The National Space Centre - It's Out of this World

Back in 1980, Sir Patrick Moore visited my school The Sir William Herschel Grammar School (named after the astronomer who discovered Uranus) and gave a talk about the future of space exploration.  He predicted that by the year 2000 man would be living on the moon in lunar colonies.  This prediction hasn't quite come to fruition, but the interest Patrick Moore ignited in me has never waned.

Yesterday, Ian and I were invited to the Space Centre in Leicester, along with Megan, Ella, Kizzy and Freddy, to watch the premiere of the brand new Planetarium film, Back to the Moon for Good.  My eldest son Joe was also attending with his blogging fiancee Jade and my baby grandson Ted.  It was a great opportunity to have the family together and enjoy an amazing day out!

The Space Centre is centred around a huge 42m high, space age bubble like construction which we spotted from afar as we arrived for our VIP day.  We were treated to coffee and pastries and were warmly greeted by Neil the General Manager.  We headed off into the Space Centre to enjoy the facilities and were very impressed with the different zones that we got to explore.  Orbiting Earth, Exploring the Universe, Into Space, Space Now, The Rocket Tower, Tranquility Base and The Planets are the seven themed, interactive areas. They feature interactive activities, scientific artefacts, displays and challenges.  I loved how hands on everything was and enjoyed watching the kids being able to crawl through a black hole, dress up like a star, read a futuristic news report, experience what it's like to be in a Russian spacecraft and transport themselves back to the 1969 moon landing (the year I was born!)

The Space Centre has so many facts and figures about the planets, the space race and the universe, all presented in a fun way aimed to entertain as well as educate.  There are films, computer screens and simulators to bring the information to life, as well as some fantastic memorabilia on display.

I loved the Rocket Tower.  The glass lift took us up to the three floors of the tower where we were free to explore the exhibits.  From the early pioneers of space flights to the iconic sixties moon landing, there was so much to take in.  A display of things that were going on at the same time as the space exploration, in the world of sport, fashion, politics and music, was really interesting.  A showing of the world's first Sci-Fi movie was a curious thing to watch!  We saw genuine moon rock brought back to earth by Apollo astronauts and the little ones got to experience what it was like being in a space capsule while we talked to them via a control panel in a different room.  I may have sung Ground Control to Major Tom through the microphone.

As it was half term, there were some special activities for the children to get involved in including Spooky Science shows and Halloween art activities.  The kids made origami bats, Halloween glasses, finger puppets and a spooky spider.  Freddy really enjoyed himself.  There are also opportunities to dress up as a scientist, a star, an alien or a spaceman, which make for perfect photo opportunities.

Freddy also got to find out what it was like to jump on the moon, he helped mine for moon rock and manoeuvered a micro G space chair.  You can save your progress by scanning the bar code on your entry ticket as you enjoy the activities in the Tranquility Base which are designed to test your limits and see if you have what it takes to be an astronaut.

One of the best interactive exhibits was the pod where you could do a weather forecast using green screen technology.  After it is filmed the video is shown on screens for everyone to see.  My girls and Freddy had a go at being reporters and here is the result.


                          

We were treated to a buffet lunch and some gourmet Joe & Seph's popcorn before heading to the main event.

The main focus for our day was the premiere of the new film showing in The Sir Patrick Moore Planetarium.  Back to the Moon for Good is the brand new fulldome film about the $30 million Google Lunar XPRIZE, created by the NSC Creative team.  Narrated by Tim Allen, the voice of Buzz Lightyear, it presents the fascinating story of teams competing to land a robotic spacecraft on the moon to win the big prize.  It explores the history of lunar exploration and looks at a vision of humanity's future on the moon.

It has been over 40 years since Neil Armstrong made his "one giant leap for mankind" and stepped onto the moon's surface.  The Google Lunar XPRIZE competition hopes to reignite man's interest in space travel and pave the way to our future exploration of the universe.  It hopes to challenge and inspire engineers and entrepreneurs from around the world to develop innovative and low cost methods of robotic space exploration.

Watching the film on the huge domed planetarium screen was breathtaking.  It felt like you were actually in space, whizzing around the lunar landscape.  If I'm completely honest, as someone who is very motion sensitive, some of the effects made me cover my eyes to prevent me from feeling a bit space sick. The feeling of movement was incredibly realistic and the experience was fully engaging and immersive.

After the film finished we were invited to a Q & A with the film makers, the Google Lunar XPRIZE team and a member of the German team competing in the challenge.  We discovered that there is no UK team competing as such, but British technology is being used and some scientists from the Isle of Man have merged with an American team, giving us some representation in this exciting space race.  We also found out that the first rover robot may be landing on the moon and beaming back video footage as early as 2015!  I'll be looking out for updates on this mission to see the progress of the thirty teams attempting to get to the moon and drive a robotic rover for 500 metres on the moon's surface.  It is exciting stuff!

The National Space Centre really is an out of this world day out for families with an interest in space.  You can find out more on the website:  www.spacecentre.co.uk.

Tree Fu Tom Adventure Castle Play Set Review

The Tree Fu Tom Adventure Castle Playset is a great toy for little fans of CBeebies' Tree Fu Tom.  The Treetop Adventure Castle is an interactive playset with plenty of features that will keep children happily entertained, playing imaginative games featuring their favourite Tree Fu Tom characters.

The play set needs some minimal adult assembly which I managed without too much trouble (OK I put one bit on upside down, but Ian fixed it for me!)  The set includes one Tree Fu Tom figure and a leaf board so you can play straight away (well done Flair!) Plus the  light up seeking crystal comes with batteries included (well done again to Flair!) Two things that make a huge difference to me as a parent when buying toys for my children.

The castle comes with lots of play features:

Removable light up seeking crystal - use the switch to light up the crystal to find hidden sap splats (or ladybird poo as Freddy calls them!) or turn the crystal on by standing Tom on the button while the crystal is in position.

Secret trapdoor - turn the page of the spell book to open the trap door and drop Tom through the floor.

Wind-up Super Lifto lift - Wind up the lift to raise Tom and his leafboard to the upper floor of the castle.

Flying Tree Fu fun - Tom's feet push into the flyer and he spins round as you twist the top of the castle.

Leaf board ramp - Tom can whoosh down the ramp on his leaf board!

Freddy was very excited about playing with his new toy.  As he already had a few other Tree Fu Tom characters he was able to set up an elaborate game featuring Ariela, Squirmtum and Zigzoo.  He loved using the trapdoor, causing the 'baddies' to fall through the hole.  The crystal proved to be a lot of fun too as Freddy used it to find the splats.  The lift was easy for him to use and he had it going up and down to carry characters around the castle. Freddy had many exciting woodland adventures, practicing big world magic and battling the Mushas!

The castle feels sturdy and robust and fits together well.  The features all add to the play value and there is plenty of room for children to position their characters, move them around and enjoy a great Treetopolis based game. The toy will fuel their imaginations, while the features add a touch of magic!

The toy is recommended for children aged 3 and up and has an RRP of £29.99.  Find out more on the Flair website:  http://www.flairplc.co.uk/Product/80270-Tree-Fu-Tom-Adventure-Castle-Playset/

A Chocolatey Post with a Red Velvet Cake Recipe!

I always love it when Cadbury introduce something new to their Dairy Milk range. Dairy Milk is my favourite brand of chocolate, the one I always go back to even if if have a dalliance with other makes!  So when I was sent two bars of my favourite chocolate, one with Oreo and one with Daim bar, I was very keen to sample them and transport my tastebuds to Joyville.

I genuinely wanted to experiment in the kitchen using the new Dairy Milk as an ingredient, but it didn't last that long.  Me and the girls dived right in.  The Cadbury Dairy Milk with Oreo is filled with delicious cream and cookie pieces.  Ella's favourite cookies are Oreos so she loves this combination of Dairy Milk chocolate and Oreo pieces...two of her ultimate treats in one perfect collaboration.

The newest member to the family is the irresistible Cadbury Dairy Milk with Daim; the melt in the mouth yet explosively crunchy, buttery candy.  Combining pieces of Daim within the creamy milk chocolate makes a mouthwatering combination.  It is moreish, flavoursome and each chunky square of chocolate contains the perfect amount of crunchy Daim pieces.  Utterly delicious.

The bars come in a 120g size, perfect for sharing (if you are generous enough!) with an RRP of £1.42.

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Aero chocolate with its bubbly, light and airy texture has always been a favourite with my little ones.  The different flavours include orange, mint and milk chocolate,  providing a yummy range whatever your taste.  They also do bitesize Aero Bubbles and Aero Biscuits.  They are bubblicious!

I used a big bar of Aero in this recipe for a Red Velvet Tray Bake!  The basic recipe is adapted from Edd Kimber's book "The Boy Who Bakes".  It's easy to make straight into a foil tray, and can be decorated really quickly using a tub of frosting and some yummy crumbled Aero chocolate.

Red Velvet Tray Bake with Aero Topping

Ingredients

225g butter
350g caster sugar
3 eggs
350g plain flour
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
40g cocoa powder
3 tablespoons boiling water
1 teaspoon red gel food colouring
250ml buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar

half a tub of Betty Crocker vanilla frosting
1 bar of Aero


Method

Preheat the oven to GM4
Cream butter and sugar.
In a separate bowl sift flour and bicarb of soda.
In another bowl mix coca, water, food colouring and buttermilk.
Using a whisk, beat the eggs into the creamed sugar and butter.
Mix in the vanilla.
Whisk a third of the flour into the mixture followed by half the buttermilk mixture.
Repeat then add the final third of flour.
Stir in vinegar.

Put into a foil tray bake tray.
Cook for about 30-35 minutes until a skewer inserted comes out clean.

Remove from oven and cool.

Spread with frosting and sprinkle over a chopped bar of Aero.

What Fred Said this Half Term

What a busy half term we have had.  Kizzy's Halloween party, then two days at Paradise Zoo followed by two days at Alton Towers Scarefest! Never a dull moment.

As ever, Freddy has continued to entertain us throughout the week with his funny expressions and his interesting take on life.

At the zoo, they have a marmalized blue bowling ball that had been used as a chew toy by a 2 week old tiger to demonstrate how strong their jaws are and what damage even a tiger cub could inflict on a human skull which is much more fragile than the bowling ball. Freddy looked puzzled and asked:
"So if a tiger eats you, your head turns into a blue ball?"

In the reptile house, Freddy saw two huge anacondas entwined together in a tank.  He shouted out loudly and increduously:
"Look Mum, it's a two headed snake!!" (Better than shouting about a five legged elephant though!!)

He also was very intrigued by a skunk.  We explained about how they make smells to scare off other animals.  He said:
"So they fart in their enemies' faces?!" He thought about it for a few seconds before saying enthusiastically,  "I so want to see that!"

He really loved seeing all the animals at the zoo and learnt a lot about them.  I was pleased to hear him tell his dad all about geckos and how they lose their tail and grow back a new one.  It really captured his imagination and he is so receptive to new information, absorbing all the facts like a little sponge.

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Freddy got caught short in the car and needed an urgent wee.  With no facilities around, we stopped in a lay-by for him to do a quick tinkle behind a tree.  It was his first ever outdoor wee and he thought it was very funny when his wee went on a pile of acorns on the ground.  He said:
"I poured some wee wee sauce on the acorns for the squirrels to eat!"  Ewww!

There has been some interesting and imaginative games this week.  For one, Freddy dressed up with a pink wig brandishing a glow in the dark sword and announced:
"I lived in World of Warcraft last week, but this week I live on a boat because I'm a pirate. I have a boyfriend called Ben Amella who is 45, a girlfriend Izzy who is 10 and has a gigantic sword and I am 6 but pretending I am 11!" Kids are just so random sometimes!  This game went on for ages and the running commentary kept us all chuckling!

But my favourite thing that Freddy did this week was his impromptu Halloween dance routine that he performed in the foyer at Alton Towers Hotel wearing his mummy onesie.  A mash-up of his own song called "Shaking at the Fox" that he made up on the spot and Ghostbusters. The projected Scarefest logo made the perfect spotlight for my all-singing, all-dancing boy.  Perfect Freddy! No inhibitions - just pure fun!

                

Enjoying an Alton Towers Scarefest for Halloween #countrykids

We have just come back from two brilliant days at Alton Towers Halloween Scarefest.  We love Alton Towers.  Not just because of the rides, but also because of its beautiful location, stunning gardens and impressive, albeit ruined, stately home.  

As Merlin Annual Pass holders we don't have the pressure of trying to pack as much in to one day as we would if we were paying the full entrance rate.  It means we are far more relaxed and happy to take in the surroundings, instead of dashing off to the next ride queue.

I love the decorations that appear around the park on Halloween.  The giant pumpkins are fabulous and the kids are always happy to climb inside for a photo!

The thing we like most about the Halloween Scarefest is the live horror mazes.  This year, 11 year old Kizzy was totally up for being scared witless by everything on offer.  This meant experiencing all four of the live actor horror mazes:  The Sanctuary, Carnival of Screams, Terror Towers and the Zombie Scare Zone.

For anyone who has never been through a Scarefest maze, they are basically an interactive walk through that tells a story while actors terrorize you!  Strobe lighting, smoke, tight spaces, smells, loud noises and themed scenery act to disorientate you, as the actors dressed up for their roles whisper in your ear, jump out on you and generally mess with your mind.  It's like living through a horror film!

My favourite this year was the outdoor Zombie Scare Zone, set in a post apocalyptic urban street where the undead wandered around.  They sniffed us, chased us, made terrifying noises in our faces and stared at us with their dead zombie eyes.  It's frighteningly fun and the actors are amazing in their roles, giving you just the right amount of attention that you can cope with!  Kizzy loved it and is now a fully fledged horror fan!

 While the girls went on some of the mazes and rides, Freddy enjoyed the freedom of running around the open spaces and climbing on apparatus dotted around the park.  He hung off of the giant flower stems and jumped on giant toadstools.  He loves playing outdoors and we were blessed with some beautiful autumnal weather.

The Halloween characters entertained the kids around the park.  Patch the Pumpkin was one of Freddy's favourites and he was happy to meet him and pose for a photo.

The park stayed open until past 9pm.  The girls queued up for more than 2 hours at the end to ride The Smiler in the dark.  They agreed it was well worth the wait to experience the 14 loop rollercoaster in the pitch black dark. Having a hotel room for the night meant Ian and I could take Freddy back to the room when he'd had enough.  He flagged at about 8pm after having spent the entire day walking around, playing and enjoying the sights and sounds of Halloween for the little ones at Alton Towers.  His big sisters enjoyed the more hardcore Halloween Scarefest experience, but we all agreed that we had had an absolutely fabulous day!

I'm linking up with Country Kids!

Making a Seawig!

Sarah McIntyre is a writer and illustrator and a larger than life character who is simply oozing with creativity and talent.  I was lucky enough to see her talk at Blog Summit and I thought she was amazing.  A true inspiration who made even me feel that exploring my artistic talents was not an impossible venture!  

So when Tots 100 announced details of a competition inviting entrants to make their very own Seawig with their kids, I was delighted to challenge my children, Ella 17, Kizzy 11 and 4 year old Freddy, to get creative. Ian cut a Seawig shape out of some heavy duty cardboard, then we set the kids off, armed with plasticine, paints, seashells, pipe cleaners, pompoms, paper, pencils, googly eyes and other arts and crafts bits and bobs, to decorate the Seawig.  

I love watching the three of them working together as a team, having fun and working to make a creative project. I absolutely love Kizzy's "The World is our Oyster!" speech bubble.  A fantastic sentiment filled with positivity from my 11 year old.  The plasticine sea monkey, based on one of Sarah's characters is another favourite addition.  The starfish family with their quirky expressions made me smile too.  Freddy was in charge of sticking on googly eyes!

The big seashells they used were from a collection of shells they found on the beach in Normandy where we went on holiday last summer. It was so nice to see them used in their Seawig.  It brought back memories of a wonderful week away!

The end result was a magnificent Seawig which features shells, a sea monkey, crabs, starfish, seaweed, multi-coloured seagull feathers, pompoms and curls.  Everyone was very keen to model it!

This is my favourite photograph of the Seawig project, 4 year old Freddy proudly donning the Seawig and showing exactly how much fun it was for him to spend an afternoon doing a wonderfully, creative art activity with his big sisters.

This post is an entry into the #Tots100Seawigs competition in association with jabberworks.co.uk.

Roomii Monsters Review - Functional and Fun

Play, Pull, Store and Ride with Roomii

Freddy was quite delighted to receive an award winning Roomii Monster toy.  This high quality, stylish, contemporary, multi-functional product gives little ones an omni-directional ride-on toy, a pull along monster pal, an imaginative toy to inspire adventurous play and a handy toy storage solution all in one. It looks good, is functional and fun!

The Roomii needs minimal assembly.  The ears/handles screw on and are tightened using the allen key which is included in the box.  It can also be used to tighten the screw on the hinge which makes the lid drop slowly, keeping little fingers safe.

The Roomi comes in a range of colours and Freddy was very pleased to receive one that was his favourite colour - blue.  The design is very quirky with its gaping mouth filled with soft rubber teeth, ready to gobble up toys and encourage children to be tidy.  The wheels allow the Roomii to move in any direction allowing kids to ride around or pull along their toy with ease. The Roomii is a perfect toy to encourage imaginative play, as children embark on imaginary adventures with their new best friend.

The toy is made of durable, robust materials and feels very strong and sturdy.  It is also very stable. It is very innovative and unique and Freddy was instantly taken with it.  It is good to see a child's toy with inbuilt functionality and which fuels a child's imagination at  the same time.  

The Roomii is a great solution for storing some favourite toys inside, keeping floors clear, tidy and safe.  It looks great in a child's bedroom and is ready to be pulled along or ridden on when it's time to play.  Freddy handpicked some of his favourite toys to keep safely in his Roomii.  Some went in through the mouth, others were placed directly inside the hinged body.  Freddy was very pleased with himself having his treasures safely at hand and transportable in his Roomii.

Roomii Monsters are a great introduction to the concept of 'tidying up' and can be used as a resource for parents to encourage little ones to pick up after themselves.  If a job is fun...it's much likelier that a child will want to get involved and help, learning a valuable lesson in tidiness the process! 

Features

• 360 degree omniwheels providing a maximum of mobility
• Cool looking pulling strap matching the colour of the toy
• High quality materials providing a long lasting experience
• Soft rubber teeth
• Adjustable slow closing lid
• EN71 certified to British and European safety standards
• Suitable for children aged 3 and over
• Holds a maximum weight of 26kg (57lbs)
• Dimensions: 576mm x 376mm x 234mm

Roomii Monsters can be found online at Roomii.com and Facebook.  You can purchase them directly from the website priced at £69.99 with free UK delivery.

Great idea for Christmas!