Our weekend away in the Willamette Valley wrapped up at the
A.C. Gilbert Discovery Zone. A.C. Gilbert was a talented man who was born in 1884 in Oregon. He was an olympian prior to going to Yale medical school. Marrying in 1908, he supported his family performing magic rather than practicing medicine. He is famous for being the inventor of the erector set, which sold over 30 million units in his lifetime. Gilbert held over 150 patents for toy inventions at the time of his death. The discovery village is a tribute to this remarkable man as well as a fun and educational museum for children and adults. The village is spread over three historic houses and also includes a 20,000 square foot outdoor play area which has a three story slide! The museum is located in downtown salem right near walking trails along the river and the Riverfront Park with its carousel.
A visit to China. In this room there are Chinese characters that children (or adults) can practice drawing with water on slate tiles. They dry quickly, so if you mess up, just wait a minute and try again.
Musical area
Inside the 'stomach'. The balls are supposed to represent the enzymes that break food down.
Still in the stomach. You can crawl in either end of the digestive tract.
This wood cutout shows the anatomy of the face, in and out. The front side shows the superficial features, then crawl through the mouth and the backside reveals muscles, ligaments, bones, epiglottis and teeth. Talk in the ear and a tube on the back shows the path that the vestibulocochlear nerve takes to the brain.
Probably our favorite room in the village is the bubble room. Here you use pulleys to pull a hoop up and over you. It is tricky to keep the bubble from popping once you reach your waist.
Hulla hoop bubbles. I would love to try this outside this summer!
Alyssa did really well making HUGE bubbles!
Each time we go we get the traditional picture in the enormous rocking chair on the porch.
This room is very fun. You move around and your movement and shape is captured on the wall in front of you. The above is our entire family and as you can see, both Harry and I are taking a picture. :-)
Amy, with camera.
Alyssa waving her arms.
Alyssa the acrobat.
Lauren learning about boat safety.
The little grocery store. Hmmm, how many calories are in this?
Lauren learning to weigh her produce on the scale.
Wouldn't it be fun if I could pick out whatver I wanted when I shop with mommy and daddy??
A visit to China. In this room there are Chinese characters that children (or adults) can practice drawing with water on slate tiles. They dry quickly, so if you mess up, just wait a minute and try again.
Musical area
Inside the 'stomach'. The balls are supposed to represent the enzymes that break food down.
Still in the stomach. You can crawl in either end of the digestive tract.
This wood cutout shows the anatomy of the face, in and out. The front side shows the superficial features, then crawl through the mouth and the backside reveals muscles, ligaments, bones, epiglottis and teeth. Talk in the ear and a tube on the back shows the path that the vestibulocochlear nerve takes to the brain. 
Probably our favorite room in the village is the bubble room. Here you use pulleys to pull a hoop up and over you. It is tricky to keep the bubble from popping once you reach your waist.
Hulla hoop bubbles. I would love to try this outside this summer!
Alyssa did really well making HUGE bubbles!
Each time we go we get the traditional picture in the enormous rocking chair on the porch.
This room is very fun. You move around and your movement and shape is captured on the wall in front of you. The above is our entire family and as you can see, both Harry and I are taking a picture. :-)
Amy, with camera.
Alyssa waving her arms.
Alyssa the acrobat.
Lauren learning about boat safety.
The little grocery store. Hmmm, how many calories are in this?
Lauren learning to weigh her produce on the scale.
Wouldn't it be fun if I could pick out whatver I wanted when I shop with mommy and daddy??
The black tube snakes around the outdoor area, probably close to 100 feet, and you can talk in each end. The other person sounds very far away, but you can hear them clearly.
Want to learn about mitochondria? This is the place.
Oooh, more dinosauer bones!
Wow looks and sounds very cool! We'll have to check it out someday, I didn't even know it was there! All the garden pictures in your previous posts are gorgeous, makes me want to take a vacation!
ReplyDeleteBeyond cool! I would have loved this as a kid, and would love it still. Thanks for sharing about this neat place. It sounds better than the Science Center!
ReplyDeleteWhat a cool place! Definitely going to have to schedule a stop in there next time we go through salem.
ReplyDelete