What’s on

at Blue Reef Aquarium Portsmouth

Find out what’s on at Blue Reef Aquarium Portsmouth

Ancient Animals

23^rd July – 31^st August

Take a time bending adventure this summer holiday and enter a world of prehistoric knowledge and adventure at Blue Reef Aquarium Portsmouth.

Grab your fossil trail quiz and step into an exploration of nine geological periods, learning all about the dinosaurs that walked the lands and swam in the seas. Listen to expert facts throughout the aquarium from Prof. Amber Saurus and piece together the stories of Earth’s prehistoric residents.

Fossil digs hosted every day at 11:30AM, 1PM, and 3PM. Roll up your sleeves and uncover evidence of the past at our fossil stations and even take home a real artifact – your very own proof of the ancient animals that came before us!

Join us for an artefact talk at 4PM to get hands on with real fossils and items you’ll find on the beaches of the south coast and learn how to decode their mysteries.

Create a souvenir of your prehistoric adventure, letting your creativity explode in our dedicated dino craft zone.

All of this is included in your standard entry to the aquarium!

Sensory Saturdays

Next upcoming session: 2nd August, 9am – 10am

We don’t want anyone to be excluded from experiencing the wonders of our aquarium, but we know it can be overstimulating to some. To create a more inclusive and calmer environment, we’re running Sensory Saturdays on the first Saturday of every month. We invite individuals and families with neurodivergent sensory needs to come explore our colourful fish displays with minimal distractions.

To put the focus purely on the mesmerising animal displays, there will be no music playing, no bright lights from screens, and no talks generating large crowds. You will also find increased lighting in the darker areas of the aquarium, to provide visitors with a more consistent sensory journey. At 10am there will be a silent giant gourami feeding demonstration to watch.

We want visitors to feel comfortable to come and enjoy the beauty of marine life and express their joy for it in whatever way comes naturally to them. It’s for this reason that we can’t fully guarantee there will be no loud noises from other visitors, but we will be reducing sound from the aquarium to an absolute minimum.

To prepare for your upcoming visit, we’ve created a sensory guide you can download here to understand what your visit might look, sound, smell, and feel like ahead of arriving.

Terms & conditions
There’s no need to make a special booking! Purchase any standard entry ticket to the aquarium and turn up on the first Saturday of the month, between 9am and 10am. These sessions are open for anyone to attend. Visitors are welcome to stay on at the aquarium past 10am with their ticket, however music and tv screens will be turned on, and talks will start at 11am.