Our day started out bright and early.
Well, not so early at 10 am actually, but early enough.
We began our journey to the west by stopping midway to pick my MM. Since Hub was busy working, I had enlisted the help of my dear Magnificent Mom (MM for short la) to our trip to Kidstop.
After a hearty breakfast at a very warm Yakun (their aircon had broken down), we resumed our journey westwards and arrived at Science Centre 20 minutes later under the GPS's robotic directions.
The last time that I had set foot onto this place was over twenty years ago during a school excursion. Other than a vague recollection of the main building's structure and a McD outlet just outside, I was looking at everything else with brand new eyes. The proverbial tourist in my own country.
Once there, we were greeted by this gigantic dinosaur display and Smiley S (SS) rushed forward eagerly and excitedly to have his photo taken. Little L (LL) on the otherhand was frightened of the dinosaur and was apprehensive in even walking up the main steps.
Glad to see that there was no queue at the ticketing counter, I purchased our 4 tickets and politely declined joining the Science Centre membership. $72 poorer and a short walkway later, we were finally begining our agenda for the day.
Kidstop at last.
It was then that I realised the reason there wasn't any crowd at the ticketing counter was because we were late. Kidstop was split into two sessions. Morning sessions from 9.30am to 1.30pm, while afternoon sessions were from 2pm to 6pm.
Arriving at 10.30am, we were greeted by swarms of children, some in a school group, others with their families, in a wild buzz of activities. Every where I looked, there were clusters of children engrossed with the various activities scattered around.
As soon as they were cleared to enter, SS and LL dashed in different directions, into the mayhem of activities leaving MM and me frenzily trying to reel them back. After setting some ground rules (NO running ahead without the adults,) we spent quite some part of our initial period 'dipping our toes' in the first few activities nearest to the entrance.
There were many kids milling around a control panel controlling a giant claw (much like the ufo catcher we see at arcades) that grabbed plastic balls from a big container and then shower it down onto children below it. SS was, among many other kids, vying to control the claw, and was reluctant to leave without having his uninterrupted turn at it.
A little further away, LL was fascinated with a set of binoculars, trying to spot the 'animals' hanging from the ceiling. Probably her first exposure to binoculars, she had to be guided towards the correct angle to look. There were three binoculars, each facing a different direction, and she busied herself moving from one to another, excitedly pointing out each animal that she had spotted.
Deciding that they had spent enough time on one activity, we moved them onwards into a large sandpit, where they attempted to dig/brush/scrape (depending on what tools they could find lying around in the sand) dinosaur bones like an archeologist. They emerged from the sandpit awhile later with their soles and butts dusted with sand.
As I was frantically brushing off the sand, I recalled this small bottle of talcum (NOT compact) powder lying somewhere in the deep recesses of my backpack. I remembered reading a mummy's useful tip that powder could help remove the sand from skin because the sand would slide right off and I tried it on the spot. It worked like a dream and we were (mostly) sand free in no time.
An hour later, we finally moved beyond the entrance and progressed further into Kidstop. SS spent quite another while at the indoor maze climbing up and down and up again, perspiring buckets in the process. I noticed that unlike some children who shout incessantly for their Mommies to look at them when they have climbed to the highest point, SS never called out to me to profess his achievement. I was half-disappointed in knowing that my boy didn't have this innate urge to want to share his achievements with me, but was also half-glad of the independent streak that he had.
On the other corner, LL contented herself at the baby gym with super large lego blocks. Like me, she doesn't have much adventure in her soul nor is she a fan of heights. I'm still trying to encourage her sense of adventure and to try out new experiences, but it is evident that she needs more time.
Just beside the maze, there was this big intimidating slide that required the kids to don protective hats and overalls before being pulled up to a height with a pulley and sliding down whenever they felt ready to let go. I asked SS if he wanted to give it a try. He replied "No, I'm scared" before scampering off up his maze again. For some reason, I was relieved of his answer. Probably because it indicated that he possessed some sense of danger in him and that I didn't need to overly worry about him jumping headlong into doing something he didn't have confidence in. For a child who doesn't relate much, that meant a lot to me.
Lastly, we moved onto the last and quietest stretch of activities; its opening tucked neatly beyond the entrance to the omnimax theatre. Several small rooms with different themes for tinkering around lay along a walkway.
There was a room with a stage in a corner complete with microphones and a camera like a production set and kids could perform and sing karaoke to nursery rhymes. However, neither of them seemed interested in the entertainment scene so that corner was promptly neglected.
There was also a booth where kids could try their hand at stop-motion animation. I had thought that SS would be interested in this activity given the stop-motion tomica YouTubes that he had been surfing awhile back. But surprisingly, he paid fleeting attention to it before going off to sit in a car that simulated him driving on a busy street.
As usual, LL could be found on the tamer activities and here, she was playing with a table full of red and green beans scattered all over, scooping and pouring them out with a container.
In another room, there was an assortment of animals that included a sleepy gerbil, a tree frog (which we couldn't spot), millipedes, chirping crickets and several yellow fluffy chicks. I wasn't surprised to see that the chicks were their favourite.
Reaching the end of the exhibition, we began walking backwards towards the entrance for a final round at their favourite activities before we had to leave. SS immediately headed towards the giant claw while LL went back to her trio of binoculars.
Walking back, we managed to squeeze a session at the simulated typhoon booth where earlier on, had been either too crowded or the machine needed to cool down. Only SS was game to try it with me. We stepped into a small booth and hugged each other tightly as huge gusts of winds blew at us, twirling my already messy hair wildly into knots. SS might have exclaimed 'I'm scared' several times, but over the whirl of the wind I really couldn't hear anything. Ah well, we already 上了贼船 (were in a pirate boat) and I emerged seconds later looking like a mad lady.
They also entertained themselves at the wind tube that they had missed earlier on, watching as the ribbons get blown higher and higher before flying out from the top. Squealing as they tried catching the falling ribbons, they would put it back into the tube and watch the whole process again.
Before long, an announcement was made for visitors to leave Kidstop. It also signaled the time for our late lunch. MM and me were already famished from chasing them all around.
After writing so much, it is easy to forget that we had only visited one small part of the Science Centre. But I was glad that SS and LL managed to participate in almost all the stations and I could tell that they really enjoyed their time at Kidstop.
This had been a really fruitful trip and clearly, we'd have to make another trip with papa soon.
Maybe we'd even join as members. Who knows?
