A Morning at Wonderlab
A few weeks ago we went down to Indiana in the hopes to get some advertisements, real estate ads, etc for our future home out there. I like to get a feel for an area I want to live in so it was a must. How many of you have moved and hated the place once you got there?
Now how many of you, if you had went out there and visited surrounding towns may have moved to one of them and loved your stay? That’s how we are, so we went, we grabbed tons of reading stuff from there and then took the kids to Bloomington, Indiana. Why there?
I had went online and discovered a tiny little gem called, ‘Wonderlab.’ My kids love museums and all but they love hands on material even more and this was a science activity center that had a ton of it. As you approach it doesn’t give off the impression of a museum, honestly it looked more like a library from the outside.Once inside you are greeted by these lights on the floor that blink on and off (the cosmic dance) so the kids are dancing around hopping from one to another as you pay the cashier. There is a tiny (real tiny) gift shop area before you enter.
The ground floor, the first thing you see is a ton of fun…at least that’s the impression I got when I saw my kids’ faces as they stepped in. I knew at that moment all was going to go well. There is a small area with lockers you can put your belongings or just hang your coats.1st Floor: Bouncy ball on a rope, bubble room, parachute drop, the bug world, magnets, baby area, building blocks.
2nd floor: Greeted by a trunk of bees (they are sealed and making honey comb), a snake, a giant cockroach (GROSS), heart-beating drums, wave area, magnets, funny mirrors, dinosaur dig, basketball jump, giant dinosaur height machine, the room of shadows.
Now I know there were more areas but these were our strong focus. The bouncy ball is just like it sounds, there are several balls (different sizes) on a string that goes to the roof and a small rubber thing at the bottom. You lift the ball as high as you can on the string and smack it down to make it bounce and see if you can reach the top. (Little A liked this a lot, it was hard to convince him to leave it) Next was the room of bubbles (Bubble-Airium). There was a giant machine that made huge bubbles, you got to use the steering wheel to direct it but you have to do it slowly or the bubble will pop before it forms. (Babygirl loved this) I liked the machine that made mist bubbles, once you touched them they’d pop into mist. (really neat)
We spent a good 15 minutes at , but SoccerBoy soon got tired of this and went over to the giant mechanical crane that allowed them to build that way. He got to have a steering wheel and
BalletGirl quickly dumped her shoes on the ground and climbed up the Grapevine Climber with no fear, but not her sister who only made it to the second leaf and scurried down. Little A of course tried but he couldn’t get past the first because he kept slipping back down but I had to admire his effort.
On the second floor Little A had to touch that slimy snake and of course I had sworn to the kids if we ever came to a museum with a snake I’d pet it. So, I had to do it….I still don’t like them so no we are not getting them if someone I know is reading this. (hubby or SoccerBoy)Little A loved seeing himself in the funny mirrors, he’d run towards them and then back, side to side and then got a kick out of seeing us shrink and he was taller. The girls liked the shadow room, if you pushed a button it quickly took a pic that froze your shadow to the wall (poor Peter Pan would be lost in here) but Little A did not like this. He could not get his shadow back, so I had to take him out of that room.
All in all, the kids had a blast and we’ll have our memories. I’m sure we’ll go back there a few times once we move to Indy. In the meantime, what fun place have you visited recently?
