* Dorchester’s Dinosaur Museum has a new gallery, Dinosaur Discovery, housing interactive displays including magnetic skeletons and a machine which enables visitors to walk like a dinosaur. Tel: 01305 269880.
* Techniquest in Cardiff, is running theme weeks this term. Secondary sessions include: science in sport, environment, genetics and Earth and beyond. Primary schools can explore forces, electricity and magnetism. pound;3.10 per pupil. Tel: 01222 475475.
* Become an astronaut at the new space mission simulator at Challenger Learning Centre, Leicester. During the programmes “Mission to Mars” and “Rendezvous with a comet”, 10 to 16-year-olds work in teams to undertake a variety of tasks, plan experiments, locate stars, scan databases and construct space probes. Tel: 0116 253 0811.
* In 1539 Henry VIII packed for a weekend away at Dover Castle. His 19 travelling cases contained furs, tapestries, jewels, 27 pairs of spectacles, and 3,144 rings iincluding three wedding rings. Some of this treasure and the excitement of the preparations are featured in an exhibition, “A Castle Fit for a King”. Tel: 01304 211067.
* Milton Keynes’s City Discovery Centre is situated on the site of a 12th-century Benedictine priory. Visitors can inspect its remains, as well as those of a Roman villa and medieval paintings and artefacts. There are also study tours of Milton Keynes, with archive material on the planning and development of the town. Tel: 01908 227229.
