The Science Oxford Centre is hosting an out of this world experience, with families invited to visit the Headington destination for special days.
Adults and children alike enjoyed Science Oxford’s indoor-outdoor discovery centre last Saturday, January 17, and can continue to do so every Saturday this year.
Special family days are being held at the Quarry Road centre weekly with over 20 interactive exhibits, from creating a digital Jurassic dinosaur adventure to flying a mission to the Moon at the ‘Animate Science’ station.
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Other events coming up include the chance to dig into palaeontology and unearth fossils on loan from Oxford University Museum of Natural History, and during the February half-term an exhibit on the lifecycle of mealworms.
In addition, the Science Oxford Centre café is there for food and refreshment with kids’ meal deals and delicious cinnamon buns, all served from the recently refurbished and expanded Emira’s Kitchen.
Family Day at the Science Oxford Centre in Headington on Saturday, January 17 (Image: Ed Nix)
In terms of its exhibits, the centre is particularly proud of its series of pop-up planetarium shows that launched last year, inspired by NASA’s Artemis II rocket at the Kennedy Space Center, which is to carry astronauts around the Moon soon.
In addition star-gazing evenings for families and local school children have been scheduled.
Along with guests from the Space Store and Abingdon Astronomical Society, children have been able to try on space suits, use moon-inspired crafts and have spotted the International Space Station fly-by.
The Science Oxford Centre’s community engagement manager Sian Stratton said “It’s been fantastic to see our sold-out seasonal ‘Starry Night’ evenings engaging our local communities.”
Family Day at the Science Oxford Centre in Headington on Saturday, January 17 (Image: Ed Nix)
Meanwhile the centre’s space specialist Kat Kelly said they’ve been telling visitors about the Artemis trip to the moon.
“This mission is an important step,” she said, “toward returning people to the lunar surface”.
She added: “Look out for more space events coming soon.”
A recent family day and planetarium show visitor said, “This was our first time here and we absolutely loved it.
Family Day at the Science Oxford Centre in Headington on Saturday, January 17 (Image: Ed Nix)
“We are going away sad about the fact we haven’t known about this for our other children, but we now want to make the most of it for our third.
“The things on offer kept my 8-year-old gripped for the whole two hours.”
They added: “The interaction from the staff was amazing.
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“Helping, guiding and engaging with us on the most perfect level. We then went to the planetarium which was amazing.
“The leader was so knowledgeable and made it so fun for all. We have come away desperate to know more about black holes!
“We cannot wait to come again and highly recommend the place – what a gem.”
Younger stargazers were also excited to share their learnings, observing that “the moon is younger than Earth”, “our universe is ginormous!” and “I learned that I am so tiny compared to space”.
Rebecka Ramage
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