Centre for Life visit

Peter had his last enjoy-a-ball class of the term on Monday and will be continuing in September. The class covers general sport and ball skills and introduces the sports of football, rugby, tennis, hockey and basketball. Harry has done the class for three years (and even had an enjoy-a-ball birthday party) and they both love it! We also started some activities based on Fantastic Mr Fox, which I will post separately when they are finished.

Yesterday we had a trip with some friends to the Centre for Life science centre in Newcastle. We have an annual pass which runs out this week so I thought we would get one last visit in and it was a good day to choose as there was a thunderstorm as we set off. There is a special exhibition on at the moment - Gunther von Hagens'  Body Worlds Vital, which shows the anatomy and physiology of real human bodies. I found it fascinating but Peter was not interested at all so we didn't stay long. Harry liked the exhibit showing the circulatory system, which featured a skeleton with only veins and arteries. I am not sure whether they knew the bodies and organs on display were real - I suspect not - but they weren't disturbed at all and I didn't mention it to make it an issue.

The boys played shops and cafe and in the soft play bricks in the under-7's area.

We visited the curiosity zone and played with magnets, blocks and spinning tables.

Playing anthropologists

The science theatre is a live show (on several times each day) where the presenter demonstrates a number of themed science concepts. The theme was 'at the beach' and we were shown how the heat of the sun makes air expand, how water molecules turn in circles in the waves and how suncream works to block the invisible rays of the sun.