The Look Out Discovery Centre Review

Over the summer break I took the boys to The Look Out Discovery Centre, a science based attraction with over 90 interactive activities to encourage children to have fun with science, technology, engineering, art, and maths.

Here’s my Look Out Discovery Centre review from our visit, which covers:

I hope you find this Look Out Discovery Centre review helpful, and that it helps you to decide if it’s somewhere you’d like to visit as well.

Location

The Look Out Discovery Centre is located at:

Nine Mile Ride
Bracknell
RG12 7QW

Things to do

Things to do include:

Science Exhibition Zones

The Look Out Discovery Centre has different zones, which equate to what your child may be learning at school.

These zones are:

Woodland and water

In this zone is an indoor stream, where kids can play with boats, build dams, and move wheels.

This zone was a big hit with my boys, especially my youngest, as they both love water play, so we spent about 30 minutes here playing with the boats, moving around the stream, and even playing with the neighbouring pipes to make music.

There are aprons hanging to the side of the stream that kids can wear to avoid getting wet.

Build It

This was another popular zone with my boys, and it’s where kids can construct things with bricks, use a tile chute, drive trucks, and climb through a house.

We spent another 30 minutes here, and my boys loved using their imagination to build whatever they wanted.

Insects

I didn’t see this zone, but there is an insect zone with insects, amphibians, and reptiles in it, which I’ll be sure to check out if we ever revisit.

Ground floor

The ground floor zone is accessible up the stairs behind Build It, and contains a wide variety of science based interactive activities including:

• A hot air balloon
• Human body jigsaw
• Interactive sandbox
• Musical keyboard
• Planet and universe room
• Light and colour room

This is a great zone to visit, especially with younger children, because they can touch and move things, without fear of breaking them.

The highlights of this zone for us were the hot air balloon and human body jigsaw.

First floor

Located up the stairs in the ground floor are more interactive activities including:

• Brain, body, and reaction tests
• Magnetic wall
• Wind table

We spent a lot of time here, my youngest loved the magnetic wall, a large wall where you moved pipes and obstacles then hit a ball up a vacuum tube to see how well your pipes carried the ball to the floor.

Ryan loved the wind table, where he made planes and raced with other kids to see which plane flew the highest.

Shows

During most school holidays and most weekends there are science discovery shows, which cost £2.10 and run for 35-45 minutes.

Playground

There’s a fantastic playground outside, which you can use even if you don’t pay for admission to the centre.

It has a baby/toddler area, and the area for older children has large log swing, castle, and den building areas.

Gift shop

There’s a gift shop here that sells toys, party bags, books, cards, stationery, and sweets.

Food options

Food options at The Look Out Discovery Centre are:

Woodlarks Café

Woodlarks Café sells drinks, baked goods, hot food, snacks, ice cream, and children’s food.

It’s takeaway only, you order at the playground, and enjoy what you’ve bought at one of the many seats around the playground.

Picnic areas

You can bring a picnic and eat it at one of the playground tables.

Family friendly facilities

Family friendly facilities at The Look Out Discovery Centre are: 

• Buggy storage
• Flat surfaces and lifts
• Baby change facilities
• Potties in the toilets

Opening times

When booking tickets you need to choose a timed session.

Timed sessions during term time are: 

• 9.30am – 12.30pm
• 10.30am – 1.30pm
• 11.30am – 2.30pm
• 12.30pm – 3.30pm

Timed sessions during weekends, school holidays, and bank holidays are:

• 9.30am – 12.30pm
• 10.30am – 1.30pm
• 11.30am – 2.30pm
• 12.30pm – 3.30pm
• 1.30pm – 4.30pm

Ticket prices

Tickets need to be purchased online, and at the time we visited cost: 

• £9.05 adults
• £6.55 over 65s, students, or visitors with a disability (carer goes free)
• £6.55 children aged 4-16
• Free under 4s
• £24.75 2 adults and 2 children, or 1 adult and 3 children

Parking

There was paid onsite parking, which cost £3.40 for up to 4 hours, or £6.80 for the whole day when we visited.

Parking can be paid by coins, card, contactless payment, or by phone.

My thoughts on the centre

I really liked this centre, it was targeted towards school aged children, but my preschooler loved it as well.

It’s highly interactive, and has things for children with different interests and skill levels.

For example, in the Build It zone, younger children can stack bricks on top of each other and knock them down, but older kids can build houses, buildings, towers or anything else.

The playground here is really impressive, and my recommendation would be to save the playground for after your visit, because you can access it without paying admission, which means it’s best to spend your 3 hour admission time in the centre enjoying all it has to offer.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this Look Out Discovery Centre review.

What science based attractions do you recommend?