Rethinking Science Museum Oklahoma
A child slips down the towering slide in Science Museum Oklahoma’s Gadget Trees exhibit. (The Oklahoman Archives photo)
On Saturday evening, the BAM clan – my husband Patrick, 14-year-old son Chris, 2 1/2-year-old son Gabe and I – attended a private event at the Science Museum Oklahoma.
We were at the museum formerly known as the Omniplex for more than two action-packed hours and we didn’t have time to do nearly everything.
It had been a few years since I had ventured into the museum. We often visited when Chris was a youngster; he really enjoyed the hands-on science activities. But as he got older, our jaunts there became less frequent.
Chris and his dad have often attended special museum sleepovers, such as the 2005 overnight event in conjunction with “Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith” and 2007′s “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix,” as father-son activities. But that was the extent of our family’s Science Museum Oklahoma outings in the last few years.
But Saturday’s event was Gabe’s first visit, and he was immediately fascinated with the kinetic science displays. We all spent many minutes watching them work, and then headed over to the hands-on Kids Space, where we played with telephones, water tables and a full-size model tractor, Gabe’s personal favorite.
When an announcement rang out that a Science Live show was starting in five minutes, we rushed to the auditorium to catch the action. A funny scientist/showman named Clayton put on a half-hour show full of flames and explosions; fortunately, the booms and blasts were intentionally created. Several audience members, children and adults, were invited to get in on the fun.
Our next stop was the special exhibition “Odyssey’s Shipwreck! Pirates & Treasure,” at the museum through Oct. 23. The exhibit offers a great mix of fascinating artifacts, interactive activities, interesting history and impressive technology.
I loved seeing delicate tea cups, thin silver coins and porcelain figurines that survived not only shipwrecks but often remained intact after centuries underwater. Many of the interactive videos and info guides were quite addictive; you could spend hours just pushing buttons and learning about different shipwrecks. And while Gabe didn’t enjoy it, the rest of us found a ride in the hurricane tunnels quite fun. Unfortunately, the robot arm wasn’t working properly.
From there, we became engaged in the hands-on fun in the Tinkering Garage, which was new since the last time any of us visited. Gabe and I became enthralled with sending paper cups and plates soaring in an air chimney. Patrick constructed a huge pyramid out of plastic cups, while Chris started construction on an apartment complex out of rectangular wooden blocks.
Before we could leave, though, we couldn’t resist taking a few trips down the towering, multi-story winding slide in the middle of the Gadget Trees area.
Like many hands-on places, Science Museum Oklahoma has a problem with some activities having broken or missing elements. Still, the museum offers plenty of great, educational fun, and we already are planning a trip back to experience them.
-BAM
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