Last week was a rough one, mainly because S would NOT stay at camp, staying home three of the five days, so we ended up improvising our plans all week!
Due to the midsummer heat (and it's been a scorcher, folks, with the triple digits reigning supreme), we were looking for anything we could do while inside, and so we set our sights on Austin's Dell Children's Museum. We hadn't been in quite some time (mainly because for a while there, Ava got sick every. single. time.), and so the exhibits had changed out and that made it all the more amazing!
Their current exhibit, 123 Geometry Lane - At Home with Math, was right up my alley, since math has not been my strong suit and is something that I want to immerse Ava in from a young age. I think that math skills can take you far in life - in fact, had my advanced math skills been more proficient, I'd have taken the MCAT and gone to medical school - and so when I found out the exhibit promoted early math skills, I encouraged the girls to explore as long as they wanted!
Here are some pictures of the current exhibit:
They had a set of four differently-sized chairs, two of which Ava particularly enjoyed comparing her body size to:
They also had an impressively designed home kitchen replica, allowing for opportunities to experiment with measurement, shapes, sizes, and other early math skills. Even I wanted to play!
Then, we got to do a bit of fishing, and used the ruler on hand to measure our catches! Ava LOVED this!
The other great thing about the Children's Museum is that there are a lot of year-round exhibits, so we have a few favorites we look forward to every time we go. One such favorite for the girls is the upstairs tool bench and pulley exhibit, where you have a chance to build any number of things (or, like Ava, just screw in plastic screws to the workbench repeatedly!) and attempt to use a pulley to help a parachuting pig (say that three times fast!). We spent a lot of time in that portion of the museum!
There is also a kitchen with pretend food, a "working" dairy station, a pet clinic where you can pretend to be a veterinarian, an upstairs platform where you can watch and interact with the resident train that navigates a track above the play areas, and a construction multi-story construction workplace. If none of that is your cup of tea, there is a "design zone" upstairs near the tool and pulley portion where you can use different materials to create any number of items. This time around, we made binoculars out of string, toilet paper rolls, tape, and wrapping paper. I got some brownie points for those, and I must say I think I deserved them, seeing as how I didn't have Pinterest on hand to inspire me :P
The Austin Children's Museum is located at 201 Colorado St., Austin 78701. Entrance is $6.50 for children 2 and above, as well as adults, $4.50 for Children 12-23 months, and free for those under the age of 1. For those who cannot pay the cost of admission, the museum offers free admission via their Open Door Policy. The museum is also free each Sunday from 4-5 p.m.
Oh my gosh, it looks like so much fun!! And I can't get over how much Ava has grown, we have got to get together soon!
ReplyDeleteThanks for linking up!
That sounds so amazing!! I love that you're always doing fun things with her and they're educational. Thank you for linking up again!
ReplyDeleteA lot of those exhibits look like the ones in the Colorado Children's Museum...as well as the practical life stuff in M's Montessori classroom! :) Now I know I gotta take her to the Colorado Children's Museum for a few hours of fun! :)
ReplyDeleteVery cute, looks like you had a great time!
ReplyDelete***Stopping by from the hop, have a great week!
Nice! thank you so much! Thank you for sharing. Your blog posts are more interesting and informative.
ReplyDeletethings to do in Austin