Science Factory gets rave reviews from young critic

We had launched parachutes, swirled water tornadoes, looped roller coasters, banged on instruments, wiggled magnets, bounced balls and played with rainbows.

Sadly, it was time to leave the hands-on exhibits in the colorful playground of the Lancaster Science Factory. My two kids gloomily dragged their feet like they were being led to the chair as we headed toward the exits.

Suddenly, my 10-year-old daughter's face brightened, as she spied something in the corner, near the coat racks.

"WAIT!" she chirped. "We can't leave 'til we do that colorful thing."

That "colorful thing" was the building's large green and red sprinkler system. And just let me say, thank GOD it is safely ensconced behind a metal fence or the crowd might have gotten a bit damp.

The Science Factory held an open house for invited guests Thursday night, to give kids and museum supporters a chance to try out the 40 or so exhibits in its New Holland Avenue building. It will officially open on Tuesday.

Man oh man, did we have fun.

The draw of a place like the Science Factory is you learn by doing stuff. On both counts, the factory works wonderfully, judging from the reactions of the 10-year-old, 11-year-old and 47-year-old (ahem) in our group.

The factory has lessons on engineering, flight, light, electricity, acoustics and other topics offered in exhibits scattered across a vast concrete floor in the old Kerr Glass factory building.

Try out the Whisper Dishes, two giant white discs that look like large satellite dishes pointed at each other, at a distance of about 50 feet.

My daughter and my 11-year-old son sized them up and decided they were sort of like walkie-talkies that send sound back and forth. Each took a place at a dish.

My daughter spoke first, her whispered comment bouncing across the noisy room, off the other dish and directly into the ear of her brother.

"You," she said, "are a butthead."

Ain't science grand?

Next we headed over to the Parachute Launch. The kids took turns stuffing small, colorful nylon parachutes, with attached little plastic men, into a tube that blasts the 'chutes toward the 30-foot ceiling, where they explode open and gently float to the floor.

The accompanying sign explains that in 1783, Sebastien Lenormand made the first jump in a parachute, which slows down the motion of an object by creating drag on it.

Yes. Well. My son seemed more interested in seeing if he could make life difficult for the little plastic men.

"Put it in the most confusing way you can," he said. "Sometimes, if you ball it up, it gets wrinkled and the guy won't come out."

We also spent time at the Mini Racers, a station where you could build a small car and race it on a long track.

The girl, our resident free spirit, spurned the directions, saying, "I just put the parts together."

The boy, who has a future in engineering, worked carefully, saying sympathetically as he watched me struggle, "You have to be Lego-experienced, Mom."

When we were all done, here were the results:

• The boy's car sped down the track and he soon was doing wheelies with it.

• The girl's car did not work at all.

• My car worked, but only went backward.

Onward!

Next we learned about Newton's First Law - a body in motion stays in motion, a body at rest stays at rest - by sending pool balls across metal tracks. We also made this accidental but interesting discovery: pool balls bounce if they hit a concrete floor.

We made paper airplanes and tossed them (but were completely outshined by a woman who looked like she was my mother's age and must have been a terror in the classroom in her day).

We constructed little wooden buildings and then tried to shake them apart with an earthquake-simulator (word up: the wise man reinforces his walls).

One of our favorite exhibits was "Scope on a Rope," a lens that magnifies things 30 times. We dutifully tried the scopes on the feather, sponge and other objects included in the exhibit.

But then we turned the scopes on ourselves. Hey, the material in your jeans looks like a rope tied into a chain! Your skin looks like a snakeskin!

One of the kids wanted a close-up of my eyebrow revealing that I really need to visit my old friend, Mr. Tweezer.

And did you know where else there are lots of hairs? Up inside your nose!!! EWWWWW!!!!

And that was what we loved about the factory: the unexpected discoveries, the joy and the fun of learning.

If you go, a few tips:

• We spent about two hours at the factory, which was about the perfect time.

• We did not have a game plan but instead wandered from exhibit to exhibit, a frenetic approach that made me feel like I needed a nap afterward but strangely seemed to work.

• It's a good idea to try to hit every exhibit clustered in one area, so you don't have to try to remember if you, for example, played the "Dumb Bone" or not.

• Stop and ask your kids questions about the exhibits. Why do you think that happened? What will happen if you do it this way?

• Make sure you look around. There are exhibits tucked in a side room and back in a corner that you don't want to miss.

• Stop for pizza on the way home. You'll be too exhausted to cook after all that fun.

By CINDY STAUFFER, Staff
Lancaster New Era

Published: Jan 18, 2008 11:30 AM EST

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