On a recent trip to the new fangled, coffee smelling, twiggy loveliness of Westfield Shopping Centre (although everyone knows that Bluewater is better) we drove past an attraction that we had visited a few years ago and which had evidently undertaken a bit of a facelift; The Children's Story Centre. We vowed that we would return on a future occasion to check out what improvements had been made and to give our newest addition, Claudia, a chance to sample the Centre's charm.
Today turned out to be that day. The new entrance on the high street is large, bright and had our children squealing with anticipation. Who can fail to be excited by the sight of a 9 foot monster? Once inside, we opted to eat first as it was close to lunchtime. Please note that there is only a small cafe on sight, so food options are essentially a small selection of rolls and some delicious chunky cookies. If you plan to stay for the long haul and want something more substantial than a snack, then a packed lunch is probably the best idea and there are various areas (inside and out) where you can do this.
Once inside, the children were in a frenzied confusion as to which area to go to first. The Centre is made up of two floors and an impressive outdoor play area. The ground floor is dedicated to sensory and creative play, with the open plan layout being divided up into areas such as fancy dress, arts and crafts, role play and sensory play. It seems that every surface either flashes or sparkles or chimes. The indoor cave area with slide won out and both made an immediate sprint for it. The baby loved the oversized tea party area with throne-like chairs and play food. I dread to think how many other small mouths have sucked on those plastic foods but it kept her happy.
Upon arrival, we were given four wooden spoons, and once in we could see what we were supposed to do with them. The arts and crafts table was smothered in tissue paper, fabric, pipe-cleaners and sellotape which we were to use to turn our plain wooden spoons into little characters. It was an OCD sufferer's worst nightmare, but the children loved it, as did, it would seem, many of the parents who were crouched around the table offering advice and instruction on how best to personalise their child's spoon and many of which stayed to finish the creation once the children had tired of the exercise and ran off.
Round the corner we discovered an old favourite; the secret cave with accompanying trip, trap bridge and splash light puddles. The den like quality of the cave, coupled with the echo sound machine and twinkling lights was an instant hit with all the children who relished the idea of being in a secret camp and the trip trap bridge is hard to resist even for adults who choose to stamp across it rather than use the boring old floor.
Having sampled the ground floor, we decided to take advantage of the fine, although cold, weather and headed outside to the play area. It was fantastic. I would love to have a garden like this. The area is filled with landscaped astro-turf hills, secret paths, mirrors and chimes. There's a pirate boat, an alien spaceship climbing frame, a wooden shack, a monster slide and a climbing wall. The whole area is enclosed by generous shrubbery and a high fence so you can unleash the small ones without any fear that they'll wander off site. My 7 year old loved it out there and it was by far his favourite area in the whole centre.
Once back inside we ventured downstairs to Monsterville, a new exhibition that takes up most of the lower floor. Walking through a wardrobe of monster suits, we emerged into a twinkling tunnel of light at the end of which was a monster with gaping hidey-hole mouth. Perfect. We were definitely in the land of monsters. Round the corner and we were confronted with a miniature monster town, complete with ice-cream parlour, hairdressers, gallery and bandstand. As with the area upstairs, there are lots of activities for the children to interact with. The small shops with their themed interiors allowed the children to give reign to their imagination and there was role-playing galore amongst all of the little visitors, and a few game parents.
The visit was completed with a story-telling of The Monster Who Ate Darkness by one of the Centre's staff. Ushered into a darkened room, with rugs and cushions for the children to sit on and benches for the adults, the story-teller gave an engaging rendition of the story, with lots of enthusiastic audience participation and use of props. It certainly gave me an act to follow for the bedtime story in our house.
Overall, we thought that it was a great day out for families with small children. Although our 7 year old loved it there, he was probably on the cusp of being too old for some of the activities. The combination of indoor and outdoor play means that it's ideal for those days when the weather is uncertain and you don't want to get caught out. Also, it's extremely good value for money; we spent three and a half hours in the centre and spent £16 on the family ticket to get in, this includes the storytelling. In short, the Children's Story Centre provides a highly interactive and engaging day out that is bound to have your children begging for a return visit.
Children's Story Centre (Discover)
383-387 High Street,
Stratford,
London E15 4QZ
Tel: 020 85365555
http://www.discover.org.uk/
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