The Snail and the Whale at the National Sea Life Centre Birmingham
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“This is the tale of a tiny snail and a great big, grey-blue humpback whale.” This is the tale of two little girls who love reading of snails who travel the world.
The Snail and the Whale
We’ve always been fans of the National Sea Life Centre and were ambassadors for them in 2016. You can read one of our reviews here. And when we heard that they had a Snail and the Whale trail there this half term, we had to visit.
If you haven’t heard of The Snail and the Whale, it’s a fantastic children’s book by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler. It’s aimed at pre-school to early primary school aged children. The book is about a tiny sea snail who lives on a rock. Unlike the other snails, he isn’t satisfied with life on his rock, he wants to see the world. So he writes a sign asking for a lift and a friendly humpback whale is glad to oblige. It’s a tale of adventure in the ocean – the perfect theme for the National Sea Life Centre.
The Snail and the Whale trail at the National Sea Life Centre
When we arrived at the National Sea Life Centre, the girls were given their dive log books as usual. But this time they were also given a Snail and the Whale themed activity sheet. On the sheet, it said what to look out for so they could listen to the story on their way around. They were also given a hat, much to Lia’s delight.
As we walked around the attraction, we looked out for the dive book stamp machines to complete our books. We also looked out for the television screens telling the tale of the Snail and the Whale. The girls loved pressing the button by the screen and listening to one instalment of the story at a time. After each instalment, there was a quick fact about marine life. This was a great way to bring the learning to life alongside their favourite story.
The verdict
We’ve been visiting the National Sea Life centre regularly since Libby was a tiny baby. Over the past couple of years we’ve attended quite a few of their school holiday activities and they’ve all been great. But this one was our favourite. Listening to the story in the setting of the National Sea Life Centre was quite inspirational. I loved the educational aspect to it as well and they definitely learnt a lot from the little snippets of information after each instalment of the story. And when we got home, we just had to read The Snail and the Whale again at bedtime.
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