Family Travel,  Midwest,  Ohio

SPI – Where Science and Play Intersect

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You’d think that visiting two science centers in one day would be enough, right? Nope. We decided to squeeze in a third. Our final stop of the day was SPI in Mount Vernon, Ohio.

We are officially halfway done with our quest to visit 7 science centers in Ohio in 4 days. SPI is science center #4. The purpose of our trip was to use the ASTC passport program reciprocal membership that we have through the Kentucky Science Center and see how much money we could save.

So far our trip has included stops in Dayton, Ohio at the Boonshoft Museum of Discovery and the National Museum of the United States Air Force, and in Cleveland at the Great Lakes Science Center and the Cleveland Museum of Natural History.

After spending the morning and first part of the afternoon in Cleveland, we hopped in the car for an hour and 45-minute drive to Mount Vernon, Ohio. SPI was open until 6, so by the time we got there we had a little over an hour to spend exploring. We checked in quickly, showed our Kentucky Science Center membership card and ID, and were ready to start enjoying SPI for FREE. Admission to SPI for our family would’ve cost us $18, bringing our total savings so far to $272.70.

SPI is not a large science center, but even though it’s small in size, it still offers a wide variety of fun activities for all ages. One hour ended up being enough time for us to see everything, but we could’ve stayed there for several hours and would’ve had plenty to do.

The first thing the girls did was take off their shoes and head for the Wandering Bridge. You climb inside and make your way up to the top where you can crawl through a screened in tunnel and make your way along the ceiling of the museum. It was really neat and the girls had a lot of fun crawling around up there.

Next to the Wandering Bridge is the Tree House Climber. There’s a set of monkey bars, ropes to walk on, and wall ladder bars that you can climb to get to the top of the tree where there’s a small tree house area.

We have these large blue blocks at the Kentucky Science Center and the kids love building with them. There are so many neat things you can create with large blocks. They also have a variety of dress-up clothes hanging up for kids to put on and engage in pretend play. Watch our YouTube video (linked at the end of the post) to see Cullan wearing the shark costume and singing “Baby Shark” for us.

Hadassah enjoyed playing with the marble run. I had a marble run when I was a kid and I loved playing with it. We don’t own one, but our library has one that the kids love to play with when we go to the library.

Cullan spent a lot of time gathering various art supplies to make a turkey. In this part of SPI there were several tables set up where you could grab a game or a puzzle, or do a craft or a science experiment. There were supplies set out for you to make a hoop plane and then experiment with it and see how well it flies. While there were lots of games and puzzles to choose from, Silas and I chose to play one of my childhood favorites, Memory, and he was ecstatic that he beat me!

There was a smaller play area with a slide for younger children. It was beautifully decorated with an enchanted forest theme, with a treehouse, tunnels, and stuffed woodland creatures. The decorative twinkling lights gave it a magical feel. Since no one else was in there, Cullan and Micah went in and played with Hadassah.

The video microscope was really neat. Rob and Silas took a penny and examined it under the microscope. On the backside you can zoom in and see the Abraham Lincoln statue of the Lincoln Memorial. There were several objects out on a tray for you to examine. Micah chose to examine a shell. It was very easy to figure out how to use it and adjust the settings. I think it’s hard for younger kids to figure out how to close one eye and look through a traditional microscope and figure out how to move the object around so that they can see something. The digital microscope made it so easy, I think we may look into buying one like THIS.

Hadassah loves light tables. I think Magna Tiles and a light table are the perfect combination for kids to play with. We have Magna Tiles at home, so you’d think she’d be bored with them, but the light table gives the Magna Tiles a special effect that she just can’t help but be drawn to.

The boys spent some time at the Circuit Bench where you have to complete the circuit by adding interconnecting plates in order to make a light come on. There was also an area to launch bottle rockets.

If you’re ever in the Mount Vernon, Ohio area, I would highly recommend stopping for a couple of hours and letting your kids play at SPI. SPI – Where Science and Play Intersect is located at the Kenyon College Wright Center. It’s a small place, but it was perfect for us to get to explore in the hour that we had.

For another look at our visit to SPI – Where Science and Play Intersect, check out our YouTube video.

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