We had a day of rest before we headed out with our Spain friends to do more things on the Toronto CityPass. (The CityPass gave us tickets to the CN Tower, Casa Loma, the ROM, the Aquarium and the Science Centre.) On Wednesday, April 4, we met up with Ana, Isaac and Andrea to go to the science centre together. It was quite a journey out to the centre, taking us over an hour to get there by transit. We rode the subway line, then had to transfer to a bus and then had to walk the rest of the way. There was probably a better way, but that's what I found on Google Maps.
Anyway, it wouldn't have been so bad, except the wind was really strong and really cold. We were getting blown over and having our breath taken away because the wind would hit us so strong. We were so glad when we finally arrived and could be inside for several hours.
I took this picture of Andrea holding Sarah on the subway. These kids just loved each other! It's so fun to do things with kids because they see the joy in the mundane. We think of riding the subway as a necessity while they see it as a joy and an adventure.
This was the first thing the kids saw at the science centre. There was a cool LEGO exhibit inside too.
First off, some hands-on stuff. Each of the older kids spent some time creating and building different things with cardboard kits, paper and glue guns. I ran around with Sarah, looking at different things.
Sarah liked these big circular pink planters. She liked the light and being able to go inside to see the plants up close.
Sarah also liked sitting and coloring. This area was where kids could come up with different inventions, draw it and write about it. Isaac found her after he finished his other creation and wanted to show it to her.
This was Glenn's invention. He wanted to create something that would take the smoke out of the air and turn it into good things, like water or other beneficial stuff. (We definitely don't like all the cigarette smoke that goes along with being in a big city...)
Next we met some workers walking around. This guy was showing different string tricks. He showed some to Glenn and then Glenn asked if he could show others that he knew. The guy was impressed, saying not many kids know string tricks these days.
Next, we saw a guy who had a lot of different puzzles--like two pieces of wood stuck together, but we had to figure out how to get them apart. Isaac and Miss Ana were really good at them. I tried a couple, but wasn't as fast as they were. And I was watching Sarah and Andrea who were having fun at the stairs.
We took a lunch break and then tried to do more things. We were disappointed that we hadn't gotten to the centre when it first opened and that it closed early. That didn't leave us much time to explore the rest of it. And there was a lot of cool stuff to see and do.
All the kids really liked this area--interactive floor screens, or however I describe them. There are projectors above that shine on the floor and when kids are on those floor spaces, the things react and change. We spent quite awhile here as well.
Another area where we spent a lot of time was the LEGO exhibit. Not only did they have cool LEGO creations--some larger than life--all around, but they had tons of big and small LEGO blocks for kids to play with, be creative and build.
Sarah and Andrea played with the big blocks. They were kind of like foam and were fun to put together.
Glenn and Isaac liked the smaller blocks. They were very creative and built their own little castle/fort. Too bad I didn't get a picture of it at the end...
The theme of most of the LEGOs was all about knights and castles. They had a fun dress-up area where Sarah and Andrea dressed up as knights and ladies.
Then we had only 15-20 minutes left to explore the rest of the centre, meaning not enough time! So we went to the exhibit that was all about the human body and finished up in there. They had stuff to climb and test your strength, things to test how fast you were, how far you could row and different ways to dance.
They also had a very interesting exhibit about human life and how it grows from conception to birth. I found the pregnant insides particularly interesting, seeing that's what is going on in my body right now.
And this was the last thing we looked at before it closed--some cool wood carvings. They were of different places around Toronto. It was cool to recognize some of them!
Even though we didn't have enough time to explore the entire place, we still had a good time. Glenn keeps wishing we can go back..maybe we will. It is the kind of place if we lived here we would get a season pass because it's really cool and full of all kinds of learning.
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