Impression 5 Museum

Last Thursday we went on a field trip to Impression 5 Museum. It is a great children's science museum in downtown Lansing. We went as a part of their home school science day, with a class focusing on circuit builders. Since my boy is very much into circuits and all things electronic it was a great class for him to come and get connected with. My hubby gave him his electronic board from when he was a boy and my son has loved making the wires connect. I know the boy can focus when he wants because he will literally sit focused on that board for over an hour. Putting all the wires from point A to point B, then to point C and so on until 25 wires later he has made a siren or a light sensor. So this class was one we definitely wanted in on.

While there we explored the museum and had a great time. I did not take pictures of everything we did so some things you will need to use your imagination. First we went to the bubble room. I think the kids could have spent their whole day in this room. Encasing themselves in a tunnel of bubble. The wall of bubble. The giant bubbles. The weird shaped bubbles. The what happens when you use a tube of air in bubble mix? The loved it.

Next up was laws of physics. A softball pitch that recorded the speed of your pitch. DS pitched a 28mph. We launched 2 liter balls into the air. Built pressure and launched tennis balls at targets. Fun stuff.

Then we hit the water room. Sending a boat down the locks. And building a pipe line.

Then it was time for the boys class. Little girl and I stayed in the class for the first half and then decided to go check out the new room for 4 year olds and under. It was a room completely designed with little ones in mind. A water table just their size. Tree house. House with kitchen. Magnet light table. A area for crawlers. It was a great addition to the museum and we enjoyed spending time exploring it.

When the boys class ended we hit the next area, motion. We skimmed this ever so swiftly before making our way to my favorite feature which is the shadow wall. This has been a part of Impressions-5 since I was a kid and I still love it. You press a button and the beeps count down until it flashes leaving a shadow of whatever was in front of the screen. Through the years I have tried to be as creative as possible when the flash goes off. Jumping, swirling, hand stands. Anything crazy and fun to get a cool shadow.

Then we hit the health center. We checked out a few things but nothing really struck an interest for the kids. But the music room. They were totally into the music room. A piano that you can see the inside of. An assortment of percussion instruments. Xylophone. They thought it was cool.

As we were getting ready to leave we noticed one area we had completely overlooked on the way in. The media center. A progression of radios from the very first ancient model to modern day. A DJ booth that shows how the DJ's select songs and add sound effects to their broadcast. Then there was a green screen and a weather screen that the kids could make their own broadcast. I leave you now with little girls first ever meteorologist report.