Make A Messterpiece

Yesterday I took the kids to Make a Messterpiece in Glenview.  They love going but it's pretty pricey $22 per kid if you want to do all the activities) so we don't go often.  Last time we had a Groupon but no such luck this time.  The one good thing though is that it wasn't very crowded - probably partly due to the cost - and we were able to leave for lunch at the Potbelly's nearby and come back.

They have 4 main areas to play - Creative Kitchen, Experimentation Station, Bubbleology, and Lil Sprouts.  The first two spots are instructor led so you are assigned a time for those places.  The theme this month is outer space.

At the Experimentation Station they made ET foam (using styrofoam balls, glue, borax, water, and food coloring).  Once they were all done making the foam they got googly eyes and pipe cleaners to use for whatever they wanted.  It was pretty easy and turned out pretty cute.  The instructor encouraged them to use their imaginations in creating their space creatures, pointing out that life on other planets may not be walking beings like us, but could even be tiny little things like bacteria, viruses, etc.  It was kind of sticky when they were done, so we put them on a drying rack before we went to our next spot - Creative Kitchen.

At Creative Kitchen they made "Moon Landing cookies".  They were no bake cookies made of oatmeal, cocoa powder, butter, butterscotch chips and soy nut butter.  All of that was mixed up and then rolled into balls, and then rolled in powdered sugar.  They don't let you eat your creations there, but we brought them to lunch with us and they ate them at Potbellys. They were pretty good and as far as I could tell was basically a teaspoon of each ingredient so would be pretty easy to recreate. 

After lunch they made bubble paintings.  These are always a big hit for my kids. 

Here are a couple of the finished products.  The colors are actually brighter on the real pictures, my camera wasn't cooperating. 

The Drum Roll area wasn't working as well as it should be more Blue Man Group ish with colored water on the drums that flies everywhere when you drum.  They still had fun putting all the gear on though and didn't realize what was missing, so had fun.  If I had thought more about it I would have asked an employee for help, but it was only when I got home and saw the website that I realized what was missing as we hadn't done this station last time.

The final station was Lil Sprouts, where you make your own craft.  This was completely DIY.  We were given the supplies when we came in, and there were pictures and instructions on the table.  The project was to make a mini Hubble telescope out of a toilet paper roll, tin foil, toothpicks, card stock for the solar panels and a couple of stickers.  Fairly straightforward.

Along with all the stuff I already listed, there is also an area of tables with paper and markers for coloring, a small play house and slide to play in.  They had fun and did learn a little about outer space (appropriate given that we went on the day that Curiousity landed on Mars.  I'm sure they'll want to go back and we probably will if I can get a Groupon again.  I was surprised how few people were there.  I'm assuming the cost is what deters people, especially in this economy.  Still it's a fun place and I hope they manage to stay open (and hopefully lower their prices.  As far as I know it's independently owned not a franchise - although they do have some sort of sponsorship by Bounty papertowels. 

Dupage Children's Museum

On Friday I took the kids to the Dupage Children's Museum. It's about 40 minutes away so a bit of a haul but we had free passes the kids had earned from the Summer Reading Club, so only paid for my admission.


It was pretty crowded with day camps and just regular visitors but the kids had fun. We started on the main floor playing with wind and air pressure, and then the construction area. Little Man loved playing with the big tinker toys. My daughters played in a different spot trying to make ramps out of wood blocks for a ball to travel down.

 The art area focused had different areas where you could create art using light.  They had some peelable stickers of shapes to put on the light board and then you could adjust/mix the colors of the background to look the way you want.   They also had a big "Lite Brite".  This was a popular spot as there were only 3 of them so we had to wait a little bit to get one to ourselves - most of the other little artists were not willing to collaborate on their creations :)

We had lunch in the basement. It's really just an open room with tables, chairs and vending machines - no restaurant or anything. So if you go, bring your own lunch. They do have a microwave. I was happily surprised that they had real milk in the vending machines - not that scary Horizon stuff that never expires.

After lunch we headed up to the second floor. The special exhibit now is about trains. Little Man loved that. They have an electric model train, a mini Metra train the kids can play in, and a little ticket booth.Unfortunately he was running around so much I didn't get any good pictures. 



 The math section was on the same floor and focuses on patterns and shapes. They have a couple of those puzzles where you have to arrange shapes a certain way to make a certain picture. Then they have a big clear plexiglass shape that you can arrange shapes on and look through.

Our final stop was the bubble/water area.  I figured they were going to get wet (despite wearing smocks so saved this one til the end).  They have one of those big bubble booths where you step in and pull the bubble ring around you to make a big bubble tube around yourself - unfortunately we couldn't get a really big bubble to work.   They did have fun with the smaller bubbles though.  I love the look on the face of the little girl next to my daughter.  No idea who she is, but she seemed pretty amazed at the big bubble.

All in all a good day, and while we often go to the Kohl's Children Museum and enjoy it, one thing I noticed about this museum was that the docents tried to enhance the fun with by trying to get them to think about what was happening.  While everything is hands on and feels like play, most of the exhibits have a math or science focus if you think about it.  For example, If a kid was playing with the air pressure tubes trying to get two different objects to levitate and one did it and the other didn't, they would ask the kid why that happened.  If the kid couldn't think of the reason on their own, the docent would help them figure it out.  At Kohl's I feel like most of the employees there are just tidying up after the kids, not really engaging them. 

The House I Loved

This is the second book I've read by Tatiana de Rosnay. I read Sarah's Key last summer which was a well-written book and one I have recommended to others. I would have a hard time saying I enjoyed it given the heartwrenching story.

This book is set in 1860s Paris and is part love story, part fictional memoir. It is written as a long letter from Rose, a widow, to her husband, filling him in on the events of the 10 years since he died - culminating with the fact that their beloved home (which was his childhood home as well) is about to be torn down. Napoleon III is making broad boulevards to replace the quaint little streets in an effort to modernize Paris. The effort began during her husband's later years, but they always thought their home was safe as they were in close proximity of a church.

Some of Rose's friends and neighbors are content to take the money offered by the government as compensation and move. Rose fights every step of the way. To her the home is more than just a building. It was the soul of their family and full of memories. She is about 60 years old and has no interest in starting a new life somewhere else or seeing her beloved neighborhood transformed to something modern.  I have to say I would side with Rose too.  I'm not sentimental about little things, but the home where you've lived your entire life and had no intention of leaving is not something you can just walk away from.

She writes about some of the neighbors and shopkeepers she has befriended since her husband's death.
Rose uses her writing as a way to also tell her husband some of the things she could not tell him in the last few years of his life as he started to suffer from dementia. While most of her writing is positive and full of love there are a few things that she has trouble writing but feels she finally had to confess to be able to move on.

In the end I found the ending appropriate and would definitely recommend this book.