Exhibition: "Kid City"
A Colorful, Hands-on Exhibition for Preschoolers
"Kid City" is a bilingual (English and Spanish) exhibition at the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center that includes conveyer belts, air chutes, a factory, grocery store and a telephone booth to teach young visitors (ages five and under) about the wonders of the everyday working world. Throughout the exhibition, tips and strategies are offered on parent-child interaction to encourage children's learning.
All the thematic areas within "Kid City" focus on specific areas of learning:
In the grocery area, children learn basic math concepts. They can weigh, sort, match, compare, count and sell "fruit" and "vegetables" of various shapes, colors and sizes.
In the factory area, children can explore the physics of movement and cause and effect. They can climb though the four levels of the Factory Climbing Structure and begin working by fitting various shaped blocks through corresponding holes. Also included in the exhibition are four Young Explorer Computers. Children can visit five areas on the computers.
In Sammie's Science House, children can select the weather for the day. Choose "cold" by clicking on the thermometer for the temperature, or make it windy, rainy or sunny. When completed, the weather elements are put together into a little story so the child can see the day they created.
"Kid City" also features a Funhouse Mirror that distorts the viewer's legs and feet, a Book Nook with a collection of young children's books and cozy benches and rugs, and the Magnetic Wall where children can spell their name or create words with magnetic letters and numbers that "stick" to the wall. Visitors can also make structures out of big colorful foam blocks.
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