Youngsters meet and handle various animals

Brave children aged from newborn to ten years old got up close with lizards, snakes, tarantulas and a tortoise at an animal experience hosted in Oldham.

Baby Bear's Play Cafe hosted the Wriggly Roadshow for a morning session on Saturday (July 4), giving local children the chance to meet and handle a range of animals.  

The event, which ran from 9:30am to 11am, offered a sensory and educational experience with animals many would be unlikely to encounter in everyday life. 

Wriggly Roadshow is a Stockport-based organisation led by owner James Allen, which travels to venues to deliver fun, hands-on animal handling sessions for all ages. Animals on show included lizards, snakes, a tortoise, tarantulas and a tenrec — a small mammal often mistaken for a hedgehog. 

Bobbie Darlington, a mother of three from Royton, attended with her children and said: "It's a great way to introduce children to animals, prevent them from developing fears and a chance for them to learn something new — it was a great morning all round." 

As part of the £20-per-child package, families received an hour-long session in which children could meet, hold and learn about the animals under guidance.  

Once hands had been washed, attendees were then free to explore Baby Bear's Play Cafe across its two floors, which include a pre- and early-walker play area, a sensory room and a role-play village. 

Lauren Grimes, owner of Baby Bear's Play Cafe, said: "We want to thank James from Wriggly Roadshow and everyone who came along and made the morning such a success. Our aim is to build a community where children can learn something new, and events like this are exactly what we had in mind." 

Baby Bear's Play Cafe says it hopes to build on the success of the session by hosting further events of this kind in partnership with other organisations, creating more opportunities for young children and their families to learn together.