road trip - children's museum pittsburgh

maddux has been asking to come back to the children's museum in pittsburgh pretty much every month (or day) since we visited last summer. but we never made it over this summer (much to maddux' dismay).

last night we drove over and stayed at a hotel just north of pittsburgh so we were here when they opened this morning. the kids were just itching to get back at this climbing wall!

today's activity was called "plastic fusion." it was pretty neat. the kids were just given plastic bags in all sorts of colors to cut up and a museum staff member would iron/melt them together. we will use this as a cheap craft at home for sure.

manning made a heart and a pumpkin (with a little help).

madelyn and manning spent some time with the circuits. the staff member was awesome about helping them think through the possibilities instead of giving them instructions.

manning was pretty pleased to turn the light on after wiring up the button himself.

i thought that this one was pretty impressive. madelyn cut out all of the letters herself.

i wish i could capture how cool these orange and pink plastic streamers are hanging form the ceiling.

the big kids went to explore a 'found objects' sort of crafting table but manning was itching to get to some painting! so manning and i went to explore the art room. he could have spent all day in there.

"olaf"

manning's expressions are almost as great as maddux'...

just a little screen printing.

another note from mason's teacher conference was that he is very "artistic."

we were pretty impressed with these HUGE light orbs in the cafe

we love the interactive art exhibits. the first one was new and is a circle of huge glow sticks hanging from the ceiling that light up the floor when you swing them into the middle.

we had so much fun in "the garage" too.

maddux was too busy rolling the car he made up the ramp to give me a decent smile. 

manning was pretty taken with the mechanics of the "pooping beast."

and their very favorite exhibit, the one maddux has been asking for over the past year, the water floor! manning loves our water table. he was so overwhelmed that he was walking around blank faced for the first few minutes.

mason spent the whole time at the 'drain' - this was his favorite last year too.

the kids were pretty wet, but we made one more stop for story time on our way out. and, to my surprise, we ran into a family from mason's school! it took me a minute to place them (we were in pittsburgh!) and had a good laugh at such a random run-in.

mason's 'found items' creation.

we had to get home in time for madelyn's swimming lessons. so we wrapped things up. we will be back again soon. love.