Your guide to activities and fun things to do with your preschoolers, toddlers and kids in philadelphia, PA

Best Spots to Learn About Science in Philadelphia

by Cecily Kellogg

March 31, 2009

We're lucky we live in such a great city; everywhere you look there are places to learn more about science. Here are my favorite spots.

1. The Franklin Institute. Well, it may seem obvious, but this wonderful science museum for kids is the perfect place to start. While I have to admit that many of the exhibits are oriented for children older than preschool, the hands on elements make it fun for even the smallest budding scientist. Once again, I will remind you to avoid the museum on Fridays; it's full of elementary students on field trips on Fridays. Trust me.

2. Please Touch Museum. No, this museum does not have a scientific focus, but there are plenty of exhibits that teach about the physics of water and air, and is a great place for the preschool set. There are also some nice exhibits about ponds and other areas that qualify as science.

3. The Academy of Natural Science. Well, this one is obvious too, isn't it? The Academy has many hands-on sections, including live animals, as well as the awesome year-round butterfly exhibit. I find this is a nice, small and quiet museum that isn't as crowded as others, so it really provides you time to teach some solid scientific lessons.

4.  University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaelology and Anthropology. If you want to teach about the emergence of past peoples and our own history, this is the perfect museum. It might be best for children four and up, but you can't go wrong visiting this museum if people is what you want to study.

5. The Mutter Museum. Not for the faint-hearted, this museum at the College of Physicians in Center City will gross out your kids, but trust me, they will be engaged. The bins and bins of things people have swallowed will entertain them for an hour or more, and the formaldehyde jars of all kinds of digusting things will wow them. Again, best for kids four and up, I think.

Springtime and Crazy Weather

by Cecily Kellogg

March 30, 2009

So, where were you for the freakish crazy hail storm on Sunday? In the twenty some years I've lived in the Philadelphia area I've never seen anything like that. We were literally JUST off the trail at the Wissahickon (where my daughter walked three miles in two hours! yeeha!) and in the car headed down City Line Avenue when the skies broke open and all hell broke loose.

We had a full minivan too -- four adults, two kids, and three dogs -- and we all FREAKED out when the hail started. We quickly got off the road, thankfully, and managed to calm down enough to comfort my daughter who could not understand why God was throwing ice at our car.

My husband, in his husbandy way, began a lengthy lecture about clouds and air circulation and how hail forms and my daughter immediately glazed over. Hell, I glazed over. But when I got out of the car (once it was safe) and gave her a couple of balls of hail to touch, she was much better able to begin embracing some of the scientific concepts that went into creating that hail.

So we learned another great parenting lesson during that storm; that no matter what happens, you can take any natural occurance and turn it into a science lesson for the kiddos. This week I'll be talking about some of the best spots to teach your kids about science in Philadelphia, and we'll use our crazy March weather as a launching pad.

So what did you tell your kids about that storm?

The Five Best "Obvious" Places To Take Your Kids in Philadelphia

by Cecily Kellogg

September 15, 2008

Every city offers a few of these; the places everyone goes that are popular beyond reason, and visited frequently. Those of us that have lived in Philadelphia know them well, but if you are new to the area or just visiting, this list may not seem quite so obvious. So here are Philadelphia's top five kid destinations. 1. The Philadelphia Zoo. This was the very first zoo in the United States; yet  Read more...