So this week in school Tommy has been learning about electricity. This has been a hands-on experience – they’ve created circuits and made light bulbs light up and today they tested different materials to see if they were conductors. He’s been pretty enthusiastic about it, so I’m thinking that on our upcoming trip to Arizona, we might want to check out the Arizona Science Center.
We could definitely make a connection to Tommy’s schoolwork at the Get Charged Up! exhibit, which gives visitors a chance to build an electrical circuit, see how levers work, and play with pulleys and prisms. We could also explore how electricity is incorporated when a house is constructed in the Many Hands Make a Home exhibit where it looks like the kids might be able to try their hands at building.
There are also exhibits about human biology, music, and weather that I think the kids would like, to say nothing of a Star Trek exhibition where you can sit in Captain Kirk’s chair. And they have a planetarium and an IMAX theatre, the latter of which is showing a movie about ancient Greece that looks appealing to yours truly. I’m thinking we could get our geek on in a big way!
From what I understand, we would be able to take the light rail I mentioned in my earlier post about the Heard Museum to this museum as well. Maybe we want to plan a big museumapalooza of a day, punctuated with rides on the train. Now that my kids are a little older, I’m wondering if this would be doable, or if I’m just overly ambitious. The science museum has lots of opportunities for doing and playing, including a climbing wall. But it’s hard to tell from the website if the hands-on exhibits are appropriate for 3- and 6-year-old hands.
One of the joys (and dangers) of trip planning is that anything is possible! I’d love to hear your thoughts.
I've taken with my children and those I want to take. Explore and you'll find family travel tips, information about vacation destinations, and lots of stories about our adventures! 
