The much-anticipated Dippy the dinosaur arrives in Greater Manchester next month and schools are being urged to book their tickets.
The Natural History Museum’s famous dinosaur cast left the venue to embark on a national tour in 2017 and Rochdale is the only place it is stopping off in the north west.
The borough's council building, Number One Riverside, will play host to the famous dinosaur from February 10 until June 28, with an accompanying Dippy exhibition at the nearby museum and art gallery Touchstones.
Both are free but demand is expected to be high so schools are being urged to get in early to bag the best slots.
School groups can stay for as long as they want, but bookings are for a two-hour time slot, with around an hour in each venue.
There is a short walk of less than half a mile to get between both venues.
In addition to seeing the dinosaur skeleton in all its glory, Number One Riverside will be home to lots of accompanying activities, including a giant Diplodocus lego build.
Others include:
A sensory storytelling room
This is for all ages, but mainly aimed at early years foundation stage. Aimed at developing children’s natural curiosity and imaginations, children will learn all about seasonal change, the natural world and habitats through loose play, puppetry, storytelling, musical instruments and making dens.
This room will be open for visitors and school groups to explore on a drop-in basis in the mornings, while afternoon sessions, delivered by library staff and other providers, will be available for families to book on the website soon.
Dino Discovery Lab
This one's aimed at early years foundation stage, and key stages 1, 2, 3 and 4.
Curious youngsters can enter special laboratory exploration pods, which will include microscopes, mystery objects and multi-sensory exhibits.
In addition to this, flexible use stations can be used for scientific demonstrations and for the volunteers to show interesting artifacts where needed - this will include a space to exhibit Dippy’s skull.
Sustainability Wall
Again aimed at early years foundation stage, and key stages 1, 2, 3 and 4.
Visitors can have a go at using connectors and circuits on a special sustainability wall to ‘power’ a home in the most sustainable way.
There'll also be a series of twilight sessions for teachers - using Dippy as a means of supporting their professional development in teaching science - and mini pop-up science shares for schools, giving pupils the chance to take over one of the 'Discovery' tables for a day to demonstrate a science question or experiment they've been working on.
And there'll be even more fun over at Touchstones, with a full events programme to enjoy.
Visitors will be able to get up close to some fossilised bones including teeth, eggs and even dinosaur poo, and will have the chance to meet mini beasts like spiders and scorpions.
The full programme of events has been released as a special dinosaur tram also hits town.
Produced in partnership with Transport for Greater Manchester, the tram has hit the Metrolink network to promote Dippy's visit far and wide.
As Dippy is all about celebrating the natural world and protecting our environment, Dippy in the North West has partnered with Metrolink to encourage people to use sustainable travel options, like the tram, to get to Dippy in Rochdale.
The tram will be travelling across the network for the next 16 weeks.
For more information about Dippy on Tour in the North West and the accompanying events programme, visit the website.
