In this next term at school Little Bean’s topic will be Under the Sea so we decided to fire up her interest by taking her and the boys to the Sea Life Centre in Birmingham. The Beans have always enjoyed visits to Sea Life Centres in the past as we have been to two or three different ones now and Birmingham certainly didn’t disappoint. We used our vouchers off the cereal packets to get 2 tickets for the price of 1 to save money on the entrance fee but I had seen online that if you are visiting during term time you can get special priced tickets for a parent and toddler visiting at just £12.50 which is excellent value for money.
Just before we arrived the new Penguin Ice Adventure had opened and was the first thing we saw. The Beans loved standing to watch the penguins diving into the water, swimming the length of their pool and then jumping back onto the ice.
The Sea Life centre was very cleverly laid out to make the best of the space available, with bright and engaging displays which the Beans loved. I expected to be dragged around from one tank to another but Little Bean surprised me by wanting to know more about what she was looking at and used lots of adjectives to describe what she could see. It was interesting to see the difference in her now that she is at school. The really funny thing is listening to Beanie Boy who tries so hard to copy Little Bean in what she is saying so he sounds super intelligent for a three year old.
Little Bean’s favourites were the Moray Eels, she was the first to spot them and loved how they hid themselves away. I am a fan of the Rays, especially in the picture above because I think he looks like he is giving us a big smile with a ‘thumbs up’. The Beans are nothing like I was as a child, there is no way I would ever have touched a crab when I was little (I do now) but they get straight in there with the hands-on opportunities.
Jelly Fish always fascinate me (not that I would like to come across one) but I love to watch them in their tanks. The Beans enjoyed stopping by the Activity Room where they were able to take away an Activity Book each and colour in their own badges which were then pressed whilst they waited.
Yep, more Jelly Fish!
No Sea Life centre would be complete without the big tunnel to walk through where you get to see the really big stuff. For me it’s got to be the Hammerhead Sharks because they look soooooo wierd with their eyes so far apart and the Giant Turtles who looks so graceful in the water. We always spend aaaaages walking through the tunnel, backwards and forwards we go.
The Seahorses are peculiar little things, very cute and yet very strange. Unfortunately the picture didn’t turn out well but we really liked the Seahorse who looked like he was wearing his Camouflage gear.
As we rounded the last corner at the Sea Life I wondered what everyone was looking at and then realised we were stood at the bottom end of the Penguin pool which gave you a brilliant view of the Penguins as they dived into the water and swam directly at you. I could have stood there taking photographs all day.
Walking around the Sea Life Centre the children completed challenges by answering questions and collecting stamps in their book. When they reached the end they were each presented with a ‘golden’ medal which they loved.
The Sea Life Centre was situated in a lovely area of Birmingham called Brindley Place. Having won a Costa Coffee competition a few weeks ago I was very pleased to see Costa Coffee smack bang in the centre of Brindley Place which made the perfect stop off for our lunch but since the sun was shining we decided to sit outside in the sunshine.
I saw the pretty fountains and thought they would make the perfect backdrop for some photographs of Little Bean and Beanie Boy but as you can see from the above picture, neither of them were in a modelling mood. I still love the picture though!!
I managed to coax out a couple of smiles with the bribery of sweets!! Naughty Mummy!!!
I love how children have absolutely no qualms about their image. These two were very happy to walk around Brindley Place wearing their Sea Life diver’s masks. I did put one on but luckily for me Hubby yet again forgot to grab my camera and capture the moment.
Parking was a two minute walk from the Sea Life Centre at Brindley Place multi-storey and the whole area is lovely, very clean and modern with an avenue of restaurants nearby so there is plenty of choice for refreshments as well.