Liberty Science Center – The Next Kid Thing

Curious George: Let’s Get Curious Exhibit at Liberty Science Center

September 24, 2016September 24, 2016 by Jen Rabulan-Bertram

For as long as I can remember, I’ve always been a Curious George fan. I can still remember my librarian in elementary school reading to us from a well-loved hard back copy of Curious George. Curious George and his many adventures have grown with me, and I’m so happy to see that he’s grown with my boys as well.

Lucky us, the Curious George exhibit is back at Liberty Science Center in Jersey City, and it’s fantastic. The Curious George: Let’s Get Curious! exhibit features everyone’s favorite curious monkey and the The Man in the Yellow Hat.

The exhibit, which is at LSC for a four month engagement, celebrates the 75th anniversary of George’s debut. The exhibit embraces several educational concepts in science, math and engineering and geared to the preschool and grade school contingent.

What to See and Do

Upon entering the exhibit, you’re greeted by a picturesque cityscape background reminiscent of the iconic Curious George books. At the Apartment Building, kids can operate wheels and pulleys and the climb up the fire escape and then experiment with color, light and shadow.

The Space Rocket welcomes the littlest space explorers for an Outer Space Adventure. The slide down is a favorite feature, and one that we found ourselves doing the most.

The Sidewalk Produce Stand reminded us of a little street vendor or bodega. The kids had fun playing cashier and shopper and taking turns (somewhat) and interacting with other children. The produce stand gives kids a chance to explore shape, sorting, weighing and counting with fruits and veggies.

The kids visited a little farm to pretend play with small animals and explore wind power, windsocks and whirligigs. My little guy had fun opening and closing the little chicken coop and making the piggies smooch each other!

The golf area was a fun way for the kids to learn cause and effect with physics, and engineering, while exploring with pipes, ramps and funnels.

The Construction Site was another fun station where kids enjoyed climbing into the trailer and exploring different building materials. Both guys had a fun time operating the conveyor belt and sorting bricks and trying to work together. This spot got pretty hectic at times, but it worked well when all the kids were taking turns.

My Little guy stopped in his tracks when he spotted a full-size Curious George in the City Park. He planted a big smooch and hug on George before running off to check out the Park’s busywall activities.

My personal favorite of the entire exhibit was the Museum Within the Museum. There were many historical posters and literature on display, including the manuscript’s escape from Europe during WWII.

I loved learning about the historical timeline behind this beloved character. I also got a big kick out of all the little kids playing with the retro landline phone on the desk—perhaps something they don’t see enough in the time of iPhones and smart phones.

Curious George at LSC

My preschooler and third grader had a wonderful time exploring; we quite honestly could’ve stayed there all day. There are enough features in this exhibit to entertain the kids for an hour or two. While a majority of the activities are geared to toddlers and preschoolers, my older son had fun interacting with the conveyor belt and helping his brother with certain aspects.

LSC remains one of our family’s favorite NJ museums, and Let’s Get Curious exhibit is a complement to the 12 museum exhibition halls, live animal collection, aquariums, 3D theater and their huge IMAX Dome Theater. Whether you’re in NYC, NJ or elsewhere, Liberty Science Center is worth the drive for a fun day of science and exploration.

Curious George: Let’s Get Curious! will be at the Liberty Science Center form September 17, 2016 until January 8, 2017. This super fun exhibit is included in general admission tickets ($21.75 for adults and $17.75 for children 2-12)

Giveaway

And in partnership with Liberty Science Center, we are giving away a 4 pack of tickets for you and your family to enjoy. Enter below for a chance to win!

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Full disclosure: In partnership with Jersey Moms Media, my family was hosted at LSC to facilitate this review. I received a stipend for transportation, but as always, opinions on NKT are my own.

Dora and Diego—Let’s Explore at Liberty Science Center + giveaway

January 12, 2016January 12, 2016 by Jen Rabulan-Bertram

Just before all the holiday chaos started, we were invited to explore the Dora and Diego exhibit at Liberty Science Center in Jersey City, NJ.

There’s so much we love about LSC, but the educational and interactive exhibits rank pretty high up on our list.

At our most recent trip to LSC we had the chance to explore the Dora and Diego—Let’s Explore! exhibit. If there was ever an exhibit that adequately examines the curious nature of toddlers and preschoolers, Dora and Diego—Let’s Explore is it. The exhibit features Nickelodeon favorites, Dora and Diego, along with their buddies, Boots, Map, Backpack, Isa, Tico and Swiper.

This exhibit was created by The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis in partnership with Nickelodeon and will be at LSC until January 24th.

Like the popular Nickelodeon shows from which this exhibit is based, Dora and Diego—Let’s Explore is an exhibit that encourages adventure, curiosity and how to solve problems while engaging Spanish speaking skills for preschoolers.

Highlights from the exhibit include:

The Purple Planet – Kids can climb inside and slide down on the surface of the whimsical Purple Planet

Rocket Ship – Dora and friends need a ride to the Purple Planet. At the Rocket Ship, kids can suit up, pilot the ship and play memory with planets.

Constellations – Kids can learn about stars and identify the patterns made out of stars by inserting star shapes to light-up a constellation

Isa’s Flowery Garden – At the Flowery Garden, Dora’s friend Isa the Iguana helps kids learn the beauty of flowers, plants, and animals. At Isa’s Garden, kids can pick flowers, interact with bird, butterflie, and insect puppets

Tico’s Tree and Car – Tico the squirrel needs help picking nuts from the tree for a family picnic. Kids can play along with Swiper to swipe the nuts and watch as they shoot up and over to fill Tico’s basket. Kids can help Tico fill up his car with nuts so he can begin his journey.

Pirate Ship – In the Pirate Ship, kids can band together with Pirate Piggies crew and dress like a pirate and sail the ship and share the treasure treasure.

Animal Rescue Center – Kids get a hands-on opportunity to care and help (stuffed) rainforest animals in Diego’s Animal Rescue Center. Kids can be an animal rescuer like Diego, as well as diagnose and help treat critters with the Scanner bed, First-Aid Station and fluff their fur at the Care Station.

Rainforest Maze – At the rainforest, kids can locate rainforest animals and swing across the Bobo Brothers’ monkey bars, crawl through a fallen tree, climb across Jaguar Mountain, and jump or hop across the River Rocks.

Though the exhibit is geared to the younger set, both my preschooler and grade schooler enjoyed Dora and Diego—Let’s Explore. The many interactive features, games and activities kept my kids engaged for well over an hour and a half.

At the Rocket Ship, both kids loved role-playing and pretending to blast off. Tico’s Tree and Car was a fun activity for both kids, especially my preschooler who was excited to pick nuts and fuel up himself. At the Rainforest Maze, my 8 year old enjoyed climbing and helping his little brother jump and swing around. The Animal Rescue Center was another favorite for my boys, where they were able to partner up and play vet together. I loved listening to my older son read the little signs and share interesting information throughout this super fun experience.

Dora and Diego—Let’s Explore is a fantastic interactive exhibit that’s ideal for toddlers and preschoolers, but engaging for the entire family. LSC has been one of my family’s absolute favorite museums in NJ since my older son was an infant. There’s always something for everyone in the family to enjoy. It does get crowded on the weekends and at peak times, but it’s always a lot of fun. And as winter limits family activities, what better way to spend a cold day with family than exploring at LSC.

With that in mind, in conjunction with What’s Down in Town, we’re giving away a family 4-pack of tickets to the Liberty Science Center that includes admission to Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition gallery. This giveaway will end on Friday to give you a chance to enjoy LSC over the long weekend! Please enter below:

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In order to facilitate this review, we received complimentary admission to LSC. Promotional tickets were provided for giveaway. As always, all opinions are my own.

Sesame Street Presents: The Body Exhibit at Liberty Science Center Provides Hands-On Fun

March 27, 2015 by Jen Rabulan-Bertram

Liberty Science Center is no stranger to family-friendly exhibits. In fact, as the most visited museum in NJ and the largest interactive science center in the NJ/NYC metro area, more than half a million students, teachers and parents visit LSC each year.

New this year, everyone’s favorite furry monsters have found their way to LSC. Having debuted in January 2015, Sesame Street Presents: The Body is comprised of a myriad of hands-on exhibits geared to engage the curiosity of the littlest scientists.

The exhibit, which explores the human body and how to keep it healthy, features three education zones: Your Insides, Your Outsides and Staying Healthy.

Your Insides explores bodily functions and weaves familiar monsters into the interactive features. Count’s Organ Organ teaches kids about internal organs with a musical twist; Digestion with Oscar keeps it real with a display that shows kids what happens after the food goes down the tubes and Oscar’s Sneeze Machine allows kids to pull a lever to irritate a big nose that actually sneezes on them.

Your Outsides allows kids to identify body parts while learning what they do. Wonderful Hands includes puzzles sign language games shadow puppets, among other fun activities. “Your Legs and Feet” shows kids what happens when your legs are in motion and “Use Your Head,” is another interactive feature where questions can be asked and answered about the parts of a head.

Staying Healthy overviews the importances of staying clean, making smart food choices and getting lots of rest and physical activity. Ernie and Rubber Ducky provide a fun activity with Rub-a-Dub Tub, but Mr. Hooper’s Store is the highlight for hands-on exhibit.

My 7 and 3 year old quite possibly spent 2 hours in this exhibit. From learning all about how everyone poops to kicking a soccer ball to grocery shopping non-stop, The Body kept both my gradeschooler and preschooler entertained and engaged with educational content and iconic characters we know and love.

Since we visited on a weekend, the caveat to this exhibit is the high volume of museum-goers. Museums in general can be sensory overload, even moreso when you can barely walk through a crowd of small kids. As with any museum on a weekend, be prepared to wait for interactive features and taking turns with other kids. But truly, the wait and crowds are worth it, especially for the preschool set.

We enjoyed checking out Sesame Street Presents: The Body, courtesy of LSC and JerseyMoms Media. LSC has hosted bloggers several times, but I seem to always have the most fun when my friends from JerseyMoms Media co-host.

Not only do my fellow NYC and NJ bloggers get to socialize with our families, but we get to enjoy a day of educational fun. My kids absolutely love hands-on fun—and if it was up to them, the dirtier the better. Learning how to make “blood” was one of the coolest activities I’ve seen for this age group. A big thank you to LSC and JerseyMoms Media for hosting our family.

And speaking of hosting, LSC gave us passes to giveaway to our readers! If you’d like to check out Sesame Street Presents: The Body with your family, enter for a 4 pack of tickets below!

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Full disclosure: I am being compensated for my time and travel to LSC. As always, all opinions on NKT are my own.

MoMA Adds Hoberman Sphere to its Collection

July 29, 2010July 29, 2010 by Jen Rabulan-Bertram

Since I’m on the topic of innovative design, let’s talk about spheres, specifically, the Hoberman Sphere.

You probably know it as that colorful expanding and collapsing circular ball-like toy, but did you know that the Hoberman Sphere was originally a sculpture and the product version has been used as props for marching bands, devices for physical therapy, aids for breathing exercises, and to illustrate organizational and motivational business principles?

In fact, an original Hoberman Sphere was installed in 1992 (and re-installed in 2007) as the central exhibit in the Liberty Science Center’s atrium, which happens to be one of our favorite local museums. Being greeted by the amazing 700-lb sphere at the LSC, is perhaps one of the kid’s most memorable aspects of the Jersey City facility. I love that he associated this sphere with the LSC atrium, before he associated it with a toy. Of course, now he just wants that giant sphere for his playroom!

3214276658_571fd2c26d — photo credit: CateNJ

The Hoberman Sphere, which has been in production as a toy since 1995, is considered iconic for its product design. Aptly, the Museum of Modern Art has added the Hoberman Sphere to its Action! Design Over Time collection. According to MoMA, the exhibition investigates the dimension of time in human-made objects, products and interfaces, with the aim of providing a deeper understanding of contemporary design.

The Hoberman Sphere can be viewed at the MoMA, as well as the Liberty Science Museum, and of course, the toy version can be found at stores such as Target and Amazon.

The MoMA is located at 11 West 53rd St., NY, NY.

The Liberty Science Center is located at 222 Jersey City Blvd., Jersey City, NJ, and is just a short train ride away from NYC.