Perot Museum of Nature & Science

Downtown Dallas has a cool new building with a box hanging off the side of it.  Know what it is??  It's the new Perot Museum of Nature and Science and it is one of the best new museums for kids in the entire state of Texas!

Perot Museum of Nature and Science opened in December 2012 and saw an overwhelming response from the community.  This hands-on museum excels at helping kids learn in the most unique ways.  Children like to touch things, experiment, see themselves in different ways, use all 5 senses and laugh.  They call it fun, we call it learning.  No matter what you call it, this museum does it well.

Word has gotten out how great of a museum it is, so much so that admission is selling out each day.  Your best bet is to buy your tickets online in advance.  Tickets are sold in timed increments, so as the museum-goer can have a pleasant experience and get to try all the hands-on experiments without having to wait too long.

As I have mentioned, the museum is full of hands-on experiments, many of which are easy to follow and understand what you are doing for most ages.  What I liked the most was that there were several wandering "educators" on each floor, that would just right in and explain to the kids what they were doing (i.e. lifting a bowling ball on each planet) and why it was important.

There are 5 levels to the museum, each full of fun.  We especially enjoyed the third level, where we were able to feel an earthquake, touch a funnel cloud, and forecast the weather.  There are loads of interactive exhibits for all ages, from traveling through the Solar System, to donning a pair of 3D glasses and flying like a bird (my little guy's favorite).

As it's a new museum, everything is so bright and colorful.  You find each exhibit incredibly engaging.  On Level 2, your senses are taken to a new level as you walk through the Discovering Life Hall.  Fully sense the Texas Blackland Prairie by hearing the prairie dog call, feeling the prickly pear cactus and smelling the desert marigold (or coyote urine, if you dare!).

My little engineer spent a good 30 minutes on programming a robot to go through a maze.  He worked diligently on one of two stations and was successful on his first try.  The other kids roamed around the Texas Instruments Engineering and Innovation Hall making music, learning how to dace, playing in front of a geo-thermal wall, and more while he plugged away.  I was able to sit on a set of steps and relax a bit, able to see them taking their time to master whatever they were trying.

For little ones (5 and under) the museum offers the Moody Family Children's Museum on the Lower Level.  This area has a giant Dallas skyline to climb, slide, and play on that really caught my 3-year old's fancy.  He also donned a Dallas Farmer's Market apron and organized fruit for a while.  There is also a water play station, craft area, and camping site to capture all interests.  It is a great place to allow your little guys to run and play.

My kids loved every bit of the museum, but the one place they enjoyed most and stayed the longest was in the Sports Hall.  Here, you can race against a professional athlete, a cheetah or a T-Rex. The line for this was the longest we encountered all day yet it only took less than 10 minutes to go through.  It's fascinating to watch person after person sprint it out to beat a football player or a gymnast.  Another really cool exhibit here involves you comparing a kick, twirl, or throw to a professional athlete.  My little soccer gal enjoyed seeing how she measured up to a FC Dallas player.

Simply put, the Perot Museum of Nature and Science is amazing.  We were able to take our time on what we found interesting and never feel rushed.  My kids learned so much that they talked about later...even weeks later!  We can't recommend a visit enough.  And we can't wait to go back ourselves!

Teach Kids to Pay It Forward

It's always easy to see how very blessed we are around the Holidays.  We have oodles of family, tons of great food, and lots of very generous presents at each Holiday Gathering.  My children have come to expect this way of life.  But I can't help but think, they need to see just how fortunate they are and learn to pass along all the blessings they have.

So this past Holiday season, we implemented a "Pay It Forward" Day.  I wanted to teach my kids exactly how easy it is to "Pay it Forward".  My kids woke up thinking I had something fun planned for them.  And indeed I did. It just wasn't quite what they expected.....

After breakfast, I broke the news of the day -  "Our "fun" outing today will be to try to make as many people smile today as possible, brightening their day, in an effort to pass along that smile or kind act to someone else.  It's called Pay It Forward and  I can't wait to teach you how."

My 11 year old daughter was on board immediately.  My 10 year old son took a while to warm to it, but was soon joining in the brainstorming. And their ideas were great!  I am so glad that I involved them into planning our day and didn't just do it for them, as they had so many great ideas.

An apartment complex in our school district had burned down the night before and my daughter saw they were accepting donations of clothing, toys, and household goods on the tv.  So we cleaned out our closets and dropped off our donations.

My son adores the Fire Station near us and wanted to bring them cookies.  We took it a step further and delivered cookies to all the public employees we could find .  I hope the police station, the post office, our mailman, and the fire station near us all enjoyed the peanut butter cookies my son baked.

We wanted to see strangers smile, so we handed out candy canes at the Post Office, the local Starbucks, and the corner drugstore for a few hours.  Most people smiled back, stopped and told us thank you, and one gentleman burst into song "The Christmas Song", showing my kids a direct result of their kindness.  That alone was worth our efforts.

We spent less than our $20 and my kids spent all day seeing and feeling the joy that comes with giving to strangers.  No amount of money in the world could pay for that. And they asked to do it again! Success!!

Ideas to Pay It Forward with Kids:

• Look for opportunities to show a random act of kindness - hold the door open for someone, help someone with their groceries to their car, allow someone with a child to jump ahead of you in the line, etc.


• Drive-thru Pay it Forwards (I love this one!) - Pay for the meal or coffee of the person behind you, pay for the toll/parking fee for the person behind you


• Leave a BIG tip for a deserving waiter/waitress


• Clean out your closets and donate them to someone in need


• Go out of your way to Thank someone for doing their job - tell the garbage man thank you, write a note of thanks to your banker, or even better, take the time to seek out a supervisor and tell them about their great employee


• Write an encouraging note to your chid's teacher


• Stop at a Kid's Lemonade Stand and buy a glass


• Tape exact change onto a soda machine


• Look for opportunities to volunteer in your area - Use Volunteer Match to help you find an opportunity.

Titanic: The Artifact Exhibit (Fort Worth Museum of Science & History)

The Fort Worth Museum of Science & History has a very special exhibit currently. "Titanic: The Artifact Exhibit"  is only here through March 24, and I encourage you to get on over there and see it before it's gone!

The Titanic exhibit begins with the planning & construction of the ship. See actual plans, hear ship-workers accounts and learn all about Captain Smith. The sad story is that he was retired yet asked to lead the Titanic's maiden voyage.

As you walk thorough recreated rooms, from First Class Staterooms to the third class bunkrooms, you learn all about how they traveled across the ocean.  It's a stunning reality to see the gorgeous private bedrooms and smoking rooms and ballrooms for the rich and then find out that third class passengers had 2 bathtubs for the 700+ passengers on their deck.  See personal artifacts from recovered jewelry to dinner ware to tiles from the Grand Ballroom.

The exhibit takes you down to the "boiler room", where the atmosphere is dark, cold and you hear the engine sounds.  It's a vast change from the light and happy one a few decks up. Actual tools and coal recovered from the ship can be seen here.  Learn about how the ship was powered across the Atlantic, even during a coal shortage.

As you walk through the timeline of events that occurred that fateful April night, you can't help but see how this horrific accident could have been avoided. A cold room is recreated to make you feel as if you are on the ocean and you can even touch a big block of ice, the temperature of an iceberg in the Atlantic Ocean.

What we enjoyed the most about the exhibit was how passenger's stories are told - it brought the exhibit to life for us.  When you see the tickets, shoes, jewelry, etc. of a passenger and then hear who they were and why they were on the ship, you can't help but feel sorrowful for their fate.  As you enter Titanic, you are handed a "passenger card" that details who they were, what class they were in and their personal story.  At the end of the exhibit, you can locate your passengers name to see if they were rescued and survived or not.  Very happily, 3 out of 4 of our families', "passengers" did in fact survive.

This exhibit was perfect for my 10 & 12 year olds - they were drawn to the artifacts and hearing the stories.  It enabled them to really understand the history better by seeing actual pieces, touching the cold iceberg, and learning about their passenger's fate.

The museum has timed entries to the exhibit, which I happen to love, as it doesn't get too crowded.  And it is an additional cost to see the exhibit. Also, no photography is allowed.  Audio tours are offered for $5 and there is a comprehensive gift store at the end of the exhibit as well.

Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition is at the Fort Worth Museum of Science & History thru March 24, 2013.  The exhibit costs $10-26.  There is special pricing for the Fort Worth Stock Show (Jan 18 - Feb 9, 2013) - $11-15.