The last time we went to the train museum at Ipswich was for J's 2nd birthday. J was Thomas the Tank mad!!! The Thomas exhibit was on at the time so we braved a HOT January day and took him for a day filled with trains. We thought the place was a good day out back then, over 6 years ago!
Our home school group had an excursion and workshop booked last week for the Build It exhibit. I had booked us in to go but had second thoughts when it fell on a particularly busy week. However I decided to go and I am glad I made the effort.
The workshop itself was OK but not the highlight of the day.
There was lots of other things going on for the children to do and look at. There was a whole room dedicated to "construction" the kids big and small loved this room.
Dressing up, large and small blocks, connector straws, stencilling amongst many other things.
The children also enjoyed the play area where there was lots of ride on toys, tracks and role play areas including more dress ups.
There are lots of trains and displays to look at of course, well it is a museum. The older kids both had a turn of driving the train on a simulator and enjoyed exploring the carriage.
We were on our way out after being at the museum for 3 hours and noticed a whole section we had missed. There were all these work stations set up with different activities to try. The children got a certificate which they stamped as they completed each activity. There was plumbing, painting, welding, building, rope tying amongst a few other trades.
At 3pm we had to leave as R had dance class that we had to be at in an hour! If we had more time we would have spent at least double the time just at these work stations. It was great for the children to have a go at different skills and a good point for discussion on the way home about various occupations.
Our family had a fabulous day and will definitely make the effort to attend the rail museum when they have their special exhibits!
Love that place now!
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