We were invited to visit the Sea Life Aquarium in London over the weekend to experience their new Ascarium trail for Halloween!
We arrived at the aquarium and found our way over the glass floor shark tank and to the cauldron to pick up our Ascarium cards and pencils. (Just a note of apology for the lighting of the photos, as it is quite low light in the aquarium to benefit to sea creatures it isn't great for photography, so it does look much better in person!)
We had a look at the card to read the instructions, then proceeded through the aquarium to find the letters which we would then need to unscramble to reveal a word, before heading over to collect our trick or treat.
The letters were not difficult to find as they were quite large and bright orange! There was also a card to the side of the tank giving some weird and wonderful facts about the sea creatures which was a nice extra feature.
As we were searching for the letters to the puzzle we were also enjoying the rest of what the aquarium has to offer. We are always big fans of the touch tanks and getting to stroke a starfish is definitely an experience not to be missed!
Back to our trail and we found another letter to write on our cards as we walked around exploring.
And another sight that we, as huge Disney fans, always love to see is the clown fish (Nemo!) the kids were mesmerised by them and could have watched for ages.
We also love the sharks in their big tank swimming gracefully around as we try not to sing Baby Shark and get it stuck in our heads (sorry!)
Onto more spooky creatures, we were almost done our trail when we found the piranhas, such fascinating fish! The kids had all sorts of questions about them.
We also enjoyed that there were some Lego themed activity boards throughout the aquarium that the children could stop at to have a little play before getting back to the sea creatures.
Our favourite part of the aquarium has to be seeing the penguins! We happened to arrive just as they were being fed, so they were quite active and really interested in watching the kids through the glass!
Maybe he thought Ivy's finger was a little fish? Either way the children absolutely loved this close encounter and will remember it for ages.
After the penguin area you are then able to pick up your trick or treat for completing the Ascarium trail!
Ethan chose a trick (blue slushie) and Ivy chose a treat (red slushie) which was actually perfect as they were both really thirsty by this point, so we sat down and had some drinks and a little rest. They also love the cups which they get to keep as a souvenir.
We then turned the corner and discovered the new Polar Adventure zone (not sure how new but we haven't been to the aquarium in about a year) and it's so much fun! There are animated and augmented reality seals, whales and polar bears, there are hurricane machines and the Beluga whale dome where you can learn more about the work that SeaLife is doing in their Beluga whale sanctuary.
Then onto another one of our favourite areas which is the jellyfish! This whole section sort of glows and has a very special feeling to it, the children love to watch the colourful tanks full of jellyfish.
There is also a jellyfish game that they love, where they create their own jellyfish and then see it up on the big screen. They then have to feed it and adjust it's environment to try to help them survive. It's really fun and interesting to play.
And that's it, we had a fantastic time doing the Ascarium trail at the Sea Life Aquarium in London. We highly recommend it for children of all ages, Ethan and Ivy have both loved it there since they were babies.
There is also a competition, so if you do go make sure you upload a photo to social media and use #AscariumLondonWin for a chance to win free tickets.
For more fun, follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest and sign up to receive our newsletter for regular updates!
Follow Play & Learn Everyday's board Play & Learn Everyday - Crafts and Activities from the Blog on Pinterest.
* This is a review post, we were gifted tickets in order to visit the aquarium, all views are our own.*
We arrived at the aquarium and found our way over the glass floor shark tank and to the cauldron to pick up our Ascarium cards and pencils. (Just a note of apology for the lighting of the photos, as it is quite low light in the aquarium to benefit to sea creatures it isn't great for photography, so it does look much better in person!)
We had a look at the card to read the instructions, then proceeded through the aquarium to find the letters which we would then need to unscramble to reveal a word, before heading over to collect our trick or treat.
The letters were not difficult to find as they were quite large and bright orange! There was also a card to the side of the tank giving some weird and wonderful facts about the sea creatures which was a nice extra feature.
As we were searching for the letters to the puzzle we were also enjoying the rest of what the aquarium has to offer. We are always big fans of the touch tanks and getting to stroke a starfish is definitely an experience not to be missed!
Back to our trail and we found another letter to write on our cards as we walked around exploring.
And another sight that we, as huge Disney fans, always love to see is the clown fish (Nemo!) the kids were mesmerised by them and could have watched for ages.
We also love the sharks in their big tank swimming gracefully around as we try not to sing Baby Shark and get it stuck in our heads (sorry!)
Onto more spooky creatures, we were almost done our trail when we found the piranhas, such fascinating fish! The kids had all sorts of questions about them.
We also enjoyed that there were some Lego themed activity boards throughout the aquarium that the children could stop at to have a little play before getting back to the sea creatures.
Our favourite part of the aquarium has to be seeing the penguins! We happened to arrive just as they were being fed, so they were quite active and really interested in watching the kids through the glass!
Maybe he thought Ivy's finger was a little fish? Either way the children absolutely loved this close encounter and will remember it for ages.
After the penguin area you are then able to pick up your trick or treat for completing the Ascarium trail!
Ethan chose a trick (blue slushie) and Ivy chose a treat (red slushie) which was actually perfect as they were both really thirsty by this point, so we sat down and had some drinks and a little rest. They also love the cups which they get to keep as a souvenir.
We then turned the corner and discovered the new Polar Adventure zone (not sure how new but we haven't been to the aquarium in about a year) and it's so much fun! There are animated and augmented reality seals, whales and polar bears, there are hurricane machines and the Beluga whale dome where you can learn more about the work that SeaLife is doing in their Beluga whale sanctuary.
Then onto another one of our favourite areas which is the jellyfish! This whole section sort of glows and has a very special feeling to it, the children love to watch the colourful tanks full of jellyfish.
There is also a jellyfish game that they love, where they create their own jellyfish and then see it up on the big screen. They then have to feed it and adjust it's environment to try to help them survive. It's really fun and interesting to play.
And that's it, we had a fantastic time doing the Ascarium trail at the Sea Life Aquarium in London. We highly recommend it for children of all ages, Ethan and Ivy have both loved it there since they were babies.
There is also a competition, so if you do go make sure you upload a photo to social media and use #AscariumLondonWin for a chance to win free tickets.
For more fun, follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest and sign up to receive our newsletter for regular updates!
Follow Play & Learn Everyday's board Play & Learn Everyday - Crafts and Activities from the Blog on Pinterest.
* This is a review post, we were gifted tickets in order to visit the aquarium, all views are our own.*
