Last week we were invited to attend a lovely event at the new Lookout in the Lowry Centre in Manchester. The Lookout is a new
space dedicated to under 5's to give them an area to play, create and be inspired by the glorious views of the Quays. The children were shown how to make
special War Horse puppets and there was an interactive storytelling session with Alex Winters from Cbeebies
The space is a really large, open place for the children to run around and play in and there is a play area to one side with some soft play, toys, books and table for reading and drawing.
The main feature has to be to lookout points - with a seating area all around large panoramic windows the children can look over the Quays and be inspired by the amazing views. There are colours and paper to hand should want to try their hand at drawing the landscape and of course the work of LS Lowry is only a few steps away.
We had a lovely afternoon at The Lookout - H enjoyed trying a bit of sticking in the workshop and J was entertained, for the most part, in the play area. The only thing I would say is that the space is open to the rest of the centre, with no barriers, so I did spend a fair amount of time chasing J around.
After some craft activities it was time for story time with
Alex Winters. First he read 'Aliens Love Underpants' which we own and so H knows quite well. He had all the children entertained and even Baby J sat still for a minute!
The highlight, though, had to be Alex's rendition of 'We're Going On A Bear Hunt'. It's actually a book we don't own as I haven't been able to find when we I've looked for it, but that didn't matter. Running all over the place, splishing and splooshing and screaming whenever a bear was sighted; it was noisy, it was chaotic and it was delightful! In fact I actually found a copy of the book the next day and H has requested it as 'the one Alex read' ever since!
The Lookout is a lovely space to take your little ones whilst you visit the museum and definitely encourages families to explore the museum as a great family day out. Now, if only Alex Winters was on stand-by for every story time!
The Lookout is open everyday (Sun-Fri 11am to 5pm, Sat 10am to 5pm) please visit
thelowry.com for more information!
*We were provided with lunch and drinks during the day, however all opinions are my own.
