I spent last Sunday afternoon at the Ithaca Sciencenter. Stephanie, who volunteers there, had told me so much about it. So naturally, I wanted to check it out. To make a long story short, it was fantastic! I wish I had been exposed to something similar when I was growing up! Here's what I saw.
There were many things to explore: the "Animal Room" (a tiny zoo), the "Rainforest Adventure" (I was too old for that), the "Mars & Stars Gallery", the "Imagination Playground", a huge outdoors playground, and of course Stephanie's "Moto-Inventions" workshop. There's also a mini-golf course outside. Finally, I heard that they're building an area where kids can play with a replica of the Mars rover.
My adventure began at the animal room. (You can click on the images below to view larger versions.)
My adventure began at the animal room. (You can click on the images below to view larger versions.)
I headed upstairs next. I don't have many photos of this spot, because the place was full of kids and I was a dude.. solo.. with a camera in hand.
Space travel anybody? This station allows you to navigate our solar system, galaxy, and universe. You can zoom in and out using the black lever, and get info on planets and constellations by selecting them with the blue ball and clicking.
Next up, magnets! Check out this video. Ferrofluids are super cool!
I'm skipping a few steps and fast-forwarding to Moto-Invetions. It's an area where kids sit at workbenches and tinker with motors and batteries. Volunteers - Cornell grad students - are there to help and teach them. I know I should be helping too, but instead I built a contraption of my own!
I decided to leave it there for kids to play with (and hopefully learn from).
By then the rain had stopped, so I could check out the outdoors area.
You can't tell from this photo, but there's a ton to do out here.
These elliptic sound antenna thingies were interesting. Stephanie would talk to the one on her side, and I would hear her and respond on my side.
Before departing, I checked out the gift store. The "Snap Circuits" kit caught my eye. I wish I had it when I was 10 years old! Instead, I decided to buy the Spark Maker kit once I come back from Greece.
Bottom line: if you have kids, bring them to the Ithaca Sciencenter!
Thanks for reading. There won't be any new blog posts for a while, but I'll be back with stories and photos from Greece, and especially Santorini.
~Spyros
Thanks for reading. There won't be any new blog posts for a while, but I'll be back with stories and photos from Greece, and especially Santorini.
~Spyros
