We went to Techniquest!
If you live in Cardiff there is no doubt in my mind that you will have heard of Techniquest. For those of you who are unfamiliar with it, Techniquest is the UK’s longest established science centre.
They have various exhibits which they build themselves and once a month they have a toddler day. As the name suggests on toddler day Techniquest opens its exhibition floor up for children to take priority.
They have additional activities, including story time, colouring and craft tables, all aimed at encouraging young children to take their first steps in science.
In the summer of 2013, my husband and I took our twins to Techniquest. I hadn’t heard of the toddler days back then so we just went on a normal day, but our twins had such good time!
A few weeks ago I decided to take the girls back on one of their toddler days. A few other mums I know were going too, so I thought it would be a great time to go.
I did ring beforehand as I wasn’t sure if there would be anywhere for me to leave my double buggy.
When I went with my husband the previous year, we left the buggy in the car, but as I went on my own this time I took it with me.
When I went with my husband the previous year, we left the buggy in the car, but as I went on my own this time I took it with me.
The lady I spoke to was very friendly and helpful. She explained that Techniquest was buggy friendly and that there would be an area sectioned off for people to leave their pushchairs.
I arrived around 10am as I wanted to get there early because I’d heard from other mums who had been previously that it can get very busy in the afternoon.
There wasn’t much of a queue, but after I’d paid it started to get busy quite quickly.
As the twins are under 4 years of age they were free, so I just had to pay £4.80 for myself. I did ask at the front desk what time hot food was served from and one of the women advised me 12pm, but before then they would have cold snacks and sandwiches available.
The area to leave pushchairs is right at the front so it was easy to find and one of the male staff members offered to park the pushchair for me.
We said a quick hello to some of the other mums and then started exploring! There was so much to see!
The first thing the girls found was a machine which produced bubbles. Both R and M enjoyed pressing the buttons and seeing which spout the bubbles came out of!
Their favourite thing there though was the hot air balloon! You have to repeatedly press a button to get enough hot air into the balloon to make it rise into the sky and the girls loved watching it shoot up into the air and then come back down again!
There were puzzles and tables stationed around the floor with a variety of activities going on from play dough to face painting and upstairs they had a table for making Easter bonnets. We really wanted to make an Easter bonnet, but every time we went to the table it was too busy! Maybe next year!
Right at the back on the ground floor are some water features and the staff had some water proof aprons to hand so the kids wouldn’t get soaked. Unfortunately, there weren’t enough for the girls to wear an apron each, but luckily I had packed a spare change of clothes each for the girls.
In one of the water tables they had toy boats and penguins which R and M loved playing with.
They played on a giant piano, looked at themselves in the funny mirrors and built a tower with some blocks.
Another one of their favourites was a long tube that went high up in the air. You had to put a piece of cloth into the bottom of the tube and the air would push the cloth up into the air and out of the top of tube where it would gently float back down to the ground!
After visiting all of the exhibitions and playing on all of them, I found the nappy change facility easily. We then headed downstairs to the Café around 11.30. I was pleased to see that they were already serving hot food so ordered chicken nuggets and chip for the girls and sausage, chips and beans for myself!
The Café was really busy and packed. It’s only small, but thankfully as it was a nice, sunny day they had the doors open so some people were sitting outside eating. I bought a plastic cup each for the girls full of grapes and then one of the women who worked in the Café kindly carried my tray over to a table for as M wanted to be carried.
I was lucky that the group of mums I knew already had a table, so I joined them! The meals were really big and in hindsight I think I could have got away with only buying the girls one meal between them.
After we’d eaten our food, we went into the gift shop and I bought the girls a small soft toy each and then retrieved our pushchair.
We all had a great day and I will definitely be visiting again at the next toddler day next month!
I haven’t received any form of payment or compensation for writing this post. All views and opinions are my own. We enjoyed our visit to Techniquest so much that I wanted to share it with you!
4 Comments
Alyssa
May 19, 2014 at 9:43 am
Looks like you had a fab time, This place looks similar to Eureka!.
Emily
May 20, 2014 at 6:19 pm
I've not heard of Eureka! Will have a look online for it though! We had a great time, thanks!
Super Busy Mum
May 27, 2014 at 9:00 pm
We love science centres and this one looks like LOADS of fun! Thanks so much for linking up with #MMWBH x
Laura Mummy to Boyz
May 27, 2014 at 9:10 pm
My boys love science too – looks like you had a great day!