Days Out - Eureka National Children's Museum

Eureka! National Children’s Museum is somewhere where I visited as a child and can still remember elements of so when we found ourselves with a spare free weekend with no plans. We decided that we would take Jess for an amazing day of hands-on fun there is always a lot to play with the look and of course, learn about. Just because it is a Children’s Museum, it does not mean that it is not suitable for toddlers at 2 Jess had so much fun as you can see from her face on some of the pictures.  Halifax is only around 1-1 ½ hours away from where we are based which means that there was not too much time spent in the car travelling to our day out.

When we arrived, there is a large car park which is next to the museum which we found pretty easy to park in, and I think it cost us around £4 for 4 hours this is something which we did not think was too expensive. The museum is opposite the train station, so if you are travelling in by train, this is something to be aware of. When we arrived, we went to the wrong way as we did not notice the building, so you really need to keep your eyes peeled. Outside of the museum, there is actually a large play area which has sand pits as well, however when we visited it was snowing which meant that Jess was unable to play outside. When we visit again, I am sure this is an area which she will have so much fun playing in.

It could have been due to the time of year when we visited it was the start of December it was pretty quiet we did not have to queue . One thing which does make me happy is that there offer annual pass tickets as part of their normal entry price which means you pay once and can visit as many times as you want within 12 months. This for sure is something which is going make us want to visit again we are already planning to go back when Jess is a little bit older maybe in March/April time.

The first area we saw was the all about me gallery which is one which is one of the areas which I would say is the most interactive. This is an area which I would say is great for all ages as there is so much to play with. Of course, because I went with a toddler it does mean there were some of the things which she was not interested in because it went over her head. However, there is so much that the under 5’s can do as you can see Jess was brushing her teeth like she would at home. There is an area which maternity area which you can scan a dolls tummy which shows you the baby in the tummy like a real scan. This would be a great area to visit should your child become an older sibling. Jess is just starting to like babies, and she is always playing with the dolls which we have now at home.

The areas which Jess loved the most had to be the living and working gallery this is on the bottom floor. This area is exploring pretending kitchens, bathrooms, living rooms, a garage which even has petrol pimps and a working car wash. If this is not enough, there is also a Mark’s and Spencer’s which is just like the real shop. There is a post office, building suite and a Halifax bank as well which has a million pound chair as well as a bank volt and a cash machine which is available for the young ones to play with. Jess as you can see loved the shop I think we did the whole weekly shop in this little M&S as well as her pretending that she was so posh and could afford to sit on the million.

The rest of the areas is split into 6 areas which desert garden, town, ocean, jungle, country and ice garden. These are areas which Jess adored because there was a lot for her to do and this is an areas which is made for the under 5s so it did not go over her head at all like some of the other areas had done.  Desert was one which Jess loved so much because of the fact there was something which you put balls in turned the wheel and the ball came out the other side. I think we must have lost a fair amount of time in their for sure she was having the time of her life.

Downstairs there is a SoundSpace and Soundgarden this is an area which we did at the end, so we did not spend a lot of time in it due to the fact our car park was running out. I think this area was a little bit too old for her, but this is something which she might enjoy more in the future when she grows up. There is a soft play area in the corner I think it is meant to be for those who are under 5 and some of the areas is for those who do not walk yet. This area was very busy and full of children who were over 5, so Jess did not really want to play in this area as older children can scare her.

Eureka is for sure worth the money it is £12.95 for adults, and because Jess is under the ages of 3, it was only £5.25. Of course, you get the free annual pass for the end of the year because we found that Jess was very tired at the end of the day she I don’t think made it out of the car park before been asleep. I can see you been able to visit your child is at least 10 years old. Even though we visited on the weekend it was not too busy Jess still got to see everything which she wanted. I love how this is so child-friendly, and they change parts of the museum every 3 months which means that it could be very different when you visit.

For sure I would recommend visiting Eureka, and I know we will be back in the next 12 months. Have you visited Eureka if so what were your thought.

Charlotte xx

Days Out- Yorkshire Wildlife Park Review

Recently we visited Yorkshire Wildlife Park for Jess's second birthday because of the fact she loves animals and we wanted to do something special for her because it is not every day you turn two after all. The wildlife park, if you are not familiar with the wildlife park, is in Doncaster it is close to the airport actually which means that it is only about an hour from us. It has taken me till now to actually visit and it has been open 8 years. The park is home to around 400 animals which means there is plenty to see we spent around 6 hours at the park which is amazing because it was not very busy due to the fact we visited on a Friday in September. I feel like we got our monies worth because it only cost us £17 each and Jess was free because she is still under 3.

The first animals which we saw on our trip was the baboons which had me in stitches because they were all been cheeky one kept shaking the house which you can see some of them sat on before another one decided that they wanted to mount and try and make babies with another one in front of the other baboons. The park seems to have a fair amount of them as this is only a selection of the species somewhere actually sat near the window just chilling as you can see there are some small ones which are either clinging onto their mum or dad which I think is adore able it is a shame I could not get a closer picture of them. 

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Mattel Play!- Liverpool Review

I know this post has been a long time coming ever single time I see the pictures I think about that fact I that I need to do a review however, I have not got around to it. That is the reason why Jess may look young in the pictures because they were actually taken back at Easter time when we visited Mattel Play! which is on the Albert dock in Liverpool.

The only reason I actually knew it was there was because I had seen the lovely Hayley from stretchmarks and sparkles visit with her boys. Mattel is a 3 floored building which is designed for under 5's. The top floor is dedicated to Thomas the tank engine which has you may know because Jess goes on a lot of trains she likes to watch Thomas.

On the Thomas floor there is as signalling box which allows your child to feel like they are in control of the whole network. As you can see Jess is playing with part of it here and I think we had to wait a while for her to actually come of because she was having so much fun. Also on the floor there is a little trains which the children can get on a be pushed around on it is almost like a ride on Thomas. There is a farm which allows the child to grow the fruit and veg before picking them which allows you to help your child learn their fruit and veg. 

There also was the colaeorks which has foam bricks in which you could build the areas was a little dark and this was not something which actually interested Jess. You could even drive a stationary Thomas which of course Jess spent a fair amount of time on. However I think Jess's favourite part of the floor was the ball pit which has Harold the helicopter in because she could with help get in a slide out the back into his ball pool. For sure this was the bit which she spent the longest in it was so nice to heard her laugh so much.

The second floor is dedicated to bob the builder which I will admit is a show which Jess has not seen a lot of. I think since the visit it is one which she has seen more of. On this floor they have beanbags which allow you to sit and watch episodes of the show however, only been one Jess wanted to play rather than sit. They have a kitchen which allows you to make food and drink for the famous builder making his lunch before he departs for the job I know this is an area which Jess would love so much more now as she is obsessed with play food.  They also have an area where you mend pipes and stop a water leak as well as build a new wall for a house. These are area which Jess spent some time at. The other activity  on the is a tracing your favourite character from the show however, Jess was still a little bit young to want to do this. I on the other hand had a great time trying to do it.

The third and bottom floor is an area dedicated to Fireman Sam. So as you can imagine as you enter you can put on fireman's helmets these were to big for Jess which is a huge shame. But when you got into the main room Thai was the smallest of all three levels you have little slide area which Jess loved walking up the stairs and sliding down. A speedboat which you could drive and use the hoses to put the fire out which was on a wall. This floor also has a little grocery store which Jess decides she would fill her trolley up and pretend to be a shoplifter. Mmm might have to keep my eyes on this little one. There was also a huge fire engine in there which you could play inside but this is not something we did.

When Mattel is busy you get a period of 2 hours from entrance however, we did everything we wanted and spent around an hour and half and we was all shattered after it. Overall we had an amazing time I seem to remember that it was not very expensive for how much you actually got I would revisit maybe in a years time when Jess may get more out of it. Anyway that's just an excuse to visit Liverpool again.

Have you visited Mattel Play If so what did you think? 7

Charlotte x

Jess's 1st Birthday

Hi Guys

I thought to day I would share with you what we did for Jess's first birthday due to the fact that I know it can be hard to know what to do for you little ones first birthday because they don't remember so you don't want to spend to much money but then you do not want it to go past unmarked.

The weekend before Jess's actual birthday we went to see Daddy's family so they could celebrate her birthday with her which was nice for them to be able to see her. The day started with them giving her cards and some presents which we let her open early so they felt part of her birthday celebration. Them we went for a nice walk by the canal to go to the a pub for a lunch however they were only serving Sunday lunch when we got there and we did not fancy it so we walked back and then we had tea when we got back .


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