Interactive fish and a bionic car - museums have come a long way...

My biggest goal this year is to have more fun with my kids and as a family. I'm making an effort to really sit down and play with my kids (instead of trying to get chores done or quickly checking mails on my phone), do weekly craft projects and do a fun family day trip each month. Since the weather is back to rain and storm here, we went to a natural history museum Saturday. It actually features mostly changing exhibits, so big brother was a little bit disappointed over the lack of dinosaurs. That didn't last long though because the current bionics exhibit was pretty neat, too.

Rabbits. No, those were not bionic rabbits.
This was an exhibit about how life has changed
in the area we live in. I think. Anyhow, they
were begging to be photographed.

an Eiffel tower!

lots to explore. Again goes to show that my
kids have gotten used to iPads - it took
them a while to figure out you have to tap on a button
and can't just sweep...

This was really neat - it's bubbles, but it's a cube and the bubbles
it makes are neither round nor a cube, they pull to the inside
and create a minimal shape. 

learning about streamlined wings

a fish!

this was the best part: interactive goldfish.
When you try to catch them, they disappear.
Once the "water" gets still again (the kids get
off the area), they return.

It could have kept them entertained for hours!

gotcha!

a bionic car!

it's modeled after this fish.

I was really surprised at all the interactive features they had. When I was little, natural history museums featured mostly exhibits like those rabbits and you weren't allowed to touch anything. This was different and really nice, although I did find the combination of exhibits (Evolution of the area we live in, Bionics and Animals in the Bible) a bit, uhm, random. Oh well. 

Looks like I need to update my list of family trips (anyone surprised when I say I have a list of destinations to go and a binder that has leaflets and printouts organized by category?) to include more museums! I'd love to take them to art and photography exhibits. Actually, I'd love to go see a photography exhibit, with our without kids. I can't even remember when I saw the last one. I also need to make plans to do the more crowded destinations during the week, once big brother starts school in summer we won't be able to just take a day off and spend it on a family trip.

Little brother fell asleep on the way home and even big brother was pretty silent, apparently processing all the new information. It was a really nice weekend actually. Would love to do these things more often! 

So what did you guys do?

Cheers,

Swenja