Opening of the “Blue Academy”, Nausicaá's new area specially designed for young people

The Blue Academy is Nausicaá’s youth workshop facility, which opened its doors in October 2023 to welcome young people from as young as 3 years old and up to 18 years old and over, as a family, a group or a class, for a 1-hour to 1-and-a-1/2-hour workshop, guided by a scientific mediator. This 800-m² venue will be the showcase for Nausicaá’s educational expertise and scientific outreach. This fun and cheerful playground will encourage children to develop their curiosity about the oceans and inspire them to become involved in ocean conservation.

• Le Labo, a genuine laboratory for exploration
• La Fabrik’, the place to design objects inspired by the Ocean
• L’Annexe and L’Atlantique, rooms dedicated to educational activities
• La Bulle, a reading area designed to offer a moment of relaxation
• Le Défi Océan, a space that encourages participants to take positive initiatives for the Ocean through a gamification system
• La Cabine, a soundproof studio designed for the production of e-classes
• Le Hublot, a space dedicated to recreational and sensory activities
• La Vague, with its educational aquarium, is an area where all children can observe and learn all about marine fauna

The space is also designed to be a resource centre, a training centre and a meeting place for researchers, partners, professionals and young ocean ambassadors, providing a 360-degree deployment of education focusing on the sea and the Blue Society: Working together to preserve the Ocean.

Encouraging, supporting and promoting young people’s commitment to the Ocean. The Blue Academy is the place where the passion for the Ocean is born, where future generations can discover, experience and grow up as citizens with a commitment to our blue planet, through a new range of edutainment activities for families. Scientific mediators will be on hand to guide visitors through a series of workshops tailored to different age groups:
●    Les contes du Hublot (Tales from the Porthole - for children aged 3 to 6) offer a unique sensory experience in the form of a story. Through activities that stimulate their 5 senses, children will be encouraged to develop their curiosity about nature.
Duration: 1 hour - 20 people maximum - 12 Euros per person
During school holidays: Monday to Friday from 3.30pm to 4.30pm with a Nausicaá ticket.
Outside school holidays: Wednesdays from 3.30pm to 4.30pm without a Nausicaá ticket

●    Le Labo lab experiments (for children aged 6 to 12): A series of hands-on activities will turn children into ocean explorers. The experiments in Le Labo will provide answers to a whole host of questions and reveal other secrets that make the ocean a place of perpetual discovery and exploration.
Duration: 1 hour - 20 people maximum - 12 Euros per person
During school holidays: Monday to Friday from 2pm to 3pm with a Nausicaá ticket.
Outside school holidays: Wednesdays from 2pm to 3pm without a Nausicaá ticket

●    The Fabrik' workshops (for young people aged 10 and over): families can design and make an object for the sea or inspired by the sea.
Duration: 1 hour 30 minutes - 20 people maximum - 14 Euros per person
During school holidays: Monday to Friday from 10.30am to 12pm with a Nausicaá ticket.
Outside school holidays: Sundays from 3.30pm to 5pm without a Nausicaá ticket

●    Les jeux de l’Académie (The Academy games - for all the family): a treasure hunt that takes place throughout the areas at Nausicaá, in teams to explore the marine environment.
Duration: 1 hour 30 minutes - 20 people maximum - 14 Euros per person
During school holidays: Monday to Friday from 10am to 11.30am with a Nausicaá ticket.
Outside school holidays: Sundays from 10am to 11.30am without a Nausicaá ticket

The Blue Academy encourages the public to gain a better understanding of the role of the Ocean in our everyday lives and to gauge our knowledge of the benefits it brings us through fun and educational experiences.

For over 30 years, in collaboration with the French Ministry of Education, Nausicaá’s Mediation Department has endeavoured to develop a wide range of entertaining and interactive educational activities that are adapted to the school level of pupils.

More than 5 million schoolchildren have already benefited from this programme and 20,000 pupils take part in an educational activity each year.

With this new space, and by encouraging individual and collective commitment, Nausicaá is fulfilling its outreach and mediation mission using a recreational and practical approach to turn young people into the “O’cean Generation”. The Blue Academy is designed to appeal to all kinds of audiences, with a range of activities including sensory experiences, scientific experiments and hands-on activities, creative workshops and life-size exploration games.

Nausicaá, Centre National de la Mer (National Sea Centre) in Boulogne-sur-Mer, is a one-of-a-kind Centre focusing on the discovery of the marine environment, which is enjoyable, educational and scientific, essentially concentrating on the relationship between Mankind and the Sea. In 32 years, Nausicaá has welcomed over 20 million visitors and established itself as a prominent force in promoting awareness of the marine environment. The Centre’s mission is first and foremost to raise public awareness of the need to more effectively manage the oceans and their resources and to encourage each and every one of us to take action. Nausicaá is a UNESCO “Centre of Excellence” for its public outreach activities.