribbons) and tomato sauce (containing cloth tomatoes and beanbag cheese). And in true Chef Gherkin style, and much to everyone’s delight, we finished the morning with spaghetti confetti, throwing our ribbon spaghetti up in the air to make a delightful mess (which, you’ll be pleased to know, was tidied up afterwards with a very impressive team effort).

Designed for children from birth up to 5 years, this is a great activity to encourage imagination and creative play. Tilly and Lotte make the experience completely immersive so even if your child is a little on the shy side, everyone feels involved – but can join in as much, or as little, as they like. My two are not backwards in coming forwards (they’re possibly two future thespians in the making) so for them, this was a great morning out. I’m planning to buy tickets for another show very soon.

Based in Bristol, the Dragonbird Theatre do performances all over Bristol and Bath as well as using venues in Chew Magna (this is where we saw them), Clevedon and Radstock. Upcoming dates can be found here.

Tickets cost £4.50 and everyone over 4 months needs a ticket.

The Parent Play List

A family guide to play days in Somerset and beyond

We the curious: Where everyone can play scientist

A bucket load of spaghetti and a touch of magic: Dragonbird Theatre for the under 5s