MORE than a million people around the world have taken part in twelve weeks of activities hosted by Winchester Science Centre.

When the doors closed and live science shows were put on hold the Telegraph Way attraction decided that it wouldn’t shut up shop.

Instead the team launched Science@Home as a way to bring STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) into people’s homes during what was expected to be a tough three week lockdown.

Within days of launching the first Curiosity Challenge, a week-long set of evolving hands-on activities, hundreds of people had shared it on social media, reaching almost a quarter of a million people in just one week.

Since then, social media followers from as far afield as Australia have asked for advice on how to take part, families have worked together to complete the challenges and school teachers have set the activities as part of their home schooling lesson plans.

Ben Ward, chief executive of Winchester Science Centre and Planetarium, said: “We’re thrilled by how Science@Home has been received by our fans both at home and around the world. Our charity has a mission to spark curiosity in STEM in everyone and we didn’t want the fact that we are closed to stop us from achieving this. It’s amazing to see how so many people have engaged with the content that our Inspirers have created and we’re looking forward to evolving this over the next couple of months.”

As well as Curiosity Challenges, that have included building rockets, creating a family band and spending time in nature, Science@Home has brought a whole host of STEM activities and information to people not just from the UK but from across the globe, including America, Poland, Germany and India.

A series of videos, including DIY Science demos such as make your own lava lamp, have been viewed more than 20,000 times, Ask the Expert sessions have seen children as young as four years old get answers to their STEM questions from real-life professionals and topic discussions around things like how to view the Pink Moon, when to watch the NASA launch and how civilisation is helping protect nature, have kept people educated and informed on some of the industry’s most exciting developments.

A teacher from an Isle of Wight primary school said: “Winchester Science Centre have been posting superb, easily achievable science experiments to help with home learning during this difficult time of school closure. My pupils have been so excited by them and had great success!”

Starting on Sunday (June 21), the team will be showcasing real-life STEM professions and linking them to hands-on challenges that relate to the skills needed for those careers.

There will also be updates on what’s been going on at the centre during lockdown and updates on the exciting new visitor experience that’s currently in development, as well as many of the fan favourite activities from the past 12 weeks.