The Franklin Institute

After attending the midday concert at World Cafe Live, we headed out to walk to The Franklin Institute. It was a nice walk, and fun to see the Phill train station from outside for a change (we’ve been through it on a train many times).

The Institute was full of great rooms of wonderfully fun and educational exhibits. We started out in a science demonstration that Chloe loved! She was right there, shouting out answers to the presenter’s questions. She loved the dry ice, tornado and thunder demonstrations.

From there, we headed to the sports lab, which was wildly chaotic. We moved on to a “physics” lab that had experiments with pulleys and more. From there, we went to the heat exhibit, where the girls got to walk through a giant heart. I sat down for a few minutes while Rob led them through the exhibit, and kept hearing little bits of music that really sounded like They Might Be Giants. When I finally investigated, I saw that a movie was running that featured their “Bloodmobile” song. Whew.

racing - 21 mar 2009

Then it was onto experiments with electricity, like making Chloe’s hair stand on end with a Van der Graaf generator. Next was the “Airshow” where various properties of airflow and flight were demonstrated. Finally, we got down to the basement, where there was a great room for the littles to experiment with reflections, water and so much more!

static - 21 mar 2009

girls - 21 mar 2009

Unfortunately, the Franklin exhibit was closed, so we didn’t get to see much of his inventions.

We walked back to the hotel, via a fun plaza full of giant game pieces, the City Hall arcades and a great Italian restaurant.

dominoes - 21 mar 2009

philly - 21 mar 2009