Saturday I took some special time out to spend just with Joshua. I think it’s safe to say that I haven’t had any alone time with Joshua (except for in the doctor’s office) since well before the baby was born! So, I decided to treat us both to an afternoon at our local children’s museum – the Boonshoft Museum of Discovery. (Preceded by lunch and followed by ice cream – holla!) I hadn’t even seen their new zoo that was unveiled in September (plus the otters are going on exchange program to other zoos so I wanted to see them again, they are so funny! But don’t worry, new otters will be coming to replace them), and I really wanted to check out their featured exhibit – It’s Electric! – that runs through the first week of May. The exhibit celebrates 100 years of our local power company, Dayton Power & Light and gives kids the opportunity to explore the history of electricity as well as look at what’s in store for electricity in the future.
The exhibit was really hands-on and fun! There were tons of “Try It” – cause and effect things for Joshua to do that demonstrate electricity’s origins and effects. And, I must say, it explained the phenomenon of “static” way better than I could! He got to make sparks, produce static electricity, and make all kinds of things light up!
He wasn’t as interested in the history as I was but I really enjoyed the period desks with telegraph machines to tap out morse code, photos of electricity used in our area throughout the years, and all kinds of crazy old-fashioned early electric devices (like the “Electrostatic bath” – yikes!).
He was mostly interested in the magnets, the static, the lights, the cranks, the wheels and the fun of learning about what made it all happen. It was a lot of really cool science and learning packed into one exhibit. I was super-impressed and Joshua loved it!
We had a great time at the Boonshoft and especially at the It’s Electric exhibit. If your kiddos have spring break coming up this month or you have a few hours on the weekend, I highly recommend checking it out!
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The Boonshoft Museum of Discovery sponsored this post. I paid our admission to the museum and all opinions about our time there are completely my own.
I remember going to Serpent Mound, just Daddy and I, when I was a kid…very good memory…he’ll think about this often when he’s older.
UP
UP – I have a very similar memory of going to Serpent Mound just me and Grandpa. Those are such good memories.