Michael Rosen exhibition at the Discover Children’s Story Centre

Yesterday we were invited to the Discover Children’s Story Centre in London to see Michael Rosen’s new exhibition Bear Hunt, Chocolate Cake & Bad Things. The exhibition closes on 10^th April 2016 so I’m really glad we were able to squeeze in a visit before it goes on tour around the country.

Bear Hunt, Chocolate Cake & Bad Things

Discover Children’s Story Centre is one of those places I’ve always meant to go and visit but never got round to. I’m now kicking myself for not making the effort as it is an amazing place!

Discover Children’s Story Centre is a place where children and their families can enjoy playing, learning and making up stories together. We had pre-booked tickets to see the Bear Hunt, Chocolate Cake & Bad Things exhibition as well as tickets to attend a Story event for Even My Ears Are Smiling by Michael Rosen, illustrated by Babette Cole.

Discover is based on Stratford High Street so after a bit a journey on the tube my children were more than ready to let off some steam. We waited for our pre-booked slot and then were allowed into the Bear Hunt, Chocolate Cake & Bad Things exhibition.

Described as an interactive family exhibition for ages 0-11, we were greeted by a member of staff who helped us explore the exhibition. The children are always slightly dubious when I tell them we were going to an exhibition but this was a completely different experience for all of us.

They loved the fact it was so interactive and they could touch everything! Here they are swimming in the stream – “We’ve got to go through it!”. They’ve both heard the story lots of times so loved the parts related to the book, We’re going on a bear hunt.

Step inside a humongous chocolate cake and explore a secret larder, swishy swashy and splash splosh your way through a Bear Hunt. And dare you explore the Bad Things in the Dread Shed? Discover hidden rooms and brilliant clues that show what inspired Michael Rosen’s writing including his Grandparents’ sitting room and his classroom.

Younger children can enjoy a Bear Hunt trail, whilst older children can go on a fun fact finding mission on Michael Rosen and create poems of their own to take away. It was a lovely exhibition and easily kept them entertained.

After stopping to eat our lunch we headed to another part of Discover where we joined the Story Builders for a selection of fun poems by Michael Rosen, on everything from space to pancakes to knobbly knees! The session was designed for ages 3 and over so they both enjoyed it, especially the part where they helped make up a poem based around the letter B. They’re at at the stage where the word bum is hilarious and it seems they are not alone in that!

With our pre-booked tickets done we had time to explore Discover and I’m glad they didn’t see the story garden until then because I would never have got them back indoors. The outside space is brilliant and I was able to let them explore every thing in it until they had tired themselves out.

We finished our day with the indoor story trail where they could dance on noisy polka dots, dress up in weird and wonderful costumes, and craft. There was a huge table covered with straws, craft sticks and sticky tape. Somehow I managed to get their creations back home!

We had a lovely day and we would recommend a visit to the exhibition and Discover. For more information about the exhibition please visit:

Disclosure – we received complimentary tickets to Discover as well as a copy of Michael’s latest book Quick Let’s Get Out of Here