A Day at Techniquest

For a blog that's supposed to be focused on family and travel, I've been doing an awful lot of the former and very little of the latter.

This is partly because we're still recovering from our last visit to the United Kingdom and have barely begun to think about leaving home again this year. (Suffice it to say that there will be no BIG, multi-week trips in 2007 -- but we do have some vague plans for some weekend getaways, which will be chronicled here.)

The other reason is that I've simply been overwhelmed by all the everyday parenting and life stuff we've had to deal with here at home. So when I was going over my notes, I was surprised to discover that I'd neglected to write about one of the best kid spots in all of Cardiff, Wales.

Techniquest is a kids' science museum, located in a huge, hangar-like structure in the very trendy and modern development of Cardiff Bay. We had visited many times in the past, but had no plans to go this time, as Megan is now nearly 11 and I felt she had outgrown it.

"No, I haven't! I want to go!" she protested. As it was yet another rainy, cold, dreary day, we decided to go for it. So did my brother-in-law, who holds an annual yearly membership for his boys.

	It turns out that Megan was right. We spent a couple of happy hours there (until the place closed), and I didn't hear one complaint that she was bored. The museum features dozens of brain-teasing hands-on puzzles and exhibits that challenge the kids... and on that day, my husband and his brother, who spent the afternoon competing to see who could solve them the fastest. All afternoon, the kids pretty much had to fight their dads to get to play them! The ground floor of Techniquest deals with all manners of science and physics. Hands-on exhibits like what happens when you fire a rocket; testing your reaction time; racing electric cars; launching a hot air balloon, etc. The second floor is more of the same, with a lot of the exhibit space devoted to sound and light and their properties. There are some cool music-making activities, and demonstrations on how sound travels. There are also a couple of theater areas for live presentations. We attended one on bubbles. I was impressed by how entertained the kids could be by something so low-tech. The two museum staffers demonstrated bubbles and their properties (creating the kind of soap bubbles we are used to but also using different gases to make bubbles that could ignite). The highlight was when an audience member was invited to stand inside a giant bubble, which they created by instructing the child to stand in the center of a halved truck tire that held the bubble solution -- and using a hula hoop for the wand.

Techniquest is open Monday through Friday from 9:30 to 4:30 and Weekends and holidays from 10:00 - 5:00. Admission is £6.90 for adults and £4.80 for children (approximately $13.80 and $9.50, respectively). There are also family and group rates available.

The museum also has a nice cafe and gift store (and plenty of good restaurants within walking distance).