Sunday, January 27, 2013

Free day

   With Monday being a holiday, we took the day off from school (not too hard to do) and were able to go to the Children's Museum.  It was free on Monday and I hadn't been there since college (so I couldn't remember what it would be like).  So, we set off to take advantage of a day to explore. We quickly discovered a LOT to enjoy.

  We went through the dinosaur exhibit on our way to the train stuff.  There were several engaging things in the train exhibit...including tv's at the windows of a caboose you could board where the views out the window portrayed true to life views from a train ride.  Of course we had to linger at the train displays, but eventually we wandered on...
   We learned how glass is blown and did an interactive activity on the computer to mimic and reinforce understanding. 
   We explored how people search and make underwater discoveries...and how they clean off the shipwrecked items they find.
 
 
We LOVED the Hot Wheels exhibit...real big car versions of the smaller cars, plenty of race tracks to test, stencils to make and take, designs to explore, etc.
 




The area devoted to life in Egypt allowed us to "board" a plane (with tvs in the windows again to give the full effect of taking off and landing as well as views from the air). We exchanged currency and learned how much certain amounts would buy. Then we ventured through the "town" to experience ways of life from homes to the market to the Nile River water source, a coffee shop, and more.
   The science area was packed (and we'd bee there for 3-4 hours) so we didn't maximize our time there.  But we did enjoy watching the pool table balls go through the self-propelling course.  And we investigated some water exhibits (ponds, flood plains, dams in Indiana).








Another big hit was the clock.  The clock is in the lobby area and is a completely visual clock where water areas (big and small) represent the hours, minutes, seconds. You can sit for hours and watch the water fill the spaces which all represent the current time.  The highlight is at 1pm when all the water drains to restart the second half of the day.  Unfortunately, I forgot that part so we didn't see it.







No comments:

Post a Comment