We absolutely love visiting The Look Out Discovery Centre in Bracknell. We find it fantastic for the whole family – all ages love it! Here is our review of The Look Out Discovery Centre in Bracknell.
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What is Inside The Look Out Discovery Centre?
The Look Out Discovery Centre is set out into a number of different zones;
The Main Exhibition
The main exhibition is filled with loads of brightly coloured hands-on exhibits, set over two floors. From the giant hot air balloon where you can raise it’s temperature until take-off to a massive jigsaw puzzle of the human body, giant piano and interactive sandbox. There is also a section all about space where you can make star constellations, look through a telescope and play with an amazing ball exhibit!
Upstairs you can make paper fly, set yourself the challenge of opening the treasure chest and create obstacles for the ball to follow on the giant magnetic wall.
Also upstairs you will find the Insect Enclosure area which has African land snails, giant millipedes, leafcutter ants and more amazing minibeasts.
Light and Colour Zone
In a room off the main exhibition area is the Light and Colour zone, which is a fun space set in the dark. There you can have a go in the shadow box, watch ice-crystals appear and have a go at some light illusions.
Build It!
The building area is one of my children’s favourite areas at The Look Out Discovery Centre. My eldest loved building with all the bricks, whilst my youngest loves going on the toy diggers collecting bricks. You can also go inside a toy house and ‘fix the roof’ by adding on the roof tiles. There are also some dressing up clothes and a drawing table for budding architects – so a great place for a bit of role play.
Woodland and Water
The woodland and water zone is fun. It is worth taking a spare top for younger children as it’s a great place for little ones in particular to get wet!
There is a large water ‘table’ where you can play in the water and also build dams for toy boats. My youngest spends ages in this area. Next to the water there are some exhibits about trees and plants and you can do some brass rubbings of leaves. You can also play the drain pipe musical instrument and have a go at spinning some discs.
What is Outside The Look Out Discovery Centre?
The Look Out Tower
At The Look Out there is a tower which you can go up and look across the view of Swinley Forest. It’s worth a trip up to have a look (if you are ok with heights!)
I found that the tower had a slight wobble to it and some of the stairs are on a spiral, so if you have a little one it can be slightly tricky.
The Outdoor Play Area
There is a fantastic outdoor play area at The Look Out – it’s large and wooden and split over three areas which includes an inclusive area plus a giant wooden castle. You can read more about one of our many visits to the play areas here.
There is also a den building area outside in the woodland by the play areas. You can read about our time den building here.
How to Book Tickets
The Look Out is open for pre-booked sessions at;
9:30am to 12:30pm
10:30am to 1:30pm
11:30am to 2:30pm
12:30pm to 3:30pm
(They also offer 1.30pm – 4.30pm at weekends and during school holidays).
The website states tickets are not available on the door so you will need to book in advance.
When you arrive at The Look Out you will get a coloured sticker, which is for your session. It also allows you to access the outdoor play area and to come back into the main exhibit.
We have found what works well is to go and play in The Discovery Centre for approx 3 hours, before having a picnic and then a play in the park. The car park operates in two price points; 4 hours (£3.40) and all day (£6.80). We tend to just do the 4 hours parking which gives us plenty of time.
Ticket Prices are £9.05pp for adults, £6.55 for children (4-16yrs) and under 4s go free. Please note these were correct at the time of writing this post so do check the website for any changes.
They also offer autism-friendly sessions – more details of which can be found here.
How to Get There
The address for The Look Out is;
Nine Mile Ride
Bracknell
RG12 7QW
The Look Out car park is opposite Coral Reef and David Lloyd Berkshire.
What Else Can you do Here?
If you are looking for other things to do at The Look Out, take a read through our list of 10 Things to do at The Look Out. There is everything from bike riding, segways and Go Ape.
They also offer birthday parties for children aged 5-12yrs.
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Disclaimer
Click here to view the Berkshire Mummies disclaimer. All information was correct at the time of posting on 12.05.23.
