Thursday, October 29, 2009

Still on StayCation

Philippe took Monday off to have a stay-cation day with us. We headed out early to the Museum of Science and Industry to beat the crowds. I had "scored" a museum pass from the Chicago Public Library, but it turns out that the MSI is free all weekdays during October. The place was empty.

We started with You! The Experience, the newly reinstalled permanent version of the Body exhibit. According to the website, it celebrates the connection between the human body, mind, and spirit. It's totally interactive and loads of fun.

We started with the Giggle Garden, an installation about the importance of laughter. We learned that laughter is good for the immune system, the heart, and all kinds of things. Charlotte learned that the more she moved, the more the people on the t.v. screens giggled.

Next we learned about the importance of sleep. I liked this exhibit--we got to lie down and watch cartoons about sleep! The interactive display asked questions about our sleep habits and then played different videos about maintaining a steady bedtime, having a dark bedroom, and getting enough sleep. It didn't judge us on our bad habits' answered.


The exhibit stresses the importance of human connections. This installation allowed Charlotte to "build" her support system by answering questions about who she turns to for help in a variety of situations. I'm not sure she quite understood it, but she loved typing in names and touching the computer screen. Here's one iteration of her support system. She chose the names with no (or very little prompting). We had to ask her sometimes if she wanted to choose a friend, family member, teacher just to get the concept across.

On the way to lunch we checked out the trains and planes (sorry, no automobiles).

After lunch we had one last adventure in the Lego room. Philippe enjoyed the Lego architecture Falling Water construction while Charlotte built a tower. Maybe we'll get Philippe back there on January 23 when Adam Reed Tucker, Lego architect in residence, will be building on site.

Charlotte spent Tuesday and Wednesday at Kids' Kastle while I wrote. She had a blast, made another pumpkin, and rode her bike all the way there and back.

1 comment:

Bamma said...

Great fun, but the last two pictures are missing on my screen!