Tuesday, March 22, 2005
Took a second, pre-arranged day off in order to take Vanessa, Annie and one of Vanessa's friends over to the Science Centre today. My second day off, basically to give Erika a bit of a break, as she is taken them and herself up to Deloro on Thursday. And it's also my chance to spend time with the kids.
It being March Break, we got their early in order to beat the crowds. It was a busy day, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, probably because it was such a nice, sunny day outside.
The new circus-themed exhibit in the main atrium goes over very well with the kids. As we were waiting in line to get onto the rotation plate (demonstrating centrifugal forces) they gawked at the teenagers who went upside down in a bicycle loop-de-loop device next to it. They loved the rollercoaster ride theatre, where they viewed a film in cars that emulated the movement of what was depicted on screen (I held Annie in my arms, as she was too scared to get into the seat with me, but enjoyed the experience – though not enough to want to go on an actual ride, just yet).
We lucked out this time and seemed to always be at the right place at the right time in order to see various demonstrations – with all of the presenters seemingly at their peak, engaging their audiences and wining over the many kids to their science theatre. I suspect that they had more demos than usual for the March break crowd, and they seemed to be pulling out all of the stops, making for some very appreciative crowds.
I noticed that there has been some major structural changes to the layout of the exhibits in the Science Centre. The KidSpark area has been increased in size, though we didn't explore it (looked too busy). The Weston Family Innovation Centre that greets you when you bottom out at the escalators looked grand, though there's not a lot of substance there, at least as yet. The largely open space is flanked by large hallways that continually change colour, and upon large screens are projected various science factoids. In the center is a small podium where a suitably white-lab-coated presenter engages the audience. Not much else though. Having said that, the girls had a great time jumping around on yellow squares projected on the ground, motion sensors picking up the movement and rotating the square, leading to a great game of get-off-of-the-turning-square, leading to lots of running about, and the occasional collision. ;-)
Discovered that maybe half of the old Science Arcade has been taken over by the science of sport exhibit, which has moved here. All of the old models of trains and planes and automobiles have apparently been banished, probably because they are not as inherently exciting. Hopefully they will make reappearance sometime in the future, but things do change and evolve, usually for the better.
The girls all had a good time though, as did I.
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