Alton Towers Educational Workshops

As children headed back to school last week we headed for Alton Towers Resort with our Merlin Annual Pass. You may recall we have already been this season but this time however was to attend one of their educational workshops.merlin annual pass in workshop at alton towers

The day was arranged by a kind lady in one of the Home Education groups, and as we all had Merlin Annual Passes I just had to pay £2.50 each for the boys for the workshop. This lasted for an hour over lunch time (luckily we ate early as no food or drink is allowed to be consumed in the education centre) and the rest of the time we were free to enjoy the rest of the park.

The other children who attended the workshop were all around the age of about 10 years old – so this is where it was aimed at. The man who ran it had stepped in for someone else too but had all the equipment ready and some slides. He covered Sir Isaac Newton’s three laws of Motion – through discussion, demonstration and practical work for the boys. My two boys worked together on their own table but soon became uncooperative and the older one taking over and the youngest having no interest (I think it was pitched a little too high for him) but they started off well.cups and cards to learn about forces and motion

Sir Isaac Newton’s Laws of Motion

  • An object will remain at rest or in uniform motionin a straight line unless acted upon by an external force.
  • The second lawstates that the acceleration of an object is dependent upon two variables – the net force acting upon the object and the mass of the object.
  • The third law is that for every action, there is an equal and opposite.formula for motion

These were demonstrated by using a ball – showing that it would stay still unless a force was exerted on it; with cups and a leaflet how forces would work; a car with a balloon attached and how blowing it up made a difference; and that different weights of vehicle would react differently down a gradient.

The boys had great fun with hands on learning as they experimented with cups and leaflets, the balloon in the car and designed their own car – aiming to make it go the furthest down the ramp. There were opportunities for questions and they were given an Alton Towers pen at the end. The education centre is an amazing room with so many wonderful motivational quotes on the wall, facts and pictures of the rides. Our 10 year old was keen to learn more and asked if he was allowed to take away one of the safety meetings.two boys building a model car

I am so grateful of our Merlin Annual Pass as the youngest is ½ a cm off that magic 1.4m so still cannot go on five of the Big Six! It was early closing also but we left about an hour before that. We did enjoy some of our favourite rides including the new Wickerman ride, and I was really pleased to hear the 10 year old talking about how the track was put together and really think about the engineering. This went really well with our previous home education on roller-coasters. Of course the pass means I never had to pay for parking and received discount on our lunch! But more importantly I have said we will come back for Bonfire night to see if he is tall enough. Although I am not sure how well he can cope with the noise of the fireworks with his sensory processing disorder but was pleased to see that there is ear defenders hire and the introduction of a quiet room for those who may require it.nemesis blueprint

I thought the Educational Workshop was great, especially as it wasn’t something I had to pay much for as of our Merlin Annual Pass covered the entry into the park. We would definitely attend one again and I am sure our teen would love to know more about the engineering side of Alton Towers Resort.

 

You may also be interested in my related Merlin Annual Pass posts:

 

 

 

We received Merlin Annual Passes for purpose of review. All opinions are honest and my own.

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