We’re a bit further afield today – in Bracknell, Berkshire to be precise! I’d heard about the Discovery Centre a while ago, and luckily remembered it in time to book for a little one’s 4th birthday trip out! It’s an hour’s drive from us in Aylesbury, so a bit closer if you’re in High Wycombe or nearby.
The Discovery Centre is a hands-on science museum designed for young children. We arrived on a very mild January Sunday at 9:30 when the centre opens (you have to pre-book online). The car park was already pretty full with visitors to the many other attractions in the forest, as well as walkers and runners. The car park is pay and display (4 hours or all day).
We showed our pre-booked tickets at the entrance and were greeted by smiley employees with light-up wands, already an excellent start! The eldest was full of beans and wanted to find the construction area (Build it!) first, which was just to our right on going in.
The smallest was immediately drawn to the selection of ride-on diggers, whilst the biggest was straight up the house- shaped climbing frame. There are large foam building bricks around the base of the area, and slates to be pulled up to the roof of the climbing frame, making for great collaborative play opportunities. There are hard hats and hi-vis vests available for role-play, and there’s even a light-up tracing table for designing your own house!
We had to tear them away to check out the next area, which was just as engaging – Woodland and Water. The main attraction here was the indoor stream, complete with locks, cogs to turn on fountains, boats and obstacles to sail the through. Aprons and hand driers provided, we let them at it, and they were mesmerised – as they always are by water. The younger children were perfectly happy tipping and pouring, and the older ones were really watching and learning cause and effect by using the different parts of the stream. Surprisingly, ours didn’t get too soaked, and were able to enjoy the other activities, such as leaf rubbing and playing pan pipes too.
We’d read before going that these two areas were outside but covered, and the mild weather combined with running around made it feel like we were indoors, so no problem there. You can also leave prams by these two areas, so they are easily accessible.
Before moving on to the next room, our eldest wanted to go up to the Lookout tower. This is at the top of a small spiral staircase and several flights, giving you a great view over the trees. There’s only one way up and down so be prepared!
We then went into the main exhibition area. This was excellent and reminded me of the London Science Museum, with lots of buttons to press and hands on activities. There’s a hot air balloon to send into the sky, really cool sand projector play tray, giant piano and role play shop area, amongst loads of other bits to explore. Some were more suited to children older than ours at 1 and 4, but there was still plenty to do.
To the side was the Light and Colour room, which they both loved. Even the smallest children could really enjoy the infinity mirror, thermal imaging camera and shadow camera. We spent quite a while playing with these activities.
Moving upstairs to the final galleries, we explored our reaction speeds and tried to unlock a treasure chest. The youngest was ready to run about at this point, but did really enjoy the insect area! There’s a toad and giant snails down at floor level that he loved staring at. At the other side of the balcony there’s a cool ‘lab’ where you can try out making some of your own creations too.
There are toilets inside and outside the building, and a gift shop with some great options for presents and souvenirs. There is an outdoor cafe serving hot and cold food and drinks, which is for the forest as a whole, not just the Discovery Centre. It was really busy when we arrived, but there was plenty of seating if you’d brought your own lunch.
With our two small ones we were ready to head home after a full-on morning, but we could easily have found plenty more to do in the centre and in the forest itself. The Swinley Forest adventure playground looked amazing and has been reviewed by our local Berkshire mum blogger, and there’s plenty of suggestions for things to do around the woods too. It’s definitely on our list for another visit later in the year!
