Manchester Science Festival – Fun Science for all ages – on now!

Manchester Science Festival is underway for the 9th year and as a lover of science I put some of the dates into my diary so I could share with you all the fantastic activities for young and old. To get the Festival underway, there was a fantastic trailblazer event on Wednesday night where I got to watch Back to the Future 2 and hear from a professor from Salford University about how the science that was predicted in the film is close to the reality.

The next day I headed to the Museum of Science and Industry for the first day of the Manchester Science Festival. At a special press preview I got to have a look at the Evaporation exhibition, find out about how Cravings control me and I got to Jump In to a adult only ball pool filled with 81,000 balls!

The Evaporation Exhbition by Tania Kovats features Sculptures and Drawings that represent the response to the world’s seas and oceans. My favourite works from the exhibition is the All the seas piece.  As pictured above she has collected  water from over 200 seas across the globe in glass bottles. It really does bring home how many bodies of water there are around the world.  
Learning about the science of cravings really was eye opening and I was really interested to read all the science behind how cravings work and this exhibition explores how food affects the body, brain and the eating habits. It is a fun and interactive exhibition that is great for all ages. I loved smelling the hidden foods and was absolutely rubbish at recognising them. Its amazing that without being able to see the food I couldnt work out what each one was.
My favourite part of the two days had to be Jump In. I didn’t think that a ball pool would be so much fun but I was leaping, burying and throwing the balls around like a toddler and having an amazing time. I would seriously recommend this to all of my adult friends. You dont need to book just head along to the Museum of Science and Industry and Jump In for yourself to see just how amazing and relaxing this really is. 

Although the activities that I have taken part in over the last few days have been very adult orientated there is so much to do as a family too such as the Drone Expo on this weekend which gives you the opportunity to get hands on and fly a drone. There is also a whole host of fun activities to get the kids involved with this half term. Forget Halloween this week should be all about the science and you definitely shouldn’t hear the words “I’m bored” with such an amazing schedule of events.

Below are just a selection of the Family Fun activities taking place this weekend across Greater Manchester.

Pi: Platform for Investigation – Museum of Science and Industry – All week – Free – Drop In
Get hands on with live science experiments and talk to some amazing scientists.

Get inside the game – National Football Museum – Sunday 25th – Free – Booking advised
Create your own computer game with the help of CoderDojo and Code Club

Mummifying Oranges – Manchester Museum – Tuesday 27th to Thursday 29th – Free – Booking required
Are your kids really into Mummies? Learn all about mummification and make your very own mummified oranges.

Science @ Central – Manchester Central Library – Wednesday 28th – Free – Drop In 
Head there for 10am to watch the Creepy Crawly Show with the chance to handle some of the creatures or hang around afterwards to learn more about bugs and insects including making a bee and learning why this insect is a famous Manchester symbol.

We’re Stuck – Z arts – Wednesday 28th and Friday 30th – free – Booking required
Dr Volcano needs you to take part in some crazy challenges and energetic games inspired by how rubbish our brains are at maths. 

Electric Dreams – Museum of Science and Industry – Thursday 29th – Free – Drop In
Get creative with electric circuits and build your own models to generate power with the help of Electricity North West.

Messy Science - University of Bolton – Friday 30th – Free – Booking Advised
Get your hands dirty with these table top experiments and live demonstrations including dissecting an owl pellet to find out what they eat plus loads more. 

Science of Sound – Quarry Bank Mill  - Sunday 1st Nov – included in admission – Drop in
Take part in activities and workshops across the site and even make a souvenir to take home as you explore the science of sound. 

This list does not even scratch the surface of all the fabulous science so please do check out the Manchester Science Festival Website to find out about all the other amazing activities taking place between now and Sunday 1st November across Greater Manchester for all ages!