This was a big hit as the kid's watched the two racers.

Here is a closer shot of the water play game.

Star Locator that showed the constellations.

There was a Rollercoaster where the kid's could release a marble on a track to show the different forms of energy.

 Here is the Rollercoaster track where they could see if the marbles stayed on the track or not.

There was a Harmonograph which according to this sign is a "mechanical apparatus that employs pendulums to create a geometric image.

My son and his friend are mesmorized by how the Harmonograph is drawing their geometric design.

Here's a close up of the pen being held by a mechanical arm to make the drawing.

Here is a finished product.

After the children explored the discovery area, we then went into the darkened room to watch a film titled, "Oasis in Space".  The ceiling was dome shaped so it felt like we were in space.  This was my first trip to a planetarium along with my children so we enjoyed the experience.   Here we are listening to the presenter.

Before the film, the presenter asked the kids which planet had no water on it.  After several guesses the answer was Venus.  (I didn't know that).  So during "Oasis in Space" we went on a simulated journey to outer space where we got to visit each planet and land on the surface of each one and we even landed on the moon!  It was a very neat and educational experience and my 3 year old enjoyed trying to catch the stars in space!  I got a little dizzy when the film made it seem like we were spinning on our travels though :)  The presenter also showed us several different constellations as if we were laying outside the planetarium on the grass looking up at the stars.  This was very interesting, as well.

My little astronauts going to to the moon:

 

Please join Lynda, Anna-Marie and myself for February's No Ordinary Blog Hop (NOBH).  You can link up any or all your posts for the entire month of February.  The blogger with the most posts will be awarded a Star Blogger Award.  Click below for details!