Visiting Museums

On our recent trip to the east coast, we indulged in museum hopping, thanks to our COSI membership cards. Pittsburgh is a beautiful city with its breathtaking sceneries. We had wanted to enter the Carnegie Mellon Museum but learned that it was not free, so we simply spent an hour looking for the masjid and left for Morgantown, West Virginia.

However, when we arrived in Philadelphia, some friends told us that we could get in free in some science museums if we already have a membership with one in any state. The first museum we went to in Philadelphia was The Academy of Natural Sciences.

I had planned on going to the Adventure Aquarium despite my silly fear of the sharks, but later on changed my mind and chose the museums instead. I think it was a very good choice. One because they turned out to be free for us, and it proved to be a great learning experience for the kids. Plus, I didn't have sharks swimming right above and around us. I would have been left with months of trauma in my own bathroom.

The Academy of Natural Sciences was a really good teaching museum. The kids participated in scavenger hunts which I happened to pounce upon. In each section of the museum, they provided sheets of scavenger hunt questions and pencils for the little visitors. At first, the kids were simply roaming around the museum and it appeared to me that they were growing bored. The scavenger hunt positively channeled their energy into learning and hunting for information, especially for H, who was running around and driving me to exasperation. S, with her love of animals was in animal heaven, especially when we got to the Outside In section of the museum. Even I thoroughly enjoyed myself petting a big fluffy rabbit and an albino guinea pig.

The kids even asked questions! That was a real bonus for me because my kids are shy, very much like I was in my childhood, and even now at times. I could see S shining with exuberance in that environment, taking in the information with enthusiasm.

Our next stop after that was the Franklin Institute Science Museum. They were having the controversial Bodyworks exhibit up till April 23. However, with our COSI membership, we were only allowed to peruse the museum and not that particular exhibit, without paying more. We didn't get into the IMAX theaters either, which was fine because by then, we had to rush in order to beat the traffic getting out of Philly. It was a real pity too because we didn't get to fully peruse the museum before we had to leave.

I personally loved the Big Heart section, where a big model of a heart was erected through which we could walk into the atriums and ventricles. S had an ultrasound done to see her pulse. We saw real brains of a mouse, sheep and humans, one of which was from a person with Alzheimer. We found out that the kids have about 5 cups of blood in their bodies, me 15 cups and F 20 cups. The kids really enjoyed themselves, and so did we. It was a very good optimization of the trip.

Earlier in the morning, we had visited the Liberty Bell and the Independence Hall, but the kids weren't that interested. I could see why. That would require a totally different approach. Maybe later I can jog their memory from the snapshots I took during that historical tour.

Philadelphia is a costly city. However, I did miss it though as we left it and headed towards West Chester to stay at a friend's house. The kids however, gained new friends in West Chester and it simply warms my heart to see them forming friendships. We left for New York City on Thursday. I had wanted to visit Ellis Island to see the Immigration Museum since the kids are learning about that, but it was too cold, and our plan was not that well organized. We ended up driving around Manhattan in bone chilling weather amidst the crazy honking and drove to Vienna Virginia that very night.

Nevertheless, Staten Island, which was our first stop in New York, provided us with another learning experience at the Children's Museum. The kids got another go at petting a guinea pig. If we were living in a house, I would have gone and gotten us a guinea pig for a pet.

Washington D.C. was our final stop for touring. We didn't go to the Memorials as F thinks it silly to park and simply take pictures at memorials, so we went to the Naval Air and Space Museum. It turned out to be another beneficial visit, alhamdulillah. N at least learned about the Wright brothers.

I had wanted to at least visit the Lincoln Memorial, but it was raining and we had to beat the traffic (again) so we forgoed that.

Just yesterday we made a map of our trip. N proved to have a canny map reading ability. The poster is yet to be finished but it seemed to pique their interest, which is always a good sign in acquiring anything.