Science Center

Yesterday at lunchtime I talked with the hub and he mentioned that he was going to take off early from work in the afternoon and we could go to "Forest Park".

I got the kids all excited about going to the zoo and made sure this time to apply lots of sunscreen and even brought along a hat. As we were driving down into the city the kids were talking about what animals they were going to see.

Hub said "I thought we were going to "The Science Center" - oops. Both the zoo and the Science Center are at Forest Park.

Since we hadn't been to the Science Center for at least a couple of years and we had talked about going on Saturday but didn't - we decided that was where we'd go.

I've decided that places like the Science Center are overwhelming for kids. Just like when a child has a room full of toys and too many choices they end up not knowing where to begin and just flit back and forth from one thing to the next without really "getting into" one thing and then complain that they are "bored" and "have nothing to do".

They look at something for about 15 seconds and then want to rush onto something else b/c they are worried they'll miss out on something cool (the proverbial the grass is always greener on the other side).

I'd say the three most interesting things at the Science Center that we saw were: the life-size moving and sound making dinosaurs, the outdoor Science Park - "The 11,000-square-foot area, equipped with a cushioned surface...These exhibits let you experiment with the properties of sound, motion and light. Exhibits include: Roller Coaster Gravity Race, Friction Slide, Color Maze, Gears, Whisper Dishes, Echo Tube, Giant Kaleidoscope, Prizms" and the MedTech area.

The boy said that one of his favorite places was the space area ..."plus I also liked the area with giant balls (the Science Park) and the section with Star Wars mugs and Star Wars cookie jars".

The girl said that one of her favorite places was the dino area - not only could you see the life-size dinos but in another room there were real dino fossils "Come into the Prep Lab on the lower level and talk to lab volunteers about the different types of dinosaur fossils that are on display, many excavated by the Science Center and visitors interested in paleontology. You are even allowed to help work with some actual 65 million years old fossils. While in the Lab look for a T-rex metatarsal, a Triceratops femur and many different plant fossils..."