Monday, July 15, 2013

7/15/13: Discovery Museum Acton - Learn and Play

We have been going to The Discovery Museums in Acton for years.  We first started going when my kids were small.  Evan was about 2 years old when we went for the first time.  When I was invited to an event at the Museums and to hear from their CEO I jumped at the chance.
 First we were able to hear from Neil Gordon their CEO.  He spoke of their mission "To inspire enduring curiosity and love of learning through interactive discovery, hand-on inquiry and scientific investigation."  He also spoke of their school programs.  I personally have experience with their programs as I am the President of our school's PTO and we have them come in to speak to classrooms.  They do this in a classroom setting and not for a large auditorium as they like to keep the science close up and interactive.  I love that he also spoke about getting kids playing and getting dirty and getting them out from behind the computer screen or video game screen.
 This was followed by a wonderful program by Ms. Stella who taught the kids about sound.  I thought she did an awesome job engaging the kids in fun experiments.  My kids were pulled up to help with the experiments.
Here is Lauren going first.  You know it is a great experiment when the kids are giggling.
 Here is some video of the experiment.

 Now it is Evan's turn.  With his experiment it involved the tuning fork and a ball hung from a string.
Wow look at that ball go.
Here is some video of that experiment:
 Then all of the families got to do another experiment with sound which the kids really enjoyed.  This one simply involved a small paper cup, a string, a paper clip and a paper towel.
Then we could explore the museums.  My kids love the Science museum.  The thing that I love about the Discovery Museums is that there are two museums.  A Science Museum and a Children's Museum.  Usually there is a wait at he Children's Museum and they will give you a number.  You can then spend your time exploring the Science Museum as you wait.
Lauren exploring.
One of the favorite things that the kids do there is create a beautiful drawing by letting the table move around and letting the pen draw the shape over and over.
Evan loves going to the Inventor's Wood Shop.  He loves to build things there.
After you build something you can then decorate it in this same area.
Exploring.
 A flashback picture of Lauren in this same area in the Science Museum when she was little.
Evan loves building paths for the ball to go down.
Then we headed over to the Children's Museum.  As you enter the first room is the Train room.  This is still Evan's favorite room to visit.
The girls ran the ticket booth as Evan ran the train.  He had many people get on board with their tickets.
Another favorite room is on the 2nd floor.  It is the diner.  The kids love to have me sit down and they bring me food and drinks.  There is also a little area for small infants in here.
Here is a flashback picture of the diner.
Here they are playing in the ball room.
One of their rooms was changed from our last visit.  It is now an AirPlay exhibit.
You can send little pieces of fabric up through the tubes and watch them go.
On the third floor there is a boat area.  Evan was having fun there having the lobsters drive the boat.
There is also a bubble/water play room.
Here is a flashback picture of the water area.
This is a beautiful room that is nice and bright and great for infants/toddlers.
 This is the Safari Room.
One last flashback photo of Lauren in the Safari room when she was little.
Here is a picture of the Children's Museum.  It is deceiving as it looks like a house, but inside has three floors of fun to explore for kids.  They really target ages 0 to 6 in the Children's Museum however the Science Museum is great for kids of all ages.
Plus during the summer you can experience the Museums for Free on Friday nights.  This goes from 4:30-8:30 pm and is until August 30th.  They will gratefully accept food donations for the Acton Food Pantry and Open Table of Maynard and Concord. Free Friday Night Fun is generously sponsored by MathWorks, Middlesex Savings Bank, and Hologic.
We had a wonderful time!  Thanks so much to the staff for such a lovely visit.
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Follow them on Twitter:  @discoveryacton
Disclosure:  I attended the museums free of charge however I love them and like to provide awesome activities for kids to my readers.  No other compensation was received and all opinions are my own.

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