My nephews and nieces are well into this science stuff, and spent hours and hours testing hypotheses, running experiments, and refusing to believe my assertion that magic and/or invisible pixies were the reasons for the results. Pete was absolutely overjoyed at the amount of stuff. His parents discourage him from pressing buttons (on the dishwasher, microwave, coffee machine, etc.) and he could hardly contain his joy at finding somewhere far more liberal than home when it comes to self-preservation. He ran around like a nutcase until finally falling asleep sitting up.
The galleries were pretty spectacular in spreading their non-religious doctrine, with massive engineering constructions, tubes full of bubbles, and a gigantic water sculpture thing that you could fire plastic balls into from cannons and watch them flow down. There was natural history, there was sports science, and there was a large, icky bit on biology and the human body - things would be much nicer if we actually were fashioned from clay. Do you know how much snot you swallow every day? It's too disgusting to say. I pushed the sleeping baby home, leaving the relatives to enjoy the rest, and reflected on how open-minded I am to have had so much fun in this house of wizardry.
Suspiciously clever-looking from the outside too.
UFO! This is how I like my science: with a large dose of fiction.
The buttons inside made the lights change, and the whole thing played the Doctor Who theme tune. It was sadly drowned out by the screaming when this toddler was removed after 20 minutes to let other children have a go.
Meanwhile, the Hammonds ski.
And shoot. It's a virtual biathlon!
Davies the steam.
Bethany and me: hot!
The "make your baby look even weirder" experiment.
Aunty Katharine supervises. For the daughter of a vicar she's surprisingly into this science stuff.
Something to do with engineering and propellers.
Bubbles, pressure, etc. When Rebecca was asked why increasing the pressure made the bubbles smaller she said she didn't know. That's my girl.
A wizard does questionable things with liquid nitrogen.
Releasing a baby into a gallery of free-standing structures made from carefully balanced small blocks of wood. What could possibly go wrong?
The combined weight of the whole family made us a brown bear! Or a manatee, if we're on a clothing-optional beach.
Open wide.
Rebecca studies how to dismember and dispose of her future victims.
Scott attempts to recall life before four children.
This magician made them taste different things from a squirty bottle. I didn't partake.
Yes, being relentlessly exposed to the propaganda of methodological empiricism while clinging to the truths of Biblical revelation can be tiring. I had a snooze myself when we got home.
