The Science Behind Pixar; Our Trip to the Museum

We went to the Boston science museum and spent a lot of time learning about the science behind all of Disney/ Pixar movies.  It was awesome!

The boys got to try their hand at programming blades of grass in a field, working with camera placement and focus, they manipulated lighting, toyed with furniture placement in a room, changed lighting color and effects, took 2-D shapes and made them 3-D, and so much more.  They loved it!

When we finally felt like we saw most of it we headed on to see the rest of the museum.

Here are some highlights from our trip:

moving cameras around 

programming grass 

experimenting with lighting 

programming a school of fish 

stop motion animation station

Watching the video they made using stop motion 

We played with microscopes looking at pine cones, butterfly wings, and food.  Then Alec decided to see what his sleeve, scab, and fingernails looked like up close.  The boys asked me to put my wedding rings and my Jamberry Nail wrap under the microscope and we could actually see all of the mini pixels of colors that made up each nail wrap!

We also did tests to see how much sugar was contained in various foods and drinks.

butterfly wing under a scope 

measuring out the sugar in a bottle of Coke 

   We went to the Lightening show and learned all about lightening through use of Van De Graff generators.  We got to see a fossilized piece of lightening and played with plasma ball and tube.

 

plasma tube 

World's largest Van De Graff machine 

two smaller machines playing music 

    We got to see an animal show and learned about the groundhog; all of the names it's known by and how it got those names.  We also learned about birds and dinosaurs too. 

Learning about the groundhog 

Trying to identify birds based on their shadows 

Learning about birds, their calls, their diet, and their habitat

Oh no! A giant T-Rex! 

Checking out the T- Rex footprint 

Learning about the similarities and differences between various dinosaurs

The boys took on a bobsled challenge.  They could compete with all the other kids at the museum (who were making bobsleds that day) to see who could design the fastest and slowest bobsleds.  Out of my three boys Alec's design was the fastest.  There were different fabrics, weights, and pipe cleaners the kids could use to design their sled and an official track. They had a lot of fun! 

Learning the rules 

Testing their cars 

Winner!  (though all the boys got a magnet for participating)

   There were so many areas and so much to see and do that we never even saw everything the museum had to offer!  We did have fun poking around most of the museum though and tried to see as much as we could.  

Watching the way light passes through shapes when they've been
dipped in bubble solutions

Checking out the differences in chair sizes
while learning about proportion and scale models

Comparing their walks to one another on a graph

Changing parameters of a fish tank model to see how it
changes the behavior of the tank 

Trying to line up the ticking sounds like a metronome 

Working with tone and frequency on a graph 

Playing a game that deals with compromise 

Trying to figure out what the scale model represented based on the
clues given 

Learning about optical illusions 

Watching a video about food spoilage 

Learning about science at the park  (and making
friends in the process)

Checking out the globe and learning about
animals of North America 

Pretending to be an astronaut 

Checking out model Viking ships 

     Once it was close to dinnertime we decided to call it a day.  We went out to look at the city and talk about some of the buildings we saw.  I hadn't realized how long it had been since we had taken them into the city.  They really didn't remember anything about our previous trips.  We had a great time looking all around as we drove back home.  It was a wonderful day!