Exploratorium

I took Parker to the Exploratorium in SF today (FRIDAY). I've been there a a bunch of times, but Parker had never. I kept thinking he was too young, which he probably still is. But he had fun, nonetheless.

First we made some music...


He didn't always understand what the exhibit was. Like on this, he just showed the wheel down the ramp.


This was his favorite. You drop this marble down this chute and it hits a small round platform and then bounces up at a certain angle. You try to get it to go through these holes. With lots of practice and the help of a very sweet 10 year old, we were successful.


I remember this one working in the past, but Parker could't hear a god damn word I was saying. I was sitting opposite him, about 50 feet away.


This one was actually very cool. You try to touch this tea cup, but your hand goes right through it. It's a light and mirror thing so the cup is actually below your hand. Parker was confused.


Not sure if you can see, but Parker is standing in this thing. I can't remember what it is suppose to teach us.


This exhibit has always been my all time favorite. It's a big white wall and every 30 seconds it flashes and your shadow is left on it. I have memories of doing this as a younger person, trying to jump up at the exact right moment. Parker didn't quite get it, but had fun looking at the clock counting down nonetheless. Unfortunately, the flash ruined all aspects of it.


This was pretty neat too and Parker actually got it. He waves a wand in front of a projector back and forth really fast and the movie plays in the space between waves.


There were lots of pretty lights in the lights section.


This wasn't actually an exhibit, just part of the pieces that made up this rainbow/light exhibit.


This was my favorite. It's a computer screen that had some basketball players on it. It had two teams. 3 players in white and 3 in black. The screen said, "Count the number of times the players in white bounce the ball." So I pressed start and counted. It was hard to count as they were bobbing and weaving in between each other, passing the ball in ways it was hard to see and the black team was doing the same, making it even harder to keep track of the white team. When it was done, I was very pleased that I got 12, which is what the screen said I should have gotten. Then it said, "Did you see anything strange?" I did not. It said, "Watch the video and don't count this time." So I pressed start again and watched it. I didn't see anything strange until about 1/2 way through when a guy in a large gorilla suit came out and stood directly in the middle of the screen for at least 2-3 seconds and then walked off. I cracked up since I didn't see it at all the first time.


This room was about cuteness. It had things that people thought were cute (babies, animals, things with big heads)and it had you adjust the cuteness factor to a point when it wasn't cute anymore.


Two identical beams, placed in different ways acted very differently.


Back to the marble game of course.


This was a table where you placed block shapes in different ways and then had the table vibrate to see what happened. Parker liked that.


The last thing was this air shute that kept a beach ball floating until someone covered the shoot. The kids loved it and Parker was no exception. He was trying to take turns, but other kids were being rude and just pushing in all while be watched the parents. I kept trying to say really loud, Some kids don't take turns Parker but that didn't keep him from having a melt down about it.