THE LITTLE ACTOR AND I

took an excursion to The Science Factory yesterday afternoon.  It was his mother who suggested that we visit the place, and when I picked him up at his house to escort him there, she told me, "I think you're going to like it!"

The Little Actor had been to this hands-on museum prior to our visit, but this was my introduction to it.  And, oh, Reader Dear, I recommend the place if you're hankering for an afternoon spent enjoying a roomful of  curious and  fascinating playthings!


The first thing to pique my interest was the fact that two darkly-dressed, hat-wearing, gentlemen were at the ticket counter when the Little Actor and I arrived.  They had no children in tow.  After learning about membership passes, I surmised that they had been purchasing these membership passes for their families-full-of-children to enjoy another day.  It was my best scientific theory, and that's what it will have to remain, as the men soon left, providing no further clues.*

 For everything else that The Little Actor and I encountered at this museum, there were scientific explanations provided.  

Detailed signs
told us why the blocks we built into an arch did not come crashing down. 
And they provided an explanation for the stick-to-it-iveness of magnets.







Make a Sculpture! the sign encouraged.
"Ohhh!"  I rhapsodized to The Little Actor."This is my favorite thing, so far!"

But, then, right away there was a new favorite!

We spent an awful lot of our minutes stuffing cloth parachutes into the tube that sucked them up and shot them high into the air!

It was a favorite for both of us; but, when another small boy joined our two-person line at the parachute tube, I stepped aside and checked out the Triangle of Mirrors.

Listener Dear, you were not there to hear my loud and delighted chortling when I ducked into this contraption and met up with hundreds of other selves, all pointing cameras at one another!

When I convinced The Little Actor to join me, we, with our four waving arms, became a throng of revelers!  It was a sight to see!

 Viewer Dear, I can't begin to show you all the exhibits... (Of course, I can! It's what I just did--begin to show you).

Dear Viewer, I can't show you all the fascinating exhibits, alas.

I'll end with the very activity with which we ended.  At the start of our visit, The Little Actor had led me straightaway to a table with bins filled with building pieces.  Immediately, he knew what he would build--a race car!

"Why don't you make a helicopter!" he suggested.
(He had to help me only minimally).

Because this was his favorite thing in the whole museum (well, maybe after the parachutes [or maybe not], we ended our visit at this table, as well.

He built the helicopter.
I built the race car, and did a pretty good job on my own.

And then it was imperative that we leave, because the sun was moving on down the sky (Not a scientific fact, Reader Dear! [For scientific facts (and lots of fun) I hope you can visit the Science Factory yourself (with a small person or two to show you 'round).
If you're anything like me, you're going to like it!
......


*Entirely possible, I suppose, that these two were eager to gain a membership for themselves, alone.  One could theorize that they wished to change into less formal clothing and come back another day to play (The world is so full of possibilities). I'm sticking, however,  with my original theory.