Eureka Children’s Museum
Halifax
Reviewed by Michelle Wright
On an overcast Sunday afternoon we took a trip up to Eureka! The National Children’s Museum in Halifax from Manchester. The trip took only 20 minutes and we were surprised that it was only 10 minutes off the motorway. It was signposted very clearly and the children in our party, Scarlett aged 8 and Emily aged 4, made pointing out the brown signs a game!
The car park was right next to the museum, clearly marked and parked very reasonably.
The museum entrance staff were extremely helpful and provided us with a map each and a dinosaur stamp on our hands in case we wanted to use the outdoor facilities and then return inside again.
Where to start? The museum is made up from 6 areas, a museum, a cafe area and an outdoor area too. The girls chose to start in the sound space area where they discovered sound booths and mixing decks learning how to change sounds, lighting and back drops. We then worked our way through all the down stairs areas, Scarlett’s favourite area being the bank, supermarket and shop.
We decided to stop and have our picnic lunch where, although a busy area, tables were readily available, as were hot drinks and food if you had not brought your own. When we left the picnic area, the girls insisted another trip to the bank and supermarket and also to the post office and garage. My brother (a child at age 40+) took great delight in explaining parts of the cars showing how a cars compressors worked using the displays at the museum – unfortunately, the girls lost interest in that and made their way to the car wash area without him noticing!!!
The area called Our Global Garden was a very informative area – very relevant to the topic my 8 year old had been studying at school. The girls had fun building igloos and then the daddies had lots of fun collapsing them whilst they were still inside!!
Upstairs we found a creative space and the highlight of our trip, and area called All About Me. This was a fabulous new space which shows how your body works. The girls were given an ‘all about me passport’ which is a leaflet they can use a personalised record to complete when they have used many of the interactive displays and take home with them. They discovered which bones worked when exercising, pretended to be a doctor and a dentist – even taking x-rays, and at one point found the girls inside an open mouth full of teeth! They enjoyed comparing their jumping techniques and heights with those in the Guinness World Record book, discovered how babies develop in a tummy, and even create a live TV report! Emily’s favourite part was meeting the robot which interacted with Emily’s singing and even tried to answer her questions… But in a typical 4 year old innocent way her question to the robot was “who was the first person to die?” which the computer couldn’t actually answer!
At this point of the day we had been at Eureka for 4 hours, but to be honest we could have stayed there for another couple of hours as we didn’t manage to see everything or experience some of the outdoor areas. A great day out, full of experiments, fun, and educational play – and what parent can complain when their child is thoroughly entertained and engaged (and is secretly learning!)
It’s worth popping onto the Eureka website to see what events they have planned throughout the year making a return visit always worthwhile. For example, they have events such as Tour de France in June, Made By Me in August and even a superhero weekend in September!
The museum opens 10 – 5pm at the weekends and in holidays, 10 – 4pm term times and closed Mondays.
You can buy annual passes for Eureka – adult costs starting at £11.95 each, toddlers £4.25 and babies free! Definitely worth it considering the amount of time you can spend there and the ever changing events.
Take a trip to Eureka in Halifax, there’s something to learn no matter how old you are! A very educational 5 out of 5.
Rating: 5/5 
To Book tickets visit www.eureka.org.uk
Eureka! The National Children’s Museum, Discovery Road, Halifax, HX1 2NE | 01422 330069
