CHILDREN on a North-East estate came face-to-face with some exotic creepy crawlies yesterday.

The youngsters, who live on Skerne Park, in Darlington, got to touch and hold creatures from Zoolab, a travelling exhibition that educates children about animals from around the world.

Among the animals they learned about was a Chilean rose tarantula, an emperor scorpion, a millipede, a lizard, a cockroach and a king snake.

Play worker Claire McKeown, who has been organising activities on the estate during the school holidays, said: "It was really interesting for the children to learn about the different animals, but some were a little bit scared at first.

"However, once they got into it and realised that it was safe, they really enjoyed it. They even got the opportunity to hold a snake and a cockroach."

The summer activities are being held at Skerne Park Community Centre on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays, between 1pm and 3.30pm.

Today, children can have a go at archery, tomorrow there is an arts and crafts workshop and on Friday the last session of the summer will be a team game event.