A few weeks ago, I bought the kids a CD of an old classic called "The Land Before Time". It's an animated movie by George Lucas and Steven Spielberg about how a group of young dinosaurs make their way to the Great Valley. The kids loved it! We have had to watch it multiple times every weekend since the day I brought it home.
So ever since I found out about the Dinosaur exhibition at the National Science Centre, I have been itching to take them. Last Sunday we finally made it there. We arrived around 11 am and made our way all the way up the hill (the car park is quite far away). While waiting for their grandfather to buy the tickets, we played with the massage fish in the tank outside. It was awesome! I have never been brave enough to put my feet or hands in a fish tank and have small fish eat my skin. It is the most ticklish sensation ever.
After passing through a massive hall with two huge dinosaurs and many play areas, we finally made it to the real exhibition area. The younger kids, Aishah and Hamzah were immediately quiet. I think the dark ambience and loud roaring frightened them. Yousof was a champion, he loved every minute of it and was happily posing for pictures with each dinosaur. I was very proud of him because usually he is the timid one. Aishah only warmed up to the dinosaurs after we passed one with and a baby dinosaur hatching out of an egg and another with baby dinosaurs playing. After that she lost her apprehension. Though she did say that she disliked the dinosaur bones very much. Hamzah had a quick look and decided dark noisy rooms filled with huge strange creatures were not his cup of tea. So he spent most of the time with his Tokki sitting on a bench.
The exhibit was quite good, although some of the models already had some wear and tear (probably over enthusiastic kids who ignored the DO NOT TOUCH signs). In terms of realism, it wasn't really up to par with the great ones (I remember one that I saw in London when I was a kid that knocked my socks off) but it was enough to amuse the kids. The other parts of the National Science Centre was a disappointment though. The aeronautic section and other science exhibits were really old-fashioned and uninteresting. The style of exhibiting theories of electricity and engineering hasn't changed in 20 years! With all the cool gadgets and advances in technology and multimedia displays now, you would hope that our NATIONAL Science Centre would be more up to date. So all in all a great day with the dinosaurs for the kids but alot can be done to improve the whole foray into the wonderful world of science.
