IV
Back to the Climb
This time, they got all the way to the top. The stairs for the museum run up next to the climb, so parents can follow the children up to the top floor of the building as they go, and surprise them at the very top! There is an attendant at the very top to help guide children down again if they get stuck up there, and there is an emergency exit up there too. I asked the attendant how often kids get scared at the top and nervous about coming down, and she said there are a few every week. Hazel and Vivian are much too adventurous to get nervous at the top of a three story climbing structure designed for children 5 years and up, though!
The museum will tell you that children on this thing are working on their communication skills, problem solving skills, mathematical skills, visual-spatial thinking skills, and physical skills. Watching Hazel and Vivian navigate this thing, and all the other kids in it at any given moment, I think they're right! The kids were all in there on their own, with no adults, and the just had to figure things out on their own and work together a bit. Pretty neat!
Can you see Vivian standing way up there? That's about a third of the way up to the top, it curves away from the camera right here. Yikes!
V
We needed something quiet to do for a while because Vivian was tired. It should have been nap time and we'd already had a super busy day, but we didn't want to leave if we didn't have to before we'd seen some more things.
One room was aimed at younger children, and the following pictures show what kept Vivian happy and busy for a good long while. Hazel moved around a little more, but she liked this thing too. It was just a fan aimed at the ceiling with a tube above it, and there were scarves to put over it. They would blow up the tube and the girls could catch them. Lots of fun!
VI
The last exhibit we spent a lot of time in was called Peep's World, based on a character from a children's show we weren't familiar with called Peep and the Big Wide World that teaches preschool science and math. The big part of the exhibit was all water exploration, and it was a nice cool, dark, area to spend the afternoon in with tired children.
They did a lot of scooping and pouring, and had a nice time.
Vivian made a game of throwing a boat up above the water fall (she couldn't reach otherwise) and giggling and laughing as it swirled around up top before falling over the edge of the waterfall. Hazel came to join in the fun.
VI
Everything Else
Before the museum closed, we managed to drive a school bus, go to Kindergarten, fly a plane, camp in a tent and make a few phone calls in Arthur's kitchen.
All in all, a great trip to a really neat museum!
VII
Shimmer and the T
On the way back to the T, the bridge we crossed had colored plexi glass installed, an installation called "Shimmer." The girls really liked looking through the colors, even though they were pretty exhausted by this point!
