Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Awesome day @ EdVenture


Lovey's car finally arrived yesterday afternoon! As a result of having a second car again, we girls had wheels and took off on an adventure of our own. We spent nearly 3 hours exploring EdVenture Children's Museum today. Lovey had taken us there on Saturday for about an hour before it closed. And man, trying to pull Becca & Mary-Gail away was bitter. I knew we'd need to return again - this time on a weekday so there wouldn't be all the craziness - so I carefully mapped out the drive (complete with landmarks to help me know if I was headed in the right direction or not). For my family in Utah, EdVenture is like a Thanksgiving Point, and Gateway Discovery wrapped into a whopping 92,000 square foot place. It is awesome!

Edventure boasts the world's largest child named Eddie. He's a rockin' 40-feet tall kid, and that's his height sitting down! Straight from EdVenture's website: "Explore EDDIE® You can climb his vertebrae to his brain, crawl through his heart, bounce around inside his stomach and slide out his intestines." Serious fun right there!


The girls inside Eddie's skull (his brain kept zapping with light mimicking the neurons connecting)



We visited their Storyland exhibit. Every day this week they are highlighting a few selected children's books and have set up Storyland to showcase them. Today's book was Abuela; Wednesday: Where's Spot? Thursday: Chicka Chicka Boom Boom; Friday: Snowy Day; Saturday: If you Give a Mouse a Cookie; and Sunday: The Tale of Peter Rabbit. Wish you all could see these creations in person, but I hope my pics will give you a taste of how awesome these life size exhibits are.

Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats. Lay on a bed & press a button and a portion of the story is read out loud to you; build your own snowman and dress him; walk on the snow path and hear the crunch of the snow; cling snow icicle's together to hear their music...





Tuesday by David Weisner: (I have to admit, I don't know this book, but Mary-Gail sure had fun playing on the rotary-dial phone. She ultimately got frustrated and started yelling in the receiver {second picture})



The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter
Warm yourself by the fire, cook some soup, and make yourself @ home in Peter's tree



Rebecca liked this one the most.

She fixed Peter Rabbit some radish soup and then put him to bed


Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin, Jr.
Ah, this was my favorite by far. Perhaps because I have great memories of this book (loaned to us by my sister, Joanna). It wasn't until a couple years ago (when the girls started school @ "R Kids") that I learned about the full story with the Grown-Up letters. Even better!



You could actually put the alphabet up the coconut tree,

and the upward conveyor belt would spit them out!


Today's featured story was Abuela. Storyland had tables set up for the kids could all make their own Abuela. Rebecca & Mary-Gail went right to work, embellishing their masks with shiny sequins, glitter glue, and bold eye lashes, with crazy yarn strings for hair. Their grandma's should be so proud! Mary-Gail made fast friends with two gals opposite the table from us. She kept telling the one gal that her mask was prettier, and Mary-Gail wished she could have it. Well, Mary-Gail got her wish: they gave her their mask! Mary-Gail was so happy and carried the gift with her all day long (she's even sleeping with the scary thing right now!)



Mary-Gail's Abuela mask (this is the one she created)


The World of Work

A you a firefighter? A farmer? Maybe you're a grocer for the local town.







Becca & Mary-Gail were filling their buggies with cakes, pies, and donuts.

When I asked them if those were healthy foods, I got a roll-of-the-eyes from both of them,

and they reluctantly put them back. If helping them choose good foods in the pretend world worked, it might work in real life, right?


Oh yes, gotta have Mac'n'cheese




Checking out


Putting the food back before moving on



I loved this area. Made me realize my littles aren't so little anymore.

I need to give them more responsibilities when we go grocery shopping!




Body Detectives

Explore how your body works, both inside and out! Pull the ropes on the skeleton to see what type of joint is moving; view real slides of cells through microscopes; get your body moving to stay healthy with their dance machine







Awesome EdVenture! We'll be back!



Mary-Gail's mask from the girls @ Storyland; Rebecca's own creation

I think these masks are scary!

1 comment:

Kellie Knapp said...

Manda, I am SO happy you are back on the blog scene. LOVE it. I get excited every time you post! Keep it up! xoxo!

Kemp Kuties on the Charleston Pier

Kemp Kuties on the Charleston Pier
September 2007