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Curious Kids' Discovery Zone

Discover a Whole New World of Exciting Exhibit Fun in the Discovery Zone!

New Exhibits in the Warren and Lou Traveling Exhibit Gallery Promotes Fun, Food, Fitness and Growing Your Game!

Traveling Exhibits from around the world change every year in the Warren and Lou Gast Traveling Exhibit Gallery. Currently showing are 2 new exhibits! Gallery I: Eat Well, Play Well.This exhibit comes from the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry. Try to Eat a Rainbow- where you canmatch fruits and vegetables to the rainbow. Play Sizing Up Servings- a challenging game of guessing various food servings by using everyday objects like a deck of cards. In Healthy Choices you'll follow a cartoon family through a typical week of snacks and meals with hunger and feelings meters giving clues about how you are feeling- and you/your character decides what to do! Calories IN- Calories OUT entices visitors to try to burn off calories of snacks. Joining the six hands-on exhibits of Eat Well, Play Well from the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry will be 4 additional hands-on displays provided by Curious Kids. Gallery II: Grow the Game-Kids Golf. Four different ways for kids and families to Play Well with the game of golf...fun for everyone! Have a blast with Big Birdie Golf- try to hit the tee-hole with the golf ball birdie. In Putt-Perfect, you'll have 3 chances to get your ball in the hole with a straight shot, angle shot and a curve shot. Play Frisbee Golf to see if you can hit the basket-target. Snag Golf is really fun when your ball "snags" the target! Surrounding the golf targets and activities are posters and artifacts from the Senior PGA Championship Committee which heads up the upcoming Senior PGA Championship presented by KitchenAid at Harbor Shores Golf Club in May 2012. Thank you Senior PGA Championship Committee team for your support of this new Grow the Game exhibit!

Next Traveling Exhibit

“RUN, JUMP, FLY” kids Traveling Exhibit from Minnesota Children’s Museum.
May 2012 to January 6, 2013

"Run! Jump! Fly! Adventures in Action" inspires young people to get physically active. The exhibit invites visitors to step into scenes straight out of action-adventure stories and jump into action star training--- playful activities that kids can do in and around home to build strength, coordination, balance and endurance. "Run! Jump! Fly Adventures in Action" encourages visitors to try out activities that may be new to them while also revisiting familiar activities in new ways. Cultural spotlights and real-life examples of young people who are passionate about activities further encourage visitors to get into action. As visitors move through the exhibit having fun with physical activity, they gain ideas for how they can become more active in everyday life. By creating an immersive environment in which kids and adults can merge their imagination with real physical activity, "Run! Jump! Fly Adventures in Action" demonstrates how physical activity can be fun.

"Run! Jump! Fly! Adventures in Action" features four adventure scenes. In Surf/Snow choose one of the four balance boards and see how long you can stay on for the ride. Can you make it down a snowy slope, through the air, into the ocean and onto shore without losing your balance? Test your strength by using hand and footholds to make your way across a horizontal climbing wall in the Climbing Canyon. Develop coordination with three different animal stances and then combine them into a flow of action in Kung Fu Forest. Test your endurance by riding a bicycle with wings for two minutes and seeing how far you can go in Flycycle Sky.

Proceed to Action Star Training in which six activity areas will be featured where visitors can also try the highlighted physical challenges. In the Yoga Station balance on one foot or stretch into the cat/cow bridge and dog poses. Build your upper and lower body strength by lifting, pressing, pulling and holding in the Strength Center. In the Monkey Bars lift, hold and pull your own weight. Test your lower-body strength in the Leg Press. By pulling levers that lift and lower the seat, visitors use their upper-body strength in the Self-Weighted Rower. From a seated wheelchair or standing position, visitors can build upper body strength through the Adaptive Chin-Up Bar.

Just for toddlers, the Toddler Pyramid offers the youngest visitors a separate place to experiment with physical activity away from the thick of the action. Toddlers can climb the pyramid steps or pull themselves up the climbing net. Once they are on top, they can slide down.

The "Grow the Game-Kids' Golf" Exhibit remain at the Discovery Zone with four different ways for kids and families to have fun with the game of golf. Have a blast with Big Birdie Golf- try to hit the tee-hole with the golf ball birdie. In Putt-Perfect, you'll have three chances to get your ball in the hole with straight shot, angle shot and curve shot. Play Frisbee Golf and Snag Golf. Surrounding the golf targets and activities will be posters and artifacts from the Senior PGA Championship Committee which heads the Senior PGA Championship presented by KitchenAid at Harbor Shores Golf Club in May 2012. Thank You Senior PGA Championship Committee team for your support of this exhibit.

Curious Kids' Discovery Zone Exhibits

	Lighthouse Kids’ Climbing Tower Be the Lighthouse Keeper and climb the wave steps to the top of this 25 foot high Tower. Imagine you are saving ships on Lake Michigan from crashing ashore during storms. Gaze out the ship’s window to Lake Michigan…Look down on all the water exhibits and visitors. Children age 4 must climb with an adult. Shoes must be worn at all times. Challenge yourself and climb to the roof!
	Lake Michigan Water Table Just like the real great lake outside the door; sail your handmade boat through the lake currents; use the wind jets to sail; raise & lower the water levels with locks and dams; navigate through a storm by the water mushroom; see the real lake depths-the bathymetry; look for the 20 shipwrecks just offshore; and wonder about the Chicora mural-the shipwreck that has never been found. 10 hands-on activities.
	Water Power Tower Try out the Water Power in 15 fun activities. Hand pump water to fill the great tower like children in rural villages around the world; wonder about the water tornado; build-a-pipe to channel water like engineers; power your squirt gun at the targets; play with water conservation in your home; turn the great Archimedes Screw to power your boats; and much more.
	Kids’ Climbing Wall The challenge is to cross this climbing wall and make it from left to right or vice versa. Don’t forget to look at the little blind animals tucked in the cracks in the wall! Simulates cave climbing walls under the St. Joseph River Watershed.
	Wave Table Wind power makes waves on the great lakes, and you can too by pumping up the waves to crash over the lighthouse. Watch carefully to observe just how a wave becomes so powerful.
	Children’s Clean Water Bio Sand Filter Imagine not having clean water to drink and getting sick from the dirty, polluted water because that’s all you have to drink. The Bio-Sand Filter Program, created by Rotarians around the world, makes clean water and good health happen for thousands of families in Dominican Republic, Haiti, Africa and South America. Meet Marisol who would not be alive today without the clean water provided by Bio-Sand Filters. Push the red button to watch nature’s sand and rock filters get rid of bad bacteria. Hear the story of 3 Rotary Clubs in SW Michigan who are saving kids.
	Recollections Wall size giant art/science dance movement exhibit. Dance, wave, just move any way you wish and watch the bright colorful patterns mimic your motions. Engages all ages, you won’t leave it!
	Pin Wall Hours of creative fun happen with this giant pin wall. Kids and adults make faces, hands and nature scenes with over 60,000 red plastic pins and much laughter.
	Whisper Dishes Can you whisper across 60 feet into your friend’s ear? Go into the Outdoor Science Gallery under the Green Roof and use Sound Waves to hear whispers clearly across the entire gallery. Partners and exhibit builders of Whisper Dishes—Renaissance Kids and Exquisite Homes, Inc.