It was a beautifully warm day so I decided to pack up the car and take my oldest two kids to Nakatsugawa Children's Science Museum and Momoyama Park for the day. My wife put together a picnic and off we went.
We played in the park and had a fantastic picnic but as the temperature climbed to 29°C, it was time to find some shade. So we decided to go into the Children's Science Museum.
The Nakatsugawa Children's Science Museum, otherwise known as the Wakuwaku (exciting) Dome, is one of five museums in Nakatsuguawa. You can buy one ticket discounted for all museums at the tourism center next to the station.
Since food and drink are not allowed inside the museum, we put our food and drinks in lockers just inside the entrance and were ready to explore.
We started in an area dedicated to mechanics. My son became enthralled in a manually operated machine where a ball is carried up an elevator and goes through a series of paths to reach the bottom. The path is random so kids can guess where the ball will go. I think my son spent a good 10 minutes just spinning the elevator wheel and watching the balls roll down the different paths. He loved it most when the ball hit bells and a cymbal.
We then on to the energy area where my daughter's mind perked. Recently my in-laws installed solar panels on their house. My daughter has not only been curious about the process but loves saying the word in Japaneae - Taiyo kohatsuden.
One display showed how solar panels worked and allowed her to see how they can be applied. Next to this was an area where we rode bicycles in an attempt to make energy. It demonstrated how much is needed to power lights and other electronic devices.
We proceeded on to a display where we adjusted prisms and mirrors to get a beam of light to hit a sensor which produced a sound. Then one on eye tricks which included "ghosting"; a process where your eye retains an image well after a flash goes off. In this case, you walk by, a strobe goes off and your shadow is left for a few seconds. It was kind of creepy.
My kids ran to the second floor where they could learn about communication and sound. They shouted into large tubes to learn about echos, spoke into some plastic tubes to learn about how sound travels and bounces and finally tested taking into a large dish which sends sounds across the room to another dish.
One area had microscopes where my kids look at bugs and leaves a very close range. My son wasn't as into it as my daughter.
Nakatsugawa is surrounded by mountains and until the 1960s had serious flooding and landslides. The final stop was an area the explained what it looked in the 1960s and what was done to prevent future landslides. Essentially a series of walls and stone barriers were built along the rivers going up the mountains to regulate water flow and prevent massive landslides.
The Nakatsugawa Children’s Science museum is not a large, nor super high-tech museum but simple, engaging and a good way to introduce some scientific basics to kids periodically hosting special hands-on events for kids to learn about specific aspects of science from biology to astronomy.
As we left, the staff gave our kids the choice of a homemade pinwheel and bamboo whistle. Both too pinwheels which they played with for the next few days while saying they wanted to go back.
