Science Centre Woes

I noticed this morning as I was catching up on my home school Yahoo group postings, that there was a discussion about the new Science Centre here in town, and whether it's worth it to go.  I thought I'd put my 2 cents in, and blog about it.

Last Friday afternoon, I bit the bullet with a friend of mine, and we took our kids to the "Spark" ( the new name for the Science Centre). ...Sigh....
Can you just tell that I'm not too impressed by this overpriced venue? Don't get me wrong. it was a wonderful way to spend the afternoon with some great friends. Nevertheless, for $83.00 and change ( AND you have to pay for parking )  I was let down, and was expecting WAY more. The way the media made such a hype about this place, you actually thought it was another Disneyland.

The building it self is magnificent; much bigger and brighter than the old centre. As you enter the monstrous atrium, you can go one of five ways: The Creative Kids Museum, Earth and Science, Being Human, Energy and Innovation, and Prototype Lab......Sigh......again.....

The Creative Kids Museum is nothing but a glorified indoor playground. Nothing very creative for kids to do: No arts...no crafts....minimal hands on activities, even for the wee ones.
The other exhibits, are meant to look impressive, and are geared toward "older children", but honestly...the whole venue is lacking in real "get down and dirty science stuff" for kids to do...unless you consider all the "water" exhibits hands on.  Last time I checked in my kids' science books, the study of science itself was a very diverse subject, and for the amount of money donated to this place, the planners have missed their mark...completely.

Apparently, the creators of the new science centre wanted to engage children in thinking, and problem solving and ask questions ...uhmmmm not quite sure how. Not too much hypothesis and application to this place. Hopefully, they figure it out, and they'll take their blinders off and the management will realize that there is so much more potential to this place. They have the space, so they should use it, not waste it!

So, will we buy a pass? No. It's just not worth it. ( for a family of 6 the gold pass is over $400.00, and that does not include any traveling exhibitions or movies, or in our case, homeschool days...so what is the gold pass for then?)
Will we go again? Meh...maybe...but not for awhile.
I think we'll take our chances with Heritage Park and the Glenbow Museum: more bang for your buck!