In pictures: Winchester Science Centre opens fun new spaces for children to explore this summer

‘Play Wild’ is the summer campaign theme, reflecting Wonderseekers’ ambition to help children discover science through movement, nature, and play. Children can dig for prehistoric life and identify fossil finds at a real research station. They can experiment with chalk-stream water - pumping, damming, redirecting and using interaction points designed for collaborative play. And they can climb, leap and hide like hazel dormice on an interactive immersive exhibition.

The exhibits have been shaped from the outset by children. The Wonderseekers Young Steering Group - a group of children who help guide the charity's activities - led on the collaborative play principles that run through all three spaces. Their input shaped a design focused on how children actually discover; through digging, climbing, hiding, working together and testing the world around them.

The Chalk Stream is the first of its kind interactive water play environment inspired by the UK's rare chalk streams. Children can sit under a waterfall and experiment with water flow using a pump, dams and accessible interaction points - all designed to encourage collaborative play and scientific curiosity.

Dino Dig invites children to become palaeontologists, uncovering evidence of prehistoric life through hands-on discovery and using on-site research stations to identify species. They can also explore a giant Mosasaur fossil.

Dormouse Den is a physical play experience inspired by the behaviour of hazel dormice - one of the UK's rarest and most elusive mammals - encouraging children to climb, jump and hide. It is situated beside hazel coppice that forms part of the surrounding habitat and is inspired by the movement and behaviour of dormice found there.

Created as Winchester Science Centre's first major outdoor evolution, the new spaces bring to life a long-held ambition to take science beyond the walls of the building and into the landscape that surrounds it. The site sits on the edge of the South Downs National Park - a landscape shaped by chalk, water and thousands of years of natural history.

For the first time, that landscape is not a backdrop but the content itself. The same chalk that formed the White Cliffs of Dover lies beneath visitors' feet here - and Hampshire's chalk landscape is among the most biodiverse in the world.

England is home to around 85% of the world's chalk streams, many of them in Hampshire, while the surrounding chalk grassland is described as ‘Europe's tropical rainforest’, supporting up to 40 flowering plant species in a single square metre. The Chalk Stream puts one of Hampshire's most distinctive natural stories at the heart of a family day out.

Ben Ward, CEO of Wonderseekers, said: “The best adventures start with a question. What lives here? Why does that happen? What if I try this? Play Wild takes the curiosity we inspire inside Winchester Science Centre and lets it loose outdoors. Set within the breathtaking landscape of the South Downs National Park, these new experiences invite children to explore, experiment and discover the world around them, turning every visit into an opportunity for adventure, investigation and learning. As the charity behind Winchester Science Centre, we believe every child deserves the chance to be curious, confident and connected to the world around them. Play Wild is an invitation to do exactly that."

Amber Ogunsanya-Williams, play consultant, said: "What struck us from the very beginning was how naturally and instinctively children explore: they test, they move, they hide, they try things again. Our job was to design spaces that meet children where they are. Every interaction point in these spaces is rooted in how children actually learn: through movement, problem-solving, collaboration and imagination. This isn't play equipment. It's science, experienced with the whole body."