This is the second installment of posts, in our visit to Kid Senses Science Museum in Rutherfordton, NC.  I took so many pictures of our visit, that I had to divide the story into two parts and I still don’t have room to share it all with you. 

You can read the first post here: Kid Senses Part 1

In these two posts, you can see the variety of programs and hands on science exploration they offer for children of all ages.   But to get the full experience, you just must stop in and visit this great children’s museum for yourself. 


Trains, Engineering, and Constructing



World Geography





Learning about design, efficiency, synchronization and more.



How the heart works.



These were PVC pipes on magnets and on a magnetic wall.  The kids made paths for a ball to travel.  There was also a magnetic wall of words for building poems and word configurations.

 

There is also a magnetic wall with shapes to build transportation vehicles or whatever you can imagine.



Learning about Forces, Energy, Movement, Momentum.




Learning about the forces in the environment.  This is a tornado machine.



Dental Hygiene

Be sure to brush your teeth.  Smile!



Healthy Foods Store



Learning about healthy food choices, “clean and green” household supplies, role playing, money, putting stuff away and matching its location, and more.



Making wise choices and there is so much to choose from.



How much does it weight?



The bakery with lots of selection of realistic foods.



Our helpful cashier helped us check out with money leftover!



There is an arts and crafts room with lots of supplies to choose from to make projects.  Just about any supply you could want is available.



There is a large octagon craft table in the middle of the room.



One half of the craft table is like a counter top, and one half is lighted.  This was so much fun to color and make things on.  It definitely added a new dimension to crafts.



We left the bigger boys to finish their more detailed crafts and the younger children and I went to explore another hands on learning room.



This was a wonderful room for younger children to explore with murals, imaginative play, reading spaces, and lots to do.



A pretend river to kyack on.



A forest of hiding places, climbing places, tunnels, slides, stairs, and loft.



ABC’s with carpet tiles in a tumbling river.



Places to read and hide…..



and so many places to explore.



The highlight of the day was definitely the Science Show.
This gal came out dressed in a lab coat and had the personality of Beakman from the Beakman’s World.  She was wacky, funny, and very good with kids.



She taught the kids about air currents, carbon dioxide, gravity, polymers, and static electricity with some really fun science experiments that made an exciting science show.



A static machine generated static electricity.  It lit up this light bulb.



It caused a stack of aluminum pie plates to pop off the stack one at a time and fly a short distance. It also generated a lighting bolt in the dark when another metal object was near it, but I didn’t get a good picture.



She did this neat experiment where she popped a balloon with a candle. 



Then she took another balloon and filled it part way with water and part with air. 



 This time the candle did not pop the balloon, but instead the water in the balloon absorbed the heat of the candle and prevented the balloon from popping.



How about water on your head in an upside down cup?   The cup contained  a small amount of polymer and absorbed the water, but the crowd didn’t know.  Oh… the suspense…



We learned so much more.  I don’t have the room here to display all the concepts she demonstrated with the children.  But she was terrific in making science fun.



We were able to visit a bit with our wacky science instructor and she said most of the kids who visit her refer to her as Mrs. Frizzle from the Magic School Bus series.  She is definitely a very funny gal and works very well with children and adults. 




I highly recommend taking your children to this awesome hands on science museum.  They will surely meet some interesting people, and get to explore a huge variety of science and learning adventures.

All of this fun is available for $5 a person.  They have programs going on all the time and lots of special programs on Fridays and Saturdays too.  They also offer a special discount on Fridays after 3pm for $3 and stay open late.   Check out their website for more details.

Kids Senses
http://www.kidsenses.com


Check It Out!


This post will be linked up with
Science Sunday
No Time For Flash Cards
ABC and 123
Raising Homemakers