This Saturday was a beautiful sunny day, (unlike today which is grey and rainy :() it was lovely and bright and felt like a proper summers day, not quite the heatwave we had a couple of weeks ago but still wonderfully warm. So it might seem odd that when I packed the car for our day out I was finding space for woolly hats, winter coats and wellies.

Thanks to Blog On Mosi we received a family pass to Chill Factore in Manchester next to the Trafford Centre. The pass was for a 2 hour session in the snow play section of the park. There was a mini sledging slope that I had a great time going down with my son and softplay shapes for the kiddies to climb on. There was also a carousel with rubber rings that they could sit in, both my kids had a go and enjoyed it at first, although they then asked to get off. Bearing in mind they ar only 2 and 3 I’m sure if they went again in a few months we would have trouble getting them off it.

The session was for up to two hours but our 2 year old had go a bit cold after an hour or so. Having said that as soon a we came out she wanted to go back in 🙂

We headed for lunch in the Trafford Centre food court before moving on to our second review visit, the Sea Life Centre. We were lucky enough to visit once before, in a preview before it opened in June. Going back on Saturday we were hugely impressed with the finished centre. There are interactive sections to learn about the sea creatures, my son particularly liked the jellyfish tank where he could control the colour of the light.

There’s a lot of focus on turtles in the centre and they have some beautiful displays describing their life-cycles. The giant turtle is amazing and the fact that people can actually dive in the tank with him on Seatrek is (I think) beyond cool. The displays are beautiful and the video talks on responsible care for the oceans very well done. The soft play section towards the end of the centre was up and running this time and the kids had a great time in the ball pools and climbing the structure.

Both my kids touched the crabs in the rock pool section, an improvement on our first visit when my son refused to touch them. It just shows that kids will get used to things in their own time. Apparently there will also be star fish in there soon, they are just waiting for the water clarity to be right. The sea life centre is a brilliant addition to the Traford Centre and is in Barton Square next to the Legoland Discovery Centre. Joint tickets are available for Legoland and Sea Life and I think both would make a fabulous day out for a family. Also don’t forget that it is included in the attractions that you can visit with Merlin passes.