Snakes! at The National Museum Cardiff

Disclosure - our entrance fee to the Snakes! exhibition was waived in exchange for this review. All opinions are honest and our own. 

We absolutely love visiting The National Museum Cardiff. It's a great day out and so conveniently located near the centre of town so we can pop in for just an hour or two or spend the whole day there. We always find something new and interesting to see and this summer we were really happy to have been invited in to take a look at the new Snakes! exhibition. The exhibition is running until the 15th September 2019 and I'd definitely recommend it for the whole family.

The exhibition is totally interactive and child friendly. It is full of bright colours and things for children to read, learn and touch. My big three were so excited to head in there and explore.

There are lots of different elements to the exhibition. It is bright and open and really easy to walk around. What I loved about it was that you could get something from it no matter what level you were at. My 5 year old could look at this snake skeleton display and marvel at the size of the snake, my 8 year old was fascinated with the little bones and my 12 year old could read the signs that accompanied the display to learn more about this snake.

As you would expect from The National Museum Cardiff, the displays are bilingual, in fact we always hear Welsh being spoken when we visit the museum which is great. This display was a big hit with the girls, they enjoyed taking the quiz and finding out if they were right or wrong! They learnt lots of things along the way too!

A boisterous boy is often tricky to take to a museum but not here. Much of the exhibition is really hands on and they are encouraged to touch and play. We are huge fans of learning through play and that is definitely at work here. Little Boy really enjoyed getting on the scales to see how heavy he was compared to different snakes and he was fascinated by the fact that all of us together were only half the weight of the green anaconda!

The touchy feely display was also a really great addition and the little two enjoyed opening the doors to see what was inside.

I didn't know before we got there but there are live snakes in the exhibition which is a real bonus! They were really easy to see and the children absolutely loved seeing them and watching them move about. I also saw a snake that I hadn't heard of before which was wonderful.

Like I mentioned before, there is plenty of opportunity for education and fact finding but also lots of opportunity for good honest fun. You can see the joy on J's face here as she watches her sister dress up in the dressing up provided. There is also a giant soft play type puzzle and colouring desks which are all perfect for keeping little people entertained.

The exhibition is very well thought out and you could easily spend a couple of hours in there, reading and learning lots about snakes but also taking part in all the hands on sections too. There is an absolutely huge snake puzzle in the middle which really captured Little Boy's attention too. There is something for everyone, you will definitely leave having learnt a lot about snakes but I'm sure you will also have had a lot of fun too!

The exhibition is open until the 15th September 2019 and costs £7.50 for an adult and £3.50 for a child aged 4-18 inclusive. Concessions and family tickets are also available, you can find all the information on their website here.

Also on the website is a link to book onto their hissy handling sessions and events supporting this exhibition. These sessions cost £5 on top of admission and need to be booked online.

Also, while we were at the museum we had a little go on their AR (Augmented Reality) tablets which were amazing! Watch out for a full post about them coming up soon!