Scienceworks Melbourne - A great, cheap outting for the kids...

We had another open house on Wednesday last week and so after scrubbing the house we ventured off for a drive to Scienceworks in Spotswood.

Scienceworks is the ultimate kids playground! It is filled with a large selection of different exhibits all aimed at children being hands on and learning how things work. The best kind of science that there is!









We headed into the house area first. This exhibit breaks down everything you do and do not want to know about how things work in your kitchen and house. We learnt about bacteria, what the origin of products are and got to look at the workings of a fridge, microwave...and that is just a drop in the ocean of the multitude of things that you can learn. Infact I think that if we went to Scienceworks everyday for a fortnight we would still be learning new things by the end of the 14 days.

Being schoolholidays it was incredibly busy but that just added to the fun. Getting there in the afternoon it was less sensory overload for my boys, being able to touch and play with all the exhibits with a little space proved to be more successful than our morning venture last year when it was just too busy and they couldn't cope with the crowding. This time they jumped in and helped, ran, played with the other children.



In Nitty Gritty Super City the children, and there had to be at least 30, all worked together to build a foam brick wall, using pulleys and wheelbarrows to transport the bricks, a convey belt to move them up to the house structure...the play and learning possibilities were endless.





My two got their muscles out and lifted a pallet of concrete...

We then we headed to the cafe where the children all worked together to prepare food, tea and coffee and discover just what was in the foods they eat at home!

I was wondering just what I was served to eat too at one point....

The sports section proved to be a great interest to my big boy K as he ran from one activity to the other before racing a large computer image of Cathy Freeman who was running along the wall (and he assures me he won!)

While he was being active A2 and I sat down for a leasurely canoe along the Yarra River...

While A1 rode a bike which made the skeleton on the roof ride his bike at the same time. The sports exhibit not only allowed the kids to test their skills at netball, soccer, football but also their abilities of balance and understanding what their bodies do when they are playing the sports, how they use their energy and even how they use their brain power and emotions shape the way their muscles work. Brilliant learning possibilities and fun for both kids and parents. There was even the opportunity for A2 to go Snow Boarding!

If you think that this sounds like a wonderful day out but you are worried about the cost then DO NOT FEAR. The cost is just $10 per adult and all children are free. Scienceworks has a cafe and gift shop but they are not necessary to frequent if you are watching your pursestrings as there are three great playgrounds 
 within the outer grounds of the complex which have many places to sit and have a picnic, you can even bring along snags and have a barbeque.




We highly recommend going along for a play with your children. Please be aware that it can become noisy and crowded so if your child is overly sensitive to either then perhaps take precautions (maybe head phones?) . As I said we arrived at 2pm and although it was still incredibly busy it wasn't long before the crowds started to disapear and although it closes at 4.30pm we still managed to get to all te exhibits. Mind you as I said there is sooooo much involved in each part of Scienceworks that there is always new things to discover and learn :) .

If you are very worried about your child being over whelmed by the crowds, I have also been during the school term with my class on an excursion and it is a lot quieter and more manageable at those times of the year (you would just need to deal with those pesky school groups ;) ) .
We give Scienceworks 5 out of 5 for Fun and Education for kids :)