The exploratorium

Look closely at this. Each panel is constructed using the material or technique represented by the word. For example, the word burn is burned into a piece of wood, the word sew is sewn on.

Here is a close-up of the "play" panel made out of Legos.

The Exploratorium has a new "Tinkering Studio" - a place to make things. Here Vivi is playing with circuits.

This is a pinball machine -- a table with items (wood, metal cylinders, bells, etc) that kids manipulate so that the ball will hit bells and make noises. 

This is a guitar. The wheel with the black and white stripes can be spun so that the wave motion of the guitar strings are visible.

Peg board to make your own marble roller coaster. This was huge and lots of kids were collaborating to make a great contraption. An older boy showed Vivi how to put the pegs in and set up ramps.

Vivi spent the most time at this very simple exhibit. It is a very strong magnet and a bunch of washers. She probably spent 20 minutes just putting washers on the magnet.

Air comes out of this table (the green/blue that you see in the center of the table are straws - used I suspect to focus the direction of the air). Kids (and adults!) make these contraptions and see how well they float.


Finally, there was a station to make stop-motion films. Vivi made one of her animals. 

San Francisco

Mommy had a conference in San Francisco this weekend. I got to go and stay in a hotel.

Vivi LOVED the buses and the trolleys in the city. Unfortunately it was hard to get a picture of her on those. She woke up in the middle of the night saying "more buses!" We also went to the Exploratorium at its brand new site - which will get it's own post.

I did some work at the desk (drew on every single piece of paper I found)

Jumped on the bed

Put my animals on the chair

Hid behind the bathroom door

On the way back home we sopped at a restaurant. I played pool. 

I'm going to be on TV!

Vivi was in a research study about early signs of autism risk when she was 6-months-old. A clip of her playing during this study is going to be used on the local news tomorrow night as part of the story (Vivi demonstrates a happy interactive baby in the story). So if you're in the area, watch the local news at 5 or 6 and look for baby Vivi (not toddler Vivi).

Just to be clear - Vivi did not show signs of autism. She participated in the study because they wanted to observe as many infants as possible so that they could learn from a range of children -- and she was the right age at the time. 


Here's the link -

http://www.kcoy.com/category/187903/video-page?&clipId=8825156&autostart=true

Baby Elephant at the Zoo

Bowling

I went bowling!

I carried a 6 pound bowling ball back and forth to the bowling dinosaur

So strong!

Two is my favorite number

Two is my favorite number. I need two elmos, two elephants, two cheeses, two of everything. Today I wore two hats.

And two pairs of pants. You can just see the waistband of my blue pair under the yellow pair. I put them on myself!

Pet bugs!

This is a house for my bugs

Watching them very carefully

Climbing

We have helmets, harnesses, and ropes. We are ready to climb.

Squishy Circuits

I helped mommy make conductive (green) and insulating (red) playdoh for her to use in her class.

Testing it out. I put the lights in.

The Luminarium

The Luminarium is a traveling art exhibit. It is an inflated enclosed space (like a bouncy house -- but not bouncy) of fantastic color. All the color is created by natural sunlight traveling through colored sections of plastic. There are no lights in the exhibit. It was at UCSB this weekend.

From the outside

I found other little people in there

AINA!!

Looking up at the ceiling

somersaults

The Elmos liked it too.

Climbing the walls.

Easter eggs - 2 weeks late

Painting eggs

Isn't it beautiful?

Visiting Nanna and Boppa

On the way to visit Nanna and Boppa, I saw this green guy made out of legos.

Nanna went to see lots of fish with us - at Birch aquarium

Boppa and me with Elmo, Elmo, Blue Elmo (Grover), Green Elmo (Oscar), Ernie and Bert and Cookie.

At Queen Califa's Magical Circle

In the same sculpture a year ago (March 4, 2012)

Back at home - at the park