Yesterday, Aum's cousin Euan joined us for a day out to the Museum of Science and Industry. We set off from Oldham where they were staying at about eleven, and got to the museum just before midday. Parking is a fiver, but entrance to the museum is free (though a suggested donation of £3 each is appreciated).
There are five buildings to explore, and we started in the Great Western Warehouse, which has sections on textiles, 'science' which includes parts on famous scientists and their experiments, and 'Revolution Manchester' which was about famous inventions, energy, engineering and many more. In this section, the children were given a barcode, which they could insert into various displays to interact with them. It was good, as it made more complicated subjects more interesting for them.
Then we moved onto the Power Hall, where examples of all the steam, gas, diesel and hot-air engines were. It took the least time to do this hall, as it was mainly big exhibits and not much information to read. Afterwards we went for lunch in the restaurant, which I was really impressed with. They do a children's lunchbox where they can choose 5 items for 3.95, so I got them a sandwich and bag of crisps each, and then a packet of banana cake to share, and that was them sorted! I chose the main course with salad option, and had trout frittata, which was lovely. The salad was enough on its own - there was a butter bean one, potato salad, normal lettuce and tomato one, and then a chorizo and kidney bean one. I was stuffed afterwards! 
After lunch we went to the Air & Space hall, which had huge aeroplanes and old fashioned cars which the boys enjoyed looking at. There is also a planetarium which you can pay to go in, and it is like a simulation ride, but unfortunately it was closed when we were there.
At this point the boys were getting a little tired, so we did the last two sections - the Station Building and 1830 Warehouse, rather quickly, but between them they had sections on electricity, communications, the industrial revolution, Roman times, the Victorians and the water system.
I was rather saturated with information at the end of the day, it is probably the most I have learnt since being in school! It was a really good day out though, and the boys loved how interactive the exhibits were. I would not hesitate to go again, as it used up a lot of time, which is often difficult to do in the school holidays with two demanding children!
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