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MacKid @ Children's Science Center (Fair Oaks)

Lived up to its mission of EXPLORE. CREATE. INSPIRE.

By Catherine Smith July 7, 2015

On a recent morning at The Children’s Science Center, the new STEM Lab certainly lived up to its mission of EXPLORE. CREATE. INSPIRE. Visiting the Science Center with my five and two year old grandchildren resulted in just the intended outcome of a positive, multi-generational experience. The staff was exceptionally welcoming, and the museum was inviting throughout.

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The museum facilitates discovery in each of four major zones. The Inspiration Hub offered a look at wind turbines in action on a small scale. This brought to life the wind farms our family had observed on a southwest trip earlier in the month. The children made the connection and were ready to move on to the Tinker Shop. This area provided the most hands-on, experimental opportunity for my two STEM explorers. The interaction and cognitive learning that took place was exciting. Additionally, the two grew emotionally as their created projects succeeded or needed some loving tweaks. My five year old was especially inspired by the engineering challenges offered. The Discovery Zone allowed for some play-based learning. The two grandchildren designed complex castles with moats using the over-sized soft building blocks. Time seemed to fly by, leaving the Experiment Bar for our next visit which can’t come too soon.


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Visit Children's Science Center at http://childsci.org/

·         Experiment Bar: Order from a rotating menu of experiments that demonstrate the wonders of science

·         Inspiration Hub: Hands-on exhibits demonstrating real-world applications of STEM; future museum prototyping zone

·         Tinker Shop: A space for making, creating, building based on open-ended engineering design challenges

·         Discovery Zone: Hands on learning designed for budding scientists aged five and under