Little Astronauts opens this November 2024, a brand new play centre on the top floor of Prospect Centre in Hull city centre. We went along to check it out!
Me and my 10 year old daughter took my two little nephews, who are 5 and almost 3, to road-test this brand new play centre… and it got a big thumbs up from all of us.
It’s in the old food court at the top of Prospect Centre; I was so pleased to see this space brought back to life and used again. You access it from a bridge in from the Prospect Centre car park and parking is free if you are using Little Astronauts. In the centre is the main soft play area and around the edge are several large seating areas and some different and unique rooms to explore.
The whole place felt very big, light and airy and well laid out. I’d say it’s suitable from birth up to children around 10, with different sections for different ages –
- For babies – there is a lovely sensory room, my 2 year old nephew really enjoyed being in there and exploring the lights, I found it really calming too.
- For under 4s – there is a section of the soft play just or smaller kids, again my youngest nephew loved this bit, things were just the right size for him.
- For over 4s – the main soft play section has all the usual things they needed. A ‘bumpy’ slide, a tunnel slide, monkey bar handles, giant balls, and lots of fun play things to discover.
- For all ages there is an interactive sand play room, and a room with an interactive video game screen. This was deemed the favourite bit for my daughter and 5 year old nephew, a game starts on a giant screen and you throw balls at it to win the levels!
The cafe was also great, serving kids meals and simple snacks, all good quality and reasonably priced.
It’s been designed and built by local parents Ben and Danielle; they have 2 young boys themselves so are very aware of what kids need in a play centre. Their expertise comes through when you look around and the attention to detail they have put in really impressed me. Things that caught my eye (as an experienced soft play go’er!) –
- All of the tables in the seating areas have corner protectors on so there is no worry of a bump (little kids heads always seem to be just at corner level!)
- The toilets have an extra large cubicle so you can take 2 small children in with you and still have space to move! The baby change also had lots of space around it for a pram.
- There are CCTV camera’s inside the play area showing on a TV in the seating area, so you can keep an eye on your children if you do sit down for a cuppa. This also helped me locate where my very speedy 5 year old nephew had zoomed off ahead of me to!
- The main section of the soft play is high enough for a grown up to stand up in! I am used to crouching down or crawling through, it was such a pleasant surprise to stand up. The higher levels are smaller and need a bit of crawling through.
- The coffee was good! I am a coffee snob and play centre coffee can be a bit dubious, this was amazing. I could tell it was a good local blend and I would go again just for the coffee.
- They’re going to clean the balls! I am always wary of what is lurking in ball pools but owner Danielle reassured me they have a ball cleaning machine and will deep clean them weekly.
- There is no terrifying drop slide, just two slides of a sensible length and drop that they didn’t need me to go down with them and I didn’t need to worry about them being on.
We had a really good afternoon at Little Astronauts. We stayed for almost 2 hours and both my nephews were flagging by the end as they had not stopping climbing, jumping and exploring; the youngest fell straight asleep in the car home (a sign of a good day out!).
It’s open now daily for play sessions. They ask you to please book online in advance to secure a space, walk-in’s will try to be accommodated but its not guaranteed. They also do kids parties!
It’s great to see Prospect Centre with a new lease of life; its an ideal location to stop off at if you are in the city centre shopping or to make a special trip into the city centre for. I wish Ben and Danielle all the best with their new venture, thank you for bringing this to Hull!
