We decided this would be a good day to experience COSI - Center of Science and Industry in downtown Columbus. Believe it or not, we had never been to COSI before. Well, Kate and I hadn't, but we had heard nothing but wonderful things about it. Everyone raved at all the fun things to do and learn so we decided to try it out!
We were also amazed at this incredibly fun and educational center. With several floors of information and learning, rat basketball, a theater, a planetarium, exhibits and live shows, we weren't short of things to do! For this visit, we started on the third floor in the area most geared toward Kate's age and stayed there!
There was a whole floor dedicated to fun for her! There was a HUGE play gym that included steps, slides, bridges, plastic balls, and more! There were several pretend play areas, like a doctor's office with pretend x-rays and baby dolls that you could "fix up", and several vehicles, like helicopters and trucks, that could be "driven"!
There was an arts and crafts area and a very cool light table that projected the play area onto a big wall! There was a rock climbing wall, a water area, a build a track area, a kitchen area, and a whole farmers market spread out on this entire floor. It was mentally and visually stimulating to the max, even for Brian and me!
We were super impressed with all that there was to do. In each area, it wasn't just about playing, it was about learning too! For example, in the "kitchen/house" area, there was exposed piping that you could see the inner workings of and/or build if you were interested in in between the beams of the house! They really focused on the details on this floor and I'm sure we will learn something new every time we visit!
Which, mark my words, will most likely be a lot more frequently now that we know what's waiting for us here!
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| We started off with a little painting in the arts and crafts area! |
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| Then we played with some clay which was out for the day's activity! |
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| And bulldozed some sand on top of a second light table! |
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| We slid down slides and ran and played on the play gym! |
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| And found lots of good fruits and veggies to push around in a wheel barrow at the farmers market. |
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| We also watched the plastic balls flow down the water slide! |
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| Which was definitely a highlight of the trip! |
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| And we built a track to traverse on...sort of! |
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| We also climbed the rock wall! |
We all definitely enjoyed our visit to COSI and it inspired us to get a little creative this afternoon and have a go at making some glitter gak!
People, if you haven't made and/or played with glitter gak, you are missing out! It's super easy to make and super fun to play with! It just feels so funny in your hands!
This is what you need for Glitter Gak:
-(1) 4 oz. bottle of Elmer's glue**
-1/2 tsp. of Borax (we got ours in the laundry area of our grocery store)
-1/4 cup of water
-food coloring**
-1/2 tsp. of glitter**
**You can also substitute glitter glue for the glue, food coloring, and glitter, but we didn't have any glitter glue on hand! Plus, you can customize your gak to your liking with your own colors and glittery-ness by making it yourself!
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| Only five simple ingredients! |
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| First, pour your glue into your bowl and fill the glue bottle with warm water. Shake it all around and pour that in too! |
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| Add your food coloring to create the color of your choice. Kate selected purple. |
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| Add your glitter in too! |
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| It was at this point that I should've realized something was going to go wrong. I spilled the glitter all over the counter before I put it in the bowl. I'm still not sure how this happened and you know how fun glitter is to clean up...I'm still finding it in the crevices of our hardwood floors. Brian loves this...Kate and I think it's pretty to see it sparkle! |
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| Second attempt - success! However, right after this photo was taken, I dropped my phone into this mixture... ...Yes, my phone. The phone I was using to take pictures with... ...into glue, water, food coloring, and glitter... ...Seriously. |
After I got cleaned up and took apart my phone and got it cleaned up, I resumed our gak making.
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| It's a way darker purple than I had originally planned. Note to self: use less food coloring. |
I mixed all of these ingredients together until they became stringy and then pliable. And then we were done. Kate wasn't interested in playing with it at that point. We had to take a brief hiatus for me to perform the phone cleaning and she became pre-occupied with her dolls and her stroller and her Belle shoes. So we put our glitter gak in a ziplock and have it pre-made for another day!
We will be making this concoction again, we will just be using less food coloring and will be taking photos from afar...
#lessonlearned
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