Review

Science Alive is a great attraction and is definitely a must visit when in Christchurch. It suits families and young ones the best due to its hands-on focus but adults will find more than enough to do and some of the scientific information is clearly aimed at them.

The exhibits are designed to be interactive, with an emphasis on learning by doing. You’ll get plenty of opportunity to play around with cool stuff such as ball drops, pirouettes, reaction testers, anti-gravity wheels, air mazes, stringless harps, air cannons, Jupiter boots, and whatever else happens to be on display at the time.

Pre-schoolers are also looked after with a ‘Kidz-Zone’ designed especially for them. This area has lots of toys, activities, books, exhibits for smaller hands and a quiet area for adults.

Science Alive is most famous for its Vertical Slide and it certainly doesn’t disappoint. At 5.2 metres tall it feels like a long way down and you might even need a little encouragement (or gentle persuasion) just to get the courage to go down. It’s great fun however and often hard to get children off once they’ve got a taste for it.

The climbing wall is a nice diversion from the rest of the activities and although not necessarily science-based, it has been beautifully painted in a science theme and adds to the fun on offer. There are 3 walls of varying difficulty and like everything else, it is open for all ages to give it go. There are automatic belays so it’s very safe too.

Glow-in-the-dark mini golf is a relatively new addition to Science Alive but already seems to be proving very popular. It’s visually very appealing and the young ones may just enjoy experiencing it rather than playing. All of the 18 holes have some sort of space theme to them, it’s a rather loose connection sometimes but there’s plenty of science knowledge there to be gained if you have the desire to read it.

The human gyroscope is another ‘must do’ while at Science Alive. It isn’t for the squeamish though, with the participant being thrown round in all kinds of directions to experience raised G-Forces. It’s another one that adults tend to think twice about but kids go crazy for.

It’s well priced at around $12 for adults and $7 for kids (depending on the exhibit) but to really get your moneys worth you’ll want to stay for at least a couple of hours, which shouldn’t be a problem anyway, with so much to do.

Overall

The interactive nature of the exhibits is a great way to teach kids while they have fun at the same time. There’s also lots of other stuff to do such as the climbing wall, human gyroscope and vertical slide. Science Alive is a great place to experience something a little different. Knowing that you and your kids are learning and having fun at the same time is a real bonus, if only school could be that fun!

Visit

www.sciencealive.co.nz

Operating hours

10am to 5pm, Sunday to Thursday
10am to 6pm, Friday & Saturday

Location

392 Moorhouse Ave, Christchurch, New Zealand. Close to a number of other fun indoor attractions known as the 'Circuit', these include Garden City Bowl, Laser Strike, The Roxx, Supa Karts and Timezone.

 

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