Today we were in Stratford at the Discovery Childrens Story Centre and we had a good time.
Firstly, tickets cost £10.00 for adults, and children over the age of two. For one year olds the cost is £5.00 and under 1's go for free. There are concessions if you live in the borough of Newham and also family tickets available. This price is for entry into the building and to two floors of an immersive imaginary play area. There is then a separate area where interactive stories are told, and there are different prices for this dependant on the story, so check that when booking.
The closest station is Stratford Station and a number of buses stop just by the venue. If driving you can park in the Stratford Multi Story Car Park which is 5mins walk away, or the Westfield Shopping Centre Car Park which is 10mins away.
The Centre is quite different to anything that Lige and I have been to before, it is sort of a mix between soft play and role play. It is advertised for ages 0-11, and I am a little unsure about if it would appeal to ages 8 and up. However, for below 8 I think it is a great experience.
As I mentioned the main area is spread over two floors and also has a outside space (which we did not get to explore because the weather was terrible), the downstairs is like a forest and upstairs is more space themed. There are things to touch, costumes to put on, lights, sounds and different textures throughout. It requires an element of imagination to get into it. There are also worksheets dotted around the different environments which have drawing prompts, and different story ideas to help engage the kid's imagination.
We booked the Box Rocket immersive story telling experience, this was really good Elijah loved this. The story was told about going to space and landing on a planet, the kids are then let into a different area of the centre that has been created to look like the planet, there are different things to see, touch and play with in this space and they are also given a work sheet to fill in which has things to look for. This experience cost £4.00 and lasted about 50 minutes, I definitely think it was worth it.
We will return to the story centre in the future, as we would like to attend another immersive experience to see if it is as good as the Box Rocket experience. As a parent it was also quite refreshing to do something, that although dressed up as play had educational elements to it.
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