Des Moines Mini Maker Faire

We spent Labor Day at the Science Center, checking out the Mini Maker Faire! The outdoor area was free, where people could get food from the food trucks and let their kids splash around. To go inside to check out the fair, we had to pay admission to the Science Center. For two kids and two adults, it was $40 (ouch!).

The first thing we found was a LEGO car building area near the high school robotics teams.We let Oliver play for a while but then reminded him he could play LEGOs at home any time.

Most of the booths would be interesting to adults, as they were showing 3D printers and other gadgets, but it wasn't especially interesting to the kids. Until we found R2D2, that is.

Oliver got to design a project out of wood. This was a regular thing offered by the science center. Oliver loved the chance to use the tools, but the wait was really long (at least 30 minutes).

While Oliver waited to use the "wood shop," Jo and I checked out other displays at the fair. There were adults blowing up balloons and twisting them together, trying to create a stable structure (at least, I'm pretty sure that's what they were trying to do). They had some discarded balloon pieces off the corner, and I noticed a little kid was playing. No one seemed to mind, so I took Jo over. Before I knew what happened, dozens of kids had found the balloons and the station turned into a party place for the kids. They had a blast! I'm certain this was not supposed to be the activity at the station, but it was fun.

We found a drone demo sign and thought of Grandpa Paul.

Jo's an environmental superhero!

While the fair was kind of neat, there just wasn't much for little kids, so we ended up ditching the downstairs fair to go explore the more kid-friendly areas upstairs. Andrew and Oliver found us up there, and the kids had a really, really good time. They got to play with balls, design LEGO cars to race, design a contraption to drop an egg without breaking it, design a LEGO city, and, of course, play with the ball wall.

While the maker fair was a cool idea, it's definitely more for teenagers and adults. I'd take the kids again when they're older, but, for now, we'll probably just stick to going on their special $5 days.

Des Moines Science Center

Andrew's befriended one of his new coworkers already, and he was kind enough to give us passes to the Des Moines Science Center (normal price right now is $11 for an adult and $7 for a child). It completely surpassed our expectations.

The first room we entered was about air and wind. There was an air drum we pounded on that moved some dangling, sparkling circles. There was a giant hair dryer that kept beach balls suspended in air. Our kids were excited about this contraption:

The kids drop a ball into one of the holes and stick a tube in that blows air. The ball shoots through the tubes and comes out another hole. I was amazed at all of the little, little kids who were able to do it. There were kids under 2 participating! I think the only tough part was sharing the balls with each other.

The next station was quite busy. The littlest ones enjoyed just playing with the balls. Our kids were old enough to have fun with the air. It blew through those tubes, and it was strong enough to suspend the balls in the air.

The nanotechnology section didn't interest the kids, even though they had some stations meant for younger kids. So, we went upstairs to the climate area. The kids got to press buttons to light up a map of Iowa. One button would light up the rivers, one would light up forests, and another would light up where people lived. Jo loved pushing those buttons.

There was a green screen, and the kids got to be on TV! Oliver loved it.

Then we found the greatest station of all. There was a giant... Mouse Trap game on the wall. I don't know what else to call it. Kids dumped balls into a basket, which were fed through tubes, blown down a track, bounced all over the place, and came back out. I'm pretty sure the kids spent more than half an hour playing there.

There was a station for teams of kids to build an arch out of foam blocks. None of the bigger kids seemed interested in building an arch, so the station was filled with little kids just playing blocks. Jo was one of those kids.

Oliver & Andrew built cars out of Legos to race against other kids. Oliver won!

In the space station, the kids played with more blocks. Jo stacked Duplos.

Oliver and Andrew built space ships!

Oliver's rocket:

We went in the theater to view a movie on stars and constellations. It really freaked Jo out, so we had to run out of the theater. Oliver was crushed! He kept asking to go back to see the stars. I think one of us will have to go back to the theater with just Oliver... maybe when Jo is busy stacking blocks!