Thursday, 19 November 2015

At-Bristol, Where Science gets Interesting


I have been to At-Bristol before, on a school trip. The problem with school trips, though, is that you are always very short of time to try to fit everything in, so it never feels like you've seen all there is to see. Nevertheless, I was unsure how much there would be to do. I needn't have been concerned, we arrived at 12:45 and I had to drag him out, under protest, over five hours later! There was just so much there to interest him. It covered all of his favourite hobbies. Animation, stop motion, film-making, construction, with lots of other hands on science exhibits that he had no idea he was interested in!

And when I say 'hands on', I mean totally hands on. Here he is, concentrating very hard on making his own blood. This involved mixing together very realistic looking ingredients from a recipe, which made up all the components of human blood. It's widely believed that children, and adults too, take in much more information and learn better if they experience something, rather than just reading or hearing about it, so this is education at it's best. Look at the concentration on his face! 

Child Doing Practical Science

A lot of the exhibits centre around the human body and how it works, which is a great way to encourage children to take an interest in their health and fitness. L was surprised to find that he had to do over a minute of stepping in order to work off a single Rolo and he was fascinated with this skeleton that mirrored his movements to demonstrate what his bones do. You could also change it to show your nervous system, circulatory system or muscles. 

At Bristol Skeleton Demo
Learning how our bones move
After a spot of; animation, where you can use the equipment to create your own stop motion film, then have it emailed home, film-making, where you can use real film equipment in a proper studio to stage your own news broadcast and much, much more, it was time to relax. For me, anyway. One thing I do love about At-Bristol are all the strategically placed benches for the parents and carers. Lucky for me next to one of the strategically placed benches was a huge building area with giant construction bricks and nearly two hours was whiled away, building a brick house big enough to contain three excitable boys! 

Boy with Giant Lego
Lego House!

I don't know how I persuaded him to leave, he was having so much fun. I do know that by the time we left it had got dark, everywhere else was closed, and it was on a promise that we would visit again very soon! 

In Association with Visit Bristol, for all you need to know about local attractions!

Read more about the best of  Bristol here; Christmas Dinner in a Pie with Pieminister

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2 comments

  1. I hadn't heard of this before but it sounds like a great day out! It would be a great alternative to Techniquest, and not too much further to go for us x #TriedTested

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  2. Oooh as a Bristolian of old I love @ Bristol but haven't yet had the chance to take the kids there. Looks like there's lots of new stuff since we went. MAybe we might have to go when we are down over the winter. #triedandtested

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