Review: Visiting The Sun exhibition at the Science Museum with kids

On Saturday morning we forced ourselves up early because we had been invited to an event to review something I was excited to share with the family. It was The Sun: Living With Our Star exhibition at the Science Museum, which I had first previewed in October and added to my list of things to explore with Big Girl.

The exhibition takes visitors on an interactive journey from the past and into the future, looking at themes ranging from how the sun has been used to tell time to how to protect Earth from a solar storm.

From the get-go, the family was fascinated by the exhibition, which features a very Instragrammable sunny yellow, orange and red entrance to walk through.

On the other side, we first watched an infographic to learn about how the sun’s journey has been explained in different cultures throughout the ages, and then moved on to several family-friendly interactive installations. We particularly enjoyed an interactive game allowing visitors to have a go at using a sun-dial to read the time, and the large screen for watching how the sun rises and sets around the world at different times of the year (see picture at the top).

Next up was a colourful gallery, exploring the sun’s role in health and culture. The highlight was trying on historic sunglasses on a magic photo screen, which could be used for taking cool selfies. In addition, the children enjoyed the pretend beach with sun loungers and coconut-shaped speakers playing beach music.

In the next part of the exhibition, visitors could learn more about the power of the sun in relation to solar power and space. We spent the most time in the section on solar storms, where there is both a game to play to help protect planet Earth from solar storms and a display for guessing what items would be useful to survive a solar storm.

With a range of unique hands-on experiences and a variety of topics explored, a visit to The Sun: Living With Our Star made for an enjoyable and educational morning out, which I would recommend to families with school-age children.

The Sun: Living With Our Star is open until 6 May

Tags: Attractions, Family day out, Half term, Learning about space, Muesums, Science Museum, Sun