Reid and I went to the Canadian Children’s Museum on Sunday morning. We haven’t been since January, or maybe even December, and we almost missed an interesting exhibit about living in outer space. The exhibit was developed by the Children’s Museum of Memphis for the Youth Museum Exhibit Collective is at the Children’s Museum only until the April 27 before it moves on. There is a sign at the beginning of the exhibit that says that the exhibit is geared to 8-12 year olds and younger children will require adult assistance to understand what was presented. Reid was able to understand what she saw with only a little bit of extra information for me. There were no dangerous small parts or entire modules that were beyond her comprehension.
There was a table with plastic building pieces set up around a model of the International Space Station. Reid was drawn to this table and went back several times as we looked around. She built herself a gun, using 2 tubes and a rectangular piece, and then showed me how to build one for myself. We took turns sitting on the space toilet, lining our “business parts” up using the television screen as our guide. With Reid’s love of “bathroom words” and all things, this was a definite highlight. Reid didn’t find the freeze-dried foods as odd as I did. I don’t know what that says about my cooking. Reid was surprised at the size of the personal quarters assigned to each astronaut. The label mentioned that the astronauts’ personal space was about the size of a closet. In fact, the space as shown was about 50% smaller than Reid’s closet. We read about the astronauts wearing their clothes several days before changing them. The clothes are then put into a vehicle that distintegrates upon re-entry to the earth’s atmosphere. Reid attempted a simulated science experiment in which she wore heavy rubber gloves and little pins that needed to be set up. It was effective at simulating the experience, I think. Reid and I worked together to “dock” the space shuttle to learn that cooperation is required for such manoeuvres. Reid also manipulated the Canadarm using a few different buttons, perhaps like the actual astronauts do. Reid was losing interest before we tried the extra vehicular activity, which seemed to be using small pieces of plastic while wearing snowmobile gloves and the exercise machine wasn’t working. There was also a reading nook with a few reference books that we didn’t stop at because Reid had noticed a globe across the hall and had to go look at “our planet” immediately.
In the studio, those eternally-nice Children’s Museum staff helped us to make an “asteroid belt” – a yellow strip of vinylized paper with a buckle that Reid decorated with star stickers and other shiny bits as well as some space rocks (aquarium gravel if my guess is right). I am a fan of puns and so I liked even the idea of it. Reid also tried a freeze-dried strawberry and some chocolate Astronaut ice cream
When I talked about the toilet at work, one of the fellows mentioned that Chris Hadfield had spoken about going to the bathroom in space. (TeacherTube is a way cool site, for its own sake. If you have a space nut in your family, you may want to show them the Living and Working in Space document that the Canadian Space Agency developed. It was written a while ago (pre-2005) but I don’t imagine there have been significant changes to daily life aboard the space station.
If you can make it, you should head over to the Canadian Children’s Museum for the Living in Outer Space exhibit.
I love museums they are so much fun!!!