at Tellus Science Museum

 

In the spirit of summer fun, we decided to beat the heat and see the museum’s traveling exhibit, “Toys – The Inside Story!”  It was well worth the drive for the toy exhibit and the museum’s other galleries. We walked among gigantic dinosaurs, marine reptiles and mammals in the fossil gallery. The exhibits are vast in size with quick and easy-to-read descriptions for excited children moving throughout the gallery. In the Toys exhibit, located in the “Collins Family My Big Backyard” interactive area, kids can operate gears, pulleys, linkages, cams and circuits and see how toys work on the inside. The exhibit was great! I joined in along with other parents, turning gears and working circuits. It’s one of the best hands-on exhibits my daughter and I have visited. Throughout the exhibit, the kids were clearly engaged and excited.

With “kid friendly” descriptions and ease of use, children explored the exhibits independently and through teamwork, which was fun for everyone. We even played with a traditional jack-in-the-box and another jack-in-the-box that exposed the inner workings, showing how “jack” pops up. Families also shouldn’t miss the Full Throttle: Evolution + Design of the Motorcycle that is there through March 2016. Kids can learn all about vintage motorcycles, sidecars and mopeds from 1930s-1970s.

As we concluded our visit, we took advantage of the Fossil Dig where every child takes home a real fossil. In addition, the Gem Panning activity was great fun as we searched for “sparkly” stones. This Tellus Museum adventure was just what we needed to incorporate learning into our summer fun!  

– Caren Davis Lightfoot

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