Last Sunday, my roommate and our two pals decided to rekindle our collective inner child and venture to the Museum of Science. All hailing from the tri-state area, we were familiar with the Liberty Science Center, an interactive museum that our elementary schools took us to long ago. Seeking a similar experience, we hopped out of bed and headed for the Joey. As usual, the dread of taking the Green Line sunk in, but we decided it was a nice enough day and walked from Charles/MGH, not a bad commute. Unfortunately, the ticket prices are rather steep at a little over $20 per person, but it certainly is an experience and if you would be willing to foot the bill, then I would encourage doing so.
The first thing you need to know about the Museum of Science is that there are kids everywhere. Why this was a surprise to us when we literally decided to head over to the institution in order to feel young again is a mystery to me. There was not a place you could turn where you would not see a child, and the only people above the age of seven were moms and dads. Oh boy. I think the target audience was made especially clear at an interactive exhibit on teeth, which asked how many of my teeth have fallen out, how many of my grown-up teeth have emerged and how many of my baby teeth are still around. The exhibit is much less fun when you have a mouth chock-full of grown-up teeth and boy, did those dentures make me feel old. Still, when you are around friends as silly as mine, you find humor in being so anachronous.
Some highlights included the monkey exhibit, where these crazy creatures were hopping around, playing games and yes, of course, eating bananas. Engrossed by their playful natures, we may have stood there for almost half an hour before realizing the museum was much too big for us to remain at that pace and still get home in time for homework; it was a Sunday, after all. An interesting progression was from the animals to the taxidermy dioramas depicting both extinct and living animals from the New England region. Before proceeding upstairs we passed a rather humongous globe that spun on its axis. After a brief photo-shoot, we went up to the truly interactive portion of the museum, which contained games and exhibits that ranged from finding your balance to discovering how much you and your family waste to understanding where you are on the spectrum of skin color -- pretty riveting and thought provoking topics, even (especially?) for us college students. There were a lot of Wii-like stations, which were extremely fun, but also a bit problematic as we often felt like we were stealing the kids’ thunder. This was especially the case when we got to the seesaw. I mean, obviously, it was love at first sight but this brother and sister would not get off. Finally, we got to hop on only to watch their faces crushed when they realized that they couldn’t run back and seesaw away! It was after this episode that we headed to the gift shop.
Overall: a wild time. The Museum of Science offers you the perfect excuse to feel young again, challenge your mind and learn new things while goofing around in an area where it’s cool to be into the exhibits. Yes, you may feel a bit old there but hey, if you’re with your good friends and in the zone, then what does it matter?
Silly rabbit, interactive museums are for kids
