Squiggly Diggly's Hootah Lands In London

Left: 5 year old Rafath in his spidery cloak is ready to tell Hootah a story.














© 24 Hour Museum.

Have you ever heard of a baby space monster called Hootah? Hootah is a funny-looking creature from a planet called Squiggly Diggly. Hootah has come to visit a brand new children's centre in East London called Discover because he needs your help.

Sadly, Squiggly Diggly is running out of stories. That's a real shame because Hootah loves stories - all sorts of stories. So, he's come to Discover to do some listening and collecting.

Right: Lucy listens to some very funny noises from the secret cave - what could they be?








© 24 Hour Museum.

If you visit Discover you can help to make up stories for Hootah. They could be stories you make up, stories about things that have happened to you or perhaps stories you've heard.

There is a Story Trail at the centre where you can play, explore, draw, dress up, pretend, sing, listen and think up your stories.

Left: Matilda has made some invisible tea in this magic teapot.








© 24 Hour Museum.

There are all sorts of machines, secret places, special costumes and magical things to play with in the Story Trail.

There's a sparkly river full of crocs, stepping-stones and some very strange splashy noises.You can crawl into a secret cave with an echo machine and some furry, bouncy spiders or make spoon puppets at the spoon tree.

Right:Lucy and Millie try very hard not to wriggle while Amy draws round them!








© 24 Hour Museum.

This news story would have to be very, very long to tell you about ALL of the fun things at Discover, and, it would spoil the surprises!

So, if you can, try to visit. You'll need a grown-up (so that you can dress them up in silly outfits) and you'll need to be ready for lots of fun.

Left: is that a bowl on her head?







© 24 Hour Museum.

There's a fantastic Story Garden outside Discover which is free to enter, so you can play, play, play.

If you can't make it to London, we've given you a list of some of the other kid's centres you can visit at the bottom of the page. Stories can spring out at you wherever you are!

Right: climbing the letter wall can be tricky if you're little.












© 24 Hour Museum.

Discover opens to the public with a huge party on Saturday June 28 2003. It is aimed at children aged 2 to 7, but we think kids and grown-ups will love it, at any age.

PS - Hootah is a pretend space monster of course - there haven't been any real-life space landings in East London yet… have there?