Thanks to time zone differences, we were dressed and fed and ready to go by 9am. However, the Science Centre doesn't open until 10am. So we took the long way by train, seeing a bit of the countryside, and arrived at the front door a little after 10.
Like most hands-on science museums, some of the exhibits were really interesting, some were boring, and rather a few didn't work any more.
The section on sound was a lot more interesting than we expected, with a theramin, some fun hands-on stuff, and some choreographed magnets.
The "Quirky" section was mainly pages from a book on Chindogu stuck on a wall, with a few like-minded examples. The sales pitch about Leonardo da Vinci's designs being part of the exhibit was true, but only in the most literal sense.
Lunch was at the onsite Macca's, mainly because I was confident they'd have real milk for a much-needed cuppa tea. That was when Ky realised he no longer had his bag with his jumper in it. (JD registered our loss with Lost & Found, but we still haven't got it.) We also saw an Imax film about Monarch butterflies and how they tracked their migration patterns.
The Candyland special exhibition was absolutely not worth the extra admission ($3: we spent 20 mins in there, max). Apart from learning that they put sugar into concrete to slow down how fast it sets, I didn't learn anything remotely new. The kids did have some fun bouncing around a floor mat tongue, which made different sounds as you stood on different receptors (sweet, sour, bitter, salt). (I have some recollection that recent research showed that not only were there no zones on the tongue for different elements (eg sour at the back of the tongue, but also all taste buds can taste all things. But I might be misremembering).
The other reason we bailed early from the Candyland exhibition was to see the fire tornado. After demonstrating a mini version, which showed the flame go from all over the place into a vertical coil by placing a cylinder around it, we then saw the big one.
Afterwards, the kids were still really keen to go through the laser maze, but were very disheartened when it turned out to be closed for maintenance (not something that was mentioned when we bought our entry tickets). So with some ice cream for consolation, the boys then stripped off their t-shirts and ran about in the WaterWorks exhibit (basically a small outdoor water park, with signs up to meet the educational requirement).
By then, it was after 4pm, I had a stinking headache (probably caffeine withdrawal, from one one cuppa tea to that point), and it was time to go home.
All up, a fun day, but not fantastic.
Like most hands-on science museums, some of the exhibits were really interesting, some were boring, and rather a few didn't work any more.
The section on sound was a lot more interesting than we expected, with a theramin, some fun hands-on stuff, and some choreographed magnets.
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| Ky playing the theramin |
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| "Pump up the Jam", by Technotronics. Can't you tell? |
The "Quirky" section was mainly pages from a book on Chindogu stuck on a wall, with a few like-minded examples. The sales pitch about Leonardo da Vinci's designs being part of the exhibit was true, but only in the most literal sense.
Lunch was at the onsite Macca's, mainly because I was confident they'd have real milk for a much-needed cuppa tea. That was when Ky realised he no longer had his bag with his jumper in it. (JD registered our loss with Lost & Found, but we still haven't got it.) We also saw an Imax film about Monarch butterflies and how they tracked their migration patterns.
The Candyland special exhibition was absolutely not worth the extra admission ($3: we spent 20 mins in there, max). Apart from learning that they put sugar into concrete to slow down how fast it sets, I didn't learn anything remotely new. The kids did have some fun bouncing around a floor mat tongue, which made different sounds as you stood on different receptors (sweet, sour, bitter, salt). (I have some recollection that recent research showed that not only were there no zones on the tongue for different elements (eg sour at the back of the tongue, but also all taste buds can taste all things. But I might be misremembering).
The other reason we bailed early from the Candyland exhibition was to see the fire tornado. After demonstrating a mini version, which showed the flame go from all over the place into a vertical coil by placing a cylinder around it, we then saw the big one.
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| Nonchalance in the face of (actually not much) danger |
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| Before they got soaked through |
All up, a fun day, but not fantastic.
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