“Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known.” ― Carl Sagan

  Today's post is about Thinktank in Birmingham. When I first envisioned this blog (under heavy slight duress from David M over at Brum Hour)  I thought I would avoid the bigger touristy bits of the city and focus on the bits people might not have visited.
 Then, one of my friends and a lifelong Brummie confessed that she had never been to either Thinktank or the Botanical Gardens because they were 'touristy'. Now, some places in Brum should definitely be avoided for those reasons ( I'm looking at you Sea life Centre.) but not these two!
    So, you are stuck with this today,  I promise we will be back to cheap, cheerful and semi forgotten next time!

 I put this photo here first because a. It illustrates the interactive nature of Thinktank and b. It will embarrass Mr.H. This is part of the ''Animate It! Studio section''. At the the time I was recording a number of stills on the computer out of shot while the 'shauns' bounced around to eventually make a film. This in itself is part of a larger section called Kids City, ostensibly aimed at under 7's, but fun as well for the 37 year old pictured!
  Exhibits like this are rife throughout the museum and although I have seen people say they could only spend half a day there, letting minibrum run free on these filled most of the day easily, plus bonus tired child at the end all ready for a chill out before bedtime..

 Split over four floors, Thinktank is easily labelled, easily manoeuvred and easily understood. Everywhere are bold and straightforward explanations of a myriad of subjects, with something to capture everyone's imagination.  Trip Advisor would have you believe that Thinktank is dumbed down or for kids only, but we have found it fantastic for launching conversation and debate and wonderful for carrying on learning outside of school in a fun environment.

That's a giant deer... more information here


 There is a great wet play area ( with overalls provided) explaining physics for younger children ( I also enjoyed splashing around in this, for the benefit of minibrum obviously) and a dress up section. We dressed as doctors, nurses, dentists and midwives. I have seriously struggled resisting  putting up the photo of minibrum midwifing Mr.H through the delivery of his first child!
 There is plenty on animals both current and extinct near the entrance and some very good visual exhibits here.

 Quick note, on this floor  there is a lot of interactive work with the human body, from digestive system to the path that sperm take to fertilisation.
  This is a very clearly labelled section but I was gazing in wonder at a large intestine when mini first had her eyes on the goggles that provide this view. Luckily we had done the basics and the display is very matter of fact and illustrated sensibly but it's one to watch out for if you are hoping to stave off those difficult questions a little longer!
 Upstairs on the top floor was my favourite section of the museum, all about space and robotics. We got a pair of robot arms to drum our rhythm, tried to get a space buggy to to take a photo of some rocks, dizzily got confused in a space buggy interaction and best of all programmed a robot. Apologies for the rubbish photo I was having way too much fun playing!

 Called RoboThespian, here you can programme speech, movement, facial expressions and even colouring to make the robot interact with you. We spent a long time taking turns here but if you go on a day when school trips may be visiting then leave plenty of time to get a look in here.
 On the top floor as well is the planetarium, a 360 experience showing 15minute shows daily. These are not to be missed and you should plan to arrive at them early to be seated! It really is out of this world!
 On the other two floors there are histories of a few subjects, leaving Mr.H in his element. A history of materials had minibrum pulling a face until she got to 'make' a rubber duck, a portrait of her 'jewellery' and to have a go a connecting an electrical system!
  Likewise I thought that I would be bored on the bottom floor with transport the main subject but with a  steam engine, lighthouse equipment and a full spitfire in attendance I was captivated. Much of the history on this floor heavily involves Birmingham and the Black Country, most especially Smethick Engine which was used to pump water to the top of a series of canal locks and many other things ( clicky)

It tips that water every seven minutes. I'd like to say I took this picture for you but I missed it once taking minibrum to the toilet, and missed it again because I left the lens cap on, so I just took this to prove I could.
 

All in all a day out here is well worth the money. If you are going by bus you can get the  14 (stop BS7), 55/55A 90 or 94 (stop BS9)  or it is only about a 7 minute walk from the city centre
 If you are coming by train then take advantage of London Midland Great Days Out scheme which will get you 30% off entrance. Coffee and Tea were a reasonable price but we bought our own packed lunch so I couldn't comment on the rest of the food!

For more information visit their website which also has a section for science you can try at home for rainy days!

We heart this place!! 

"The world is full of obvious things which nobody by any chance ever observes." — Arthur Conan Doyle

  As usual for Birmingham in the summer holidays, half of today was sunny and half was torrential rain and booming thunder. Guess which half of the day we filled with baking and which we went out geocaching ? At least we remembered our wellies!
  Last night was biscuit week on Great British Bake Off... All of us in the house love  a. fun art and b. gingerbread so today minibrum decided she wanted to try her own entitled 'teddy in space' ..I think she did pretty amazing !

  Baking gingerbread is fairly straightforward but due to the hob work involved it needs a good amount of supervision for younger children. The decorating kids can go wild with ! We halved the amounts from this recipe from BBC Good Food, but put an extra bit of ginger and some cinnamon in for an extra kick!Serve with a good hot chocolate...

  

After a messy morning and a tasty gingerbread snack we went out geocaching.
 For anyone who doesn't know, caching is basically a modern day treasure hunt. People hide a small plastic container or other cool bit filled with a log book and a couple of mini gifts and place the GPS co-ordinates for their hidden position, along with a couple of clues  on a website.
 You can then use a specific GPS machine or download an app to your phone. Find the cache, sign the log, take a mini thing leave a mini thing and go home feeling super awesome!

  I cannot recommend this as a hobby enough, you can do it almost anywhere, it is fantastic exercise, it adds a good level of excitement to walks and your whole family can do it. There are thousands of 'caches all over the UK and today we used it to our ( soggy ) advantage and stayed close to home. Pop in your postcode here, register and then read the guidelines here and off you go. Premium members pay but basic is free and just as wonderful.
 Just as a guide we live on the edge of farmland, a supermarket and an industrial estate ( all of which make for a lot of my nemesis : evil spiders ) and there are 10 caches within a mile of our house.
 On our way we like to make up stories around possible treasure and see what ( non spidery) creatures we can find !

Today we  found three and then the storm drove us home.

At least we had biscuits.