Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – Out of the Shadows

Half term started off quite excitingly for Seb and D this October. Not only was there the release of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – Out of the Shadows, but also a skate masterclass to celebrate! And even more excitingly, the masterclass was at Kidzania London… Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows is available on Digital, DVD and Blu-ray now!

As you’d expect with the heroes in a half shell, its packed full of adventure. We ordered in some pizza (we have to have pizza apparently, that’s what turtles eat) and sat down to watch it. Shredder is back on the loose, and the turtles have only hours to track him down before the entire earth is turtley in turmoil thanks to his crazy plans. The kids thought it was brilliant, they loved all the antics and of course they loved the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. There were times when they got a little worried on the Turtles’ behalf but of course, it’s a happy ending…or is it?

If you can’t wait to watch it yourself, then here’s a sneaky little peek of whats in store for you:

Not to be left out, the kids were offered their very own adventure – learning to skate with Camp Rubicon, complete with awesome turtle shell backpacks and colourful turtle eyemasks. D in particular was very nervous before we arrived, as she’s never even set foot on a skateboard before. Seb was quite nervous too, since he HAS tried a skateboard before and it didn’t go very well… and I was nervous on both their behalfs as the whole idea of trying to balance on a board with wheels, much less do tricks on it, makes me feel a bit gibbery.

As it happens, they both got on really well! One of the instructors, Jeff, was fantastic with D and helped her grow her confidence so much that by the end she was happily skating across the room and even doing a trick or two. Seb got the hang of it pretty quickly as well, hopping and skating with a big grin on his face. They both enjoyed it so much that they’ve asked to give skating another go very soon. I don’t think they are quite ready for Camp Rubicon yet (you have to be 9  to attend – dates for Summer 2017 are available now) but perhaps by the time they reach the right age they will be! In the meantime, it turns out we have a local skateboarding group nearby so they are in luck 🙂

And then the fun continued, because they had two hours to spend exploring Kidzania – which is basically a child sized city, completely in the control of the visiting children. They can be firefighters, supermarket assistants, couriers, pilots, factory workers, air conditioning maintenance engineers, estate agents, animators, fashion stylists, sportspeople… basically the list is long, and incorporates just about every urban job you might imagine. Each child (and accompanying adult, if they are under 8) is given an electronic wristband to wear that keeps track of location, which means you can leave them to explore safe in the knowledge they can be easily found if necessary.

Seb and D immediately decided that the shop was their first destination, with Seb being employed as a shop assistant and D taking on the role of shopper. Being half term, Kidzania was pretty busy and they had to queue for a while before it was their turn. Once they got in there though, it was all taken very seriously, with D conscientiously picking out all the items on her shopping list, and Seb carefully scanning all the items in his customer’s trolley before facing up the shelves at the end of his ‘shift’. His reward – payment of 8 kidzos, the Kidzania currency which can be saved and used to pay for activity experiences such as being a firefighter, or spent in the Kidzania department store.

Seb chose to put his Kidzos on a bank card, which can be done once you achieve 75 kidzos. The card can be used at one of the various ATM’s around Kidzania to check the balance, or withdraw paper money. He doesn’t have a bank card in the real world, so he is very pleased with his Kidzania one!

D’s overall favourite activity was chocolate making in the Cadbury factory, made super exciting by the fact that she got a voucher at the end to exchange for a tiny weeny chocolate bar on her way out. Seb was extremely happy to have the opportunity to take part in the Pokemon animation studio – he and his teammate made a short stop-animation video of Pikachu and his friends getting into a little bit of mischief.

By the time we were ready to get the train home, they were completely adventured out, just like the Turtles felt by the end of Out of the Shadows, I imagine. The perfect opportunity to chill out and finish off the day with a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows activity sheet 🙂

 

Thanks for a Turtley Awesome day out, Turtles!