{"id":8106,"date":"2013-10-17T12:19:53","date_gmt":"2013-10-17T19:19:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/?p=8106"},"modified":"2013-10-17T16:28:26","modified_gmt":"2013-10-17T23:28:26","slug":"exploratorium-makes-girl-6-giggle-and-squeal-with-delight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/exploratorium-makes-girl-6-giggle-and-squeal-with-delight\/","title":{"rendered":"Exploratorium makes girl, 6, giggle and squeal with delight"},"content":{"rendered":"

Woody’s [rating:4.5]\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n
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Hannah peeks through maze from the top. Photo: Woody Weingarten<\/p><\/div>\n

My granddaughter owns a short attention span \u2014 except when she\u2019s fascinated.<\/p>\n

And then the 6-year-old, like most kids her age (or younger), insists on repeating whatever\u2019s grabbed her, again and again and again. Her recent visit to the new Exploratorium is an unequaled for-instance.<\/p>\n

She had nearly as much fun as horsing around with her new rescue puppy.<\/p>\n

Hannah had been to the old science museum building in the Palace of Fine Arts multiple times, and loved it. But this time her squeals of delight were louder, her giggles more effervescent.<\/p>\n

Repeatedly.<\/p>\n

Once upon a time she raced from one exhibit to another, testing each for about half a second. But she was only 5 then. Or 4. Or 3 the first time we took her.<\/p>\n

Now, she\u2019s exponentially more mature.<\/p>\n

Can the word \u201csophisticated\u201d fit a first-grader? Yes, of course (though I grant a substantial bias in Hannah\u2019s case).<\/p>\n

Anyway, this time she lingered at exhibits. And tested each gain, again and again.<\/p>\n

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\u201cSelf-Centered Mirror\u201d shows Hannah and her grandpa. Photo: Woody WeingartenAnyway, this time she lingered at exhibits. And tested each again, again and again.<\/p><\/div>\n

She didn\u2019t tire until the beginning of our fourth hour.<\/p>\n

Like a white-haired roadie, I trailed her as if she were a rock star whose latest single had just gone viral. And I managed to experience much of her hands-on, trial-and-error experimentation from an analogous child\u2019s-eye-view.<\/p>\n

I left believing that had I looked close enough, I could have seen her mind expand.<\/p>\n

The new Exploratorium, like the old, is an interactive, two-story science museum. But this one\u2019s indoors-outdoors, a 330,000-square-foot facility with three times the space.It has 40 new exhibits and 560 carryovers, gratifying each of the senses except taste (and that craving might be satisfied at the posh 200-seat buffet-style Seaglass Restaurant or a tiny takeout caf\u00e9, \u201cthe seismic joint\u201d).<\/p>\n

Because the facility\u2019s bigger, it doesn\u2019t feel cramped or crowded. And it seems a bit less noisy (as well as somewhat less exciting).<\/p>\n

But Hannah didn\u2019t think about any of that.<\/p>\n

She was too busy running back and forth between two displays \u2014 \u201cSelf-Excluding Mirror,\u201d which reproduced images but somehow made the person in the center disappear, and \u201cSelf-Centered Mirror,\u201d which replicated the viewer over and over.<\/p>\n

Before that, near the entrance, she\u2019d became entranced with \u201cA Drop to Drink,\u201d featuring a miniature hand she could manipulate robotically to fill a miniature cup with a lone drop of water, and \u201cBlack Sand,\u201d an exhibit that showcased countless metallic pieces that stuck together magnetically. A few times during our visit she returned to both stations.<\/p>\n

Hannah enjoyed exhibits carried over from the old building.<\/p>\n

One favorite \u2014 where images and colors changed when we waved our arms, kicked out our legs and wiggled our torsos. Another was a screen crammed with pins that made different hand shapes and designs as she moved her fingers underneath.<\/p>\n

Another echo came as Scott Weaver guided ping-pong balls through his panoramic view of San Francisco and vicinity made from \u201c105,387 and a half toothpicks.\u201d We\u2019d seen it before, at the Marin County Fair, but loved it still.His art-piece only took 37 years to finish.<\/p>\n

Hannah was also taken with \u201cTidal Memory,\u201d its 24 columns of water representing 24 hours of tide data.<\/p>\n

I, meanwhile, enjoyed playing \u201cThe Visible Pinball Machine,\u201d which showed the machine\u2019s innards. And all of us marveled at \u201cGyroid,\u201d an outdoor climbing maze Hannah crawled through and atop while we watched.<\/p>\n

Leaving, Hannah gleefully said she liked running into and out of an \u201corange and white spinning circus-tent thing,\u201d spinning a plastic ball on a column of air, and changing the course of a simulated tornado.It\u2019s truly impossible to even mention all we experienced, much less what we didn\u2019t do (like check out the second floor and its observation center).<\/p>\n

But we did recognize the Exploratorium features displays for virtually every age, ranging from some aimed at preschoolers to some so technical a doctorate in an esoteric scientific endeavor might help.<\/p>\n

I think that translates, in effect, into something for everyone.All that\u2019s required is sufficient time.<\/p>\n

Oh, well, there\u2019s always next time. Or the time after that. Or the one after that. Or\u2026<\/p>\n

The Exploratorium, Pier 15, San Francisco, is Tuesdays through Sundays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Wednesdays, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Thursday night After Dark cash-bar event for those 18 and older, 6 to 10 p.m. Tickets: $10-$25. Information: (415) 528-4444 or www.exploratorium.edu.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Woody’s [rating:4.5]\u00a0 My granddaughter owns a short attention span \u2014 except when she\u2019s fascinated. And then the 6-year-old, like most kids her age (or younger), insists on repeating whatever\u2019s grabbed…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"yasr_overall_rating":0,"yasr_post_is_review":"","yasr_auto_insert_disabled":"","yasr_review_type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-8106","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-woody-weingarten"},"yasr_visitor_votes":{"stars_attributes":{"read_only":true,"span_bottom":"