Mind Museum

May 3, 2012

A couple of weeks ago, we went to the Mind Museum. Finally. We were given All-Day Passes by Tara from Sunlife of Canada, one of the museum’s sponsors.

We all had a great time – grandparents, us and the kids. The exhibits were very well-curated. The architecture was impressive (I do have some minor observations regarding safety). It’s a great thing to have in our city. I think every family should get a chance to experience the Mind Museum.

Congratulations to the curators and designers of the Mind Museum. And yay to the private companies who sponsored this.

My dad at the Mind Museum, taken by iPhone & Instagram.

This is what it looked like inside. There was this impressive spine-like tunnel. Architecture and design by Ed Calma.

Stella, my two-year old bundle of energy, enjoyed everything. Kids are allowed to touch everything except the dioramas.

Learning about conserving water for practical things like toilet flushing.

I love the trellis design over the escalators.

More of the spine/bone tunnel thing.

Here’s the entrance to the tunnel. If I may suggest to Ed Calma, please put safety handrails for kids and elderly. I realize it may ruin the design. But I’m all for safety. My mom had a difficult time with these steps.

The upper floor had an engaging display of “how things work”. Everything was hands-on. Soph and Lily figured out how to create moving drawings.

Lily

Stella, copying Lily.

Curious mind.

This was nice. The kids loved this space. Soph was checking her heart beat.

The digital microscope with a whole slew of different objects and insects. I remember when microscopes were quite rare.

This is what a tiny bee looks like, projected on the monitor.

I loved this one. A revolving globe that can be programmed to show different phenomena – like patterns of past earthquakes, tsunamis, climate change, volcanic erruptions. It is so freaky. Especially since we’re right in the middle of all the action. Yikes.

No fear.

The kids loved this part – digging for dinosaur bones and fossils.

They didn’t want to leave. (I banged my head three times in this area).

This section was bout outer space. We watched a film in this dome-like structure. There were pillows on the floor. It was comfortable but just be careful because your head is, in effect, in front and almost touching someone else’s shoes, and we’re talking soles. The movie was very good but it scared Stella (it was age-inappropriate).

We loved the hands-on displays on the second floor – like this big letter press. The kids enjoyed discovering what it was like before printers and typewriters.

A few of the pieces were under repair.

The outdoor playground is awesome. Shouldn’t be missed. The kids played just before sunset, it was too hot in the afternoon. Really fun and impressive playground.

On a side note, thank goodness for my many random white shirt dresses. They are the most comfortable things to wear this summer.

This playground rocks! Whoever designed this should get an award. And please give me some pointers because I’m supposed to be supervising the design of our village park. And playgrounds are very very important in my life… and in many others’, I hope.