I know you've been dying for another Big Adventure slide show since you finished reading my post about all the fun we had in Cincinnati, right? Well, good news friend. Kick off your shoes, grab some chips, and relax. I'll try to edit all 350 photos of our trip to the World's Coolest Science Center down to just a select few. ;)
CoSI stands for Center of Science and Industry, which means awesome place to play and hands-on-learn about a million different things at the same time. The building looks like a giant cement caterpillar to me and it's right in the heart of Downtown Columbus which gives it automatic cool points. I love driving down there with all the skyscrapers and honking...it's like a miniature version of my favorite city on Earth: CHICAGO.
Kinley and I met one of my best friends, Nicole, and her 2 year old nephew, Cameron, down there for an awesome field trip play date. I hadn't been to CoSI in over ten years, but Nicole goes all the time with the boys she nannies for and knew exactly where to take us.
We went quickly through a few rooms, but I'm gonna focus on the best places for littles: Kidspace and Ocean.
You have to check in at the front desk. They give you a little paper that says how many kids you are bringing in, and then they open the gate and let you in to Toddler Paradise. No, really, I have never seen so many happy little children playing together in my life.
There are so many options:
a giant treehouse big toy with caves, giant flowers, peepholes, tunnels and slides,
A farm with a barn, Farmer's Market with thousands of pieces of plastic produce play food, farm truck, animal puppets, and a garden,
A play house with building materials like foam bricks and skinny PVC pipes, light switches and doorbells, an awesome play kitchen with tons of food and even a pizza oven, and a deck complete with a BBQ,
A dark room with two awesome light tables,
A rock wall, a community collage room where a giant piece of paper is taped to the floor and all kinds of materials are scattered everywhere for all the kids that come through to stick on, a few chalkboard walls, and best of all, drumroll please...
THE WATER TABLE! It has boats, strainers, flat plastic rectangles that are perfect for splashing, nesting cups, a metal cloud that "rains," water wheels, balls, you name it. CoSI provides those cute little water smocks you see on the kiddos in the pictures. There is even a tiny baby water table with built in seats. So, so cool.
This part is in the far back of Kidspace, and good luck to you dragging your kid out of there! Haha
We didn't have time to do it today, but Nicole told me that if you ask at the Kidspace check-in desk, they will throw your little's wet clothes in their dryer and even lend them a shirt to run around in until their clothes are done.
The whole Kidspace is just awesome. All those kids given so much room to play, allowed to touch everything, getting along and making new friends, and sharing...I've really never seen anything like it.
**WARNING. GUSHING MOMMA MOMENT.** Kinley never really gets to be around a bunch of other kids, and I was so impressed by how well she did. She shared. She didn't yell when other kids took her toys, she tried new things--swinging bridges, slides, tunnels, climbing, bikes. She was just plain awesome. It was really cool to see her interact with her peers all by herself and that little SuperBaby made this momma so stinkin' proud!
We played in here for a quick hour and a half and could've played for hours more, but we realized we only had an hour left until closing time and wanted to see some more of CoSI. So, we pushed Cam and Kin, both extremely ticked off at being made to leave paradise, up to the front desk where they checked to make sure we were only taking the kids out that we had brought in, and opened the gate back to the real world.
We zoomed through a couple of exhibits really fast, but Cameron and Kinley really only loved one other place, Ocean.
Ocean is all about water. There are all kinds of different fountains and a tank that you can make waves in by working a lever. There is a table that teaches about water erosion, and a bubble tank. There are also random buttons everywhere that make different fountains turn on, or the lighting change colors. It's just really cool and it smells and feels like you are in an ocean cave.
The kids had a blast splashing and running around.
When they were both thoroughly soaked and basically falling asleep where they stood, we decided that it was probably time to go home.
I've got a couple of CoSI tips for ya:
They are generally not open on Mondays and Tuesdays, but they were this week for spring break. Also, they close at 5:00, but have different hours in the summer, so check their website before you head down there. Www.cosi.org
Bring a full set of extra clothes including socks and shoes if you are planning on going to the same rooms we did. I didn't realize we would be getting wet and Kin had to ride home with her jacket for a shirt and no shoes or socks...thank goodness I, at least, had blankies. It was snowing today for cripes sake! SuperMom fail.
If you like it, you might wanna consider getting family pass. I think the sign I saw today said they are only around $40...if you used it twice it would pay for itself.
My sweet girl was exhausted and fell fast asleep before we even got on to the highway. It was such a fun afternoon and I'm sure it was extra sweet for her to be able to run and touch everything without hearing one single "NO!" We will definitely be going back, and this time earlier in the afternoon so we can spend even more time splashing in the water tables.
Welp, that about wraps up our second slide show. Hopefully, you managed to stay awake for the whole thing :)
If you decide to head down to CoSI yourself, let me know cause we wanna go with you!
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