Ulster Museum & Belfast Botanic Gardens!

Since the kids got back from their holiday in Spain, the weather’s been pretty pants. From their daily wear of shorts and t-shirts to woolly jumpers and jeans has been a bit of a shock for them both. So with rainy days, in fact, I should say, repeated rainy days, cabin fever sets in! So we decided to get outdoors to visit our local Ulster Museum & Belfast Botanic Gardens and crossed our fingers that the rain would stay away!

I was in a total “Do I take the buggy? Don’t I take the buggy” decision struggle with myself because Annabelle will walk, she does really well…most.of.the.time. If she can’t go where she wants to go, she’ll kick off and if she cannot be reasoned with it results in her wanting to be carried for a bit, but she’ll throw one hell of a corker if put in her pushchair. Sigh. It’s exhausting, but either way, I decided to take it ‘just in case’. It was more for those times of possible nap-time goodness than her not being able to be free to explore!

Ulster Museum with Kids

Once we went in, the buggy was put in the buggy park {lifesaver}, maps were collected and off we went.

With the kids in charge & leading the way, the Nature Zone was our first port of call. From giant prehistoric deer, bears, and even a glimpse into the Ice Age era. The kids were in their element, whereas Annabelle was getting disgruntled because I wouldn’t let her climb under the rails to sit on top of the huge Megaloceros giganteus aka the giant deer!

This is where I nerd out. Dinosaurs! Something I have been passionate about since I was knee-high to a grasshopper! Still to this day they excite me!

And on the other end of the spectrum, this is where my eldest girl nerds out. Rocks! She has such a passion for Geology it’s pretty exciting even for me to witness. It’s a cool science to be into and I hope she takes that love of Geology and runs with it. She has a pretty cool rock/sand/gem collection at home!

Geology section

So if you think she got excited over all kinds of rocks/minerals in a glass box and drawers, can you even imagine a fraction of her giddiness when she was shown these rocks under a black light. She actually danced and sung a song folks. I kid you not. But in fairness, it was pretty darn cool!

Prehistoric fish anyone? Yeah, it’s pretty gross, isn’t it! He was HUGE too!

Touch & Feel room

Annabelle loved having a run about in the Discovery centre of the Ulster Museum. This little house was filled with wee pockets you had to put your hand into to ‘discover’ what inside and even have a guess at what it was.

In the Ancient Egypt zone, the kids didn’t quite know what to make of Takabuti, an Egyptian Mummy from the 7th Century BC. To be honest they couldn’t quite grasp that this was a real {as they put it} ‘dead’ person. I think next time we go we’ll have time to read up on the mummification process {that’ll get a lot of eww’s and gross-out noises I’m sure!} and maybe that’ll help them understand Takabuti’s appearance a bit more. That, and the fact she’s been dead for over two thousand years!

After the museum, it was time for lunch and we’re so lucky that the Ulster Museum is based in the gorgeous Belfast Botanic Gardens. A large public park in the heart of Belfast city. It’s home to a gorgeous Tropical revine {which was sadly closed on the day we went} and a beautiful Palm House.

Then of course after the picnic {and endless puppy dog faces of “Pllleeeeease!”} we caved and they all got an ice cream from the ‘pokey man’. 


It was a really fun afternoon and the rain even stayed away until we started to head home. Talk about timing! It’s something that we’ll certainly do again for sure as the kids have been pestering me to take them to the current exhibition of A Vikings Guide to Deadly Dragons!