Science Center Field Trip

For those of you who may not know, Josiah is enrolled in a homeschooling option that is funded through the public schools. It is a program called Columbia Virtual Academy. They offer various field trips throughout the year and this was one we wanted to participate in that was local. They had over 200 kids plus one chaperone (minimally) for each kid and so we were quite a crew! Josiah is posing at the "big table and chairs" display there outside one of the IMAX theaters.

Before we left for the Science Center, Josiah told Daddy in the morning, "I am going to the Science Center, it is going to be so fun!" Daddy said, "How do you know it will be fun, you have never been there!" He replied, "It just feels fun!" I think he was most excited to go without the brothers in tow! Miss Naomi accompanied us though as she is still needs her Mommy at this young age.

We came in through the dinosaur exhibit and then made our way through the solar system exhibit. Josiah is looking at "earf" (earth) here. There was a display to show how may Jupiters would fit in the sun and how many Earths would fit in one Jupiter as well as a place to weigh yourself to see how much you would weigh on various planets. I think next time I will step on the scale I will hope it is on Pluto. :)

They had a real meteorite between two chains for people to try and lift and Josiah enjoyed showing his strength to lift it up. After this display, we went into the live bug area and saw many interesting insects and bugs. Some were dangerous and poisonous and others (in my opinion) were just gross! I was interested to discover that the "bees" that invaded our cable box a while back where actually called "paper wasps." And it was also very interesting to see how BIG wasps can be! It puts the accounts from the Bible into perspective when it says there was (or will be) a plague of wasps. ICK!! We went into the butterfly house as well and the guide told us that there were 800-1100 butterflies there. Josiah was VERY careful to follow the rules and was even warning other children not to step on the butterflies that landed on the ground. It was REALLY warm in there, so much so that I was feeling sick and had to leave the room at one point. I got a few pics of the butterflies, but didn't include them here.

Josiah was thrilled to see they had a tide pool there and jumped right in to feel the animals. Following this display he also saw how a toilet worked (it was cut in half and put in a case). He remembered this and told Daddy about it when he saw him later.

One of Josiah's favorite parts though was at the tot area where they had a water display with water toys to play with. I think this was meant to be more fun than science, but he really liked it! They had these water bibs for the kids to wear, so he didn't get super wet playing in the water.

This was a helicopter in the tot play area. I love his expression here!

Also in the tot area, they had a little enclosed music room with these quasi-Orff instruments, tone blocks, bowls to bang, etc. Josiah came back to this room twice and really enjoyed playing all the instruments. I had to laugh that it smelled exactly like every general music room I have ever entered!! That dusty wood smell...gotta love it!

Here he is sitting in a replica of the Gemini spaceship. It had lots of knobs and buttons and a screen with pictures on it to view. At the end of the time there, we went outside and played with the water displays and then went to see the movie "Bugs." Josiah was resistant to seeing the movie, as I think he was tired and just wanted to go home. We sat through it though and there were points where he was interested and other points where he leaned over and said, "I'm bored." Overall, it made an impression though and I think he had a good time exploring the center.