My family and I had the opportunity to visit the Exploratorium at Pier 15 in San Francisco with the goal of exploring and then reporting back to the readers of Monterey Bay Parent. After weighing the risks and reading about the museum’s Covid-19 safety protocols, we decided to venture north to check out the museum for the day. My wife and I figured that, with our too-young-to-be-vaccinated daughter, we could leave and find other things to do in San Francisco if the museum was too crowded or not well regulated. Before the pandemic, I had lamented not having bigger city activities like those in San Jose and San Francisco that would give my daughter the cultural and educational experiences that my wife and I experienced growing up. The Exploratorium seemed like a great opportunity.
If you are unfamiliar, the Exploratorium is a world-class science museum in San Francisco, located on Pier 15, near the Ferry Building, with 75,000 square feet of exhibition space. Here’s a tip: Call and ask what days and times are the slowest to avoid crowds. We went on a Sunday, traffic was as expected, and parking was ample. Like many museums and attractions, you submit a time in which you would like to be admitted for crowd regulation. There were touchless admissions and an attendant to help, hand sanitizer stations were everywhere, and all the staff and guests were wearing masks. Also, there were fewer people with the regulated time of admissions, making it easy to maintain social distance from other visitors. We also heard and saw the staff approach any guest who removed their mask, including the little ones. This made visiting during Covid times more enjoyable.
What always strikes me about visiting museums like the Exploratorium is how clever the exhibits are in fusing science with interaction. As soon as we entered, my daughter was off pressing buttons and turning knobs on her own with the variety of exhibits, experimenting with controls to figure out the concepts. The museum has six galleries, including one that is outside. The galleries are Human Phenomena, Tinkering, Seeing & Reflections, Living Systems, Outdoor Exhibits, and Observing Landscapes. Each section immerses you into a new world of science and art. Art, perspective, color, and light are incorporated into each of the galleries. Even the restrooms include images of optical illusions on the tiles.
The Explainers (staff) help to engage the visitors. At one station, my daughter arrived in time to aid in collecting water off the pier outside to show plankton on the projection microscope. Later, we returned to watch the live dissection of a cow’s eye. At another station, the Explainer engaged a small group with an opportunity for each kid to create a lightbulb filament with wire, batteries, and a jar and experiment with what would work to make the light last longer. I was impressed by the Explainer’s good training when she questioned the children into thinking critically about what to change to meet their goals.
At lunchtime, we headed to the cafe that had a range of options of ready-made sandwiches, salads, and made-to-order hamburgers and fries, and beer and wine were available for the adults too. The choices are ample for most families–although very fussy eaters may want to bring food. Prices are museum prices but not outrageous. My daughter was speeding through her lunch to get to the outdoor gallery. She was eager to get on these circular chairs with rounded bottoms like a top. They are designed to spin on the bottom edge and not topple over. In addition, there is also an optical illusion house to walk through where it appears from one side that the inhabitants are growing in size. Clever!
Another gallery looks out onto the bay and invites the visitors to draw what they see while looking through various colored and gridded lenses. My daughter sat down to draw the buildings and trees across the way. She added a cat in a boat because “it was too plain.” At the same time, her drawing showed that she understood how to use the grid lines on the lens to guide the proportions in her picture. A win for teaching that art and perspective principle!
I anticipated that we would be there at most for a couple of hours with my daughter whipping through the exhibits and then getting bored. Instead, we were there for five hours until the museum closed. We probably could have stayed even longer, given the number of exhibits. Notice that I have continued to use “we.” Yes, my wife and I were equally entertained by the exhibits as our daughter, a sign of a quality museum appealing to all ages. I think, in my observation, that the museum is ideal for kids four years old and up. Pre-reading kids have plenty of things to do and touch that do not require reading the instructions. Kids with reading skills can easily engage with all aspects of the exhibits.
For me, the day trip was worth it to give my daughter a new experience and learn about science and art in novel, interactive ways. To have an activity that kept my daughter engaged and learning and in a safer environment is a win.
Robert (Rob) S. Weisskirch, MSW, Ph.D., CFLE is a Professor of Human Development at California State University, Monterey Bay and is a Certified Family Life Educator. He and his wife are parents to a chatty, elementary school-aged daughter and reside in Marina.
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