New list of ‘UK’s top 50 most fun educational visitor attractions’ released

According to various scientific research papers, the human brain is more receptive to learning when having fun. Informed by this, a survey was carried out to find out which of the UK’s educational visitor attractions was the most ‘fun’ and therefore the best at helping people learn and remember scientific or historical information.

The company that commissioned the research, Saturn Visual Solutions, has subsequently created a list of the ‘UK’s top 50 most fun educational visitor attractions’. The rankings are based on the number of people that named the site as a ‘fun’ attraction, rather than metrics like visitor numbers which tend to discount many smaller educational visitor attractions.

The Natural History Museum in London came top of the rankings with nearly one in five adults (19%) saying it was the most fun UK educational leisure attraction they’d been to.

The museum, which is free of charge to enter, has impressive meteorite and dinosaur collections along with an animatronic T-Rex and mixed reality palaeontology experiences. It recently opened its newly transformed gardens - five acres of green space wrapped around the iconic Museum building, which includes two outdoor living galleries for exploration, and a brand-new bronze Diplodocus cast, Fern.

It was by far the most popular attraction across all age groups, and with both women (21%) and men (16%) voting for it.

Alex Burch, Director of Public Programmes at the Natural History Museum, said: “Whether it’s walking amongst brilliant and bizarre birds; encountering prehistoric beasts that used to roam our planet; experiencing our newly transformed gardens; or discovering the wonders of Earth’s geology, our Museum is the perfect day out to learn more about our natural world with family, friends or even solo.

“We’re proud to work with over 370 world-leading scientists and our brilliant educators to ensure our programming is educational, engaging and enjoyable. Last year we welcomed 5.6 million curious minds to our Museum – our biggest year yet – and we hope to continue this in 2024 by continuing to provide visitors opportunities to take away knowledge and memories that last a lifetime.”

The second most popular educational visitor attraction was the British Museum which secured 14 per cent of the votes. Also situated in London and free to enter, it has 50 galleries of artefacts from across a time period of two million years.

Edinburgh Castle was the highest ranked visitor attraction outside of London, taking third place with 10.9 per cent of respondents voting for it. It comprises a royal palace, war and military museums, and an immersive exhibition showcasing the castle’s role in the Wars of Independence.

Edinburgh Castle narrowly beat the Eden Project in Cornwall which received 10.5 per cent of the votes to take fourth place. The eco visitor attraction and educational charity features biomes that recreate different eco-systems, including a rainforest with rope bridges over the canopy of vegetation. It also has a scientific exhibition with interactive exhibits and hands-on experiments.

The fifth most ‘fun’ educational visitor attraction, according to the research, was the Roman Baths in Bath. The historic site, which enables people to walk among and touch Roman relics, (including drinking water from the spa) features architectural reconstructions via projectors, and 3D computer animations to bring the site’s history to life.

Saturn CEO, Chris Welsh, said: “Every year there are tables of data about which visitor attractions are the most popular, but something that’s often overlooked is how much ‘fun’ they are. Both adults and children are more likely to learn and remember information if it’s part of a ‘fun’ experience, so we thought that it was important to find out which educational visitor attractions were most successful in making learning fun.

“Our research found that nearly half of adults categorise something as being boring if it doesn’t have engaging activities. So, it’s no major surprise that so many of the highest-ranking educational visitor attractions in our research have interactive exhibits and experiences on offer.

Saturn Visual Solutions is a digital signage consultancy that works with leisure businesses and charities to help them make the ‘visitor experience’ more engaging and fun.