Planet Arium

Today I went along with Emmelia's class to visit the planetarium here on campus. It's hard to believe that I've worked here 14 years and this was my first visit (except I think we might've come here on our 5th grade field trip when I was 10). It was pretty cool!

They started off with a star show in the theatre, showing the kids different constellations and planets, and talking a bit about light pollution. Then they showed a movie on the overhead screen about Maia the plant-eating dinosaur. Although it seemed like an old show, they did a good job making you care about Maia while not anthropomorphizing too much. And of course dinosaurs are a favorite topic for 4- and 5-year-olds!

After the show, the tour was over, but a nice planetarium staff member volunteered to take the kids through the lobby exhibits, where they got to learn about light and shadows, night vision, look through a telescope, and operate a minature Mars Rover.

It was fun and I was very glad the girls and I slept in today to get us more caught up on sleep. I actually wonder how many of the kids were asleep before they made it back to the daycare center on the bus - they looked pretty tired eating their sack lunches when I left to walk back to my office.