For day six of our #30DaysWild we visited SEA LIFE Blackpool to learn about some of the underwater creatures we share our world with.
We have been to other SEA LIFE centres at Manchester and Weymouth so I was interested to see if Blackpool was as good. We arrived and the children were given stamp books relevant to the exhibitions at Blackpool and a Mister Maker paper bag. There were no instructions with the bag so we weren’t sure what it was for but figured we’d work it out on the way round. Off we went to start at ‘Dive Station 1’. Unfortunately, several of the Dive Stations were either broken or missing altogether which was a shame, but the boys did enjoy their visit nonetheless.
The highlights of our visit were definitely features of SEA LIFE we hadn’t seen at other centres, like the Jurassic Seas exhibition where the boys learned about prehistoric sea creatures and played interactive games. They loved those, as well as the interactive shark information board which Rowan in particular spent quite a while looking at.
We were invited over to SEA LIFE Blackpool to experience the Mister Maker event that is being held there until this weekend. We visited on the first day after most children had returned to school but we had an inset day. This meant that there weren’t really any of the Mister Maker bits and pieces left that the boys needed in order to make the sea creatures, but it did explain what the paper bags were for on entry!
We learned a lot at SEA LIFE Blackpool though and I particularly liked the ‘life cycle of a jellyfish’ display which I will use on another project with the boys in time to come. The information on the screens by each tank is simple but good enough to give a clear understanding for both adults and children, making it almost impossible to leave without learning at least one new thing every time you visit.
The boys loved the huge tank display and we stood for a long time just watching the different fish go about their day. It’s very calming and the boys were amazed at the size of some of the sharks.
As we reached the end of our visit to SEA LIFE Blackpool we were asked to fill in a survey and I mentioned that we were there for the Mister Maker activities but found that supplies were too low for us to make anything. The member of staff we spoke to directed us round the corner to some table near the cafe where there was a craft area we hadn’t seen, so Rowan decided he would make a shark. The Mister Maker event is on until 12th June so you’ve got a few days to get down there if you want to do the craft activities too.
*We were invited to SEA LIFE Blackpool for the purpose of this review. All opinions, photographs and video footage are my own*