Museum of Life + Science: Outside Part 2

We went back to the Museum of Life + Science yesterday. (To read about our first trip, click here.)
The plan was to hit up the outdoor exhibits that we never make it to. So we decided to start in the back and work our way towards the front. Those of you who are loyal readers may remember I've said that this is not a place to attempt in one day. There is just too much to see. And I will stand by that!

Explore the Wild
We started with the Explore the Wild exhibit. This is the place to learn about wildlife biology. Kids can see bears, wolves and lemurs. There are exhibits showing how ducks webbed feet work to pull them through the water and how tadpoles glide gracefully through the water. There is also an exhibit where kids can build a stream pathway with small rocks and change the pathway of the water. We built a narrow stream to channel the water forcefully, we let the water flow gently down the wide streambed, and we created graceful curves to channel the water down. We saw how the water cleans the rocks and washes sediment downstream and learned thereby learned the importance of keeping our rivers for our neighbors downstream.
This exhibit encircles a large pond/wetland ecosystem. The highlight of our visit was as we walked around the pond. We saw a snake swimming across the pond. When we got around to the lower side of the walkway he was partially buried in the mud with his head sticking up. Tot was intrigued. We stood there and just watched him for a bit. He slithered through the mud toward us and we watched until he disappeared under some brush.

Catch the Wind

The other big exhibit in the back of the museum is Catch the Wind. By the time we got here, Tot was getting tired and kept asking to go home. But as we came to each she came alive and wanted to explore. There are sailboats that you can drive across a pond and smaller sailboats where you can interchange various styles of sails to see how the wind blows them with different sails. Tot played with the sailboats for probably an hour before I could convince her to see something else. She loved the sailboats!

There are air cannons that you can blow puffs of air at a sequined wall and see how the metallic flecks move in the wind. There is a giant magnetic arm that carries pretend seeds up and drops them as they'd fall from trees. There are giant insect wings to flap and a mist garden in which to cool off on hot days.


Best of all, the museum is running a buy one get one admission deal. You can download your coupon here.