Adventure at the Clay Center

Fun at the Clay Center

We used to live in Nashville, TN before moving to WV.  On a visit back to TN last year, we took a tour of the Adventure Science Center.  We decided to buy a family membership which is good at many museums and centers across the country…including the Clay Center in WV.  This weekend, we decided to head for the Clay Center to see what we could get into.  We arrived at 11:45 or so on Sunday morning and basically had the place to ourselves.  We took in a planetarium show which included the movie, “Space Oddities”  as well as the typical tour of the constellations (which was excellent).  Fun at the Clay Center

We exited out of the planetarium directly into the art gallery which had a special display of WV artists in addition to the gallery-owned pieces.  We each picked our favorite pieces.

Fun at the Clay Center

In particular, Abigail liked a modern piece and wanted a picture.  Of course, we couldn’t take a picture so she is determined to write the artist a letter asking for a print of the piece.  I suspect she will succeed.  Anyhow, it was great to see them excited to pick their favorites (though they were ready to move on as soon as they had found their pieces).  We ventured into two displays they had including Milton Gardener’s Earth City and Health Royale.

Fun at the Clay Center

Fun at the Clay Center

Earth City was a cool model of an old-timey road-side attraction where the kids could play with water to discover how it flows as well as see all sorts of gizmos to move water and soak unsuspecting bystanders.  They had boots attached to a conveyor belt that the kids manually operated to fill a bin that occasionally dumped.  We watched as water trickled down through all sorts of things and saw how steam (fog) travels through a valley.

Fun at the Clay Center

In Health Royale, there were a number of games, but in particular the kids enjoyed a Hollywood-squares-esque game where various body parts helped the kids answer questions about oral hygeine.  Isaac loved the talking brain especially.

Fun at the Clay Center

Finally, we went to an exhibit called the Gizmo Factory that was all about fun with physics.  The kids got to reflect lasers through fog via mirrors, pull themselves up in a chair with pulleys, see how a computer translated their dance into sounds, play a laser harp, and watch water and a ball defy gravity.

All told, we spent 3 full hours exploring the fun at the museum.  The best part was that it was all free (aside from our membership which has already paid for itself).  

The kids had a blast and would have stayed longer if we would have let them.

We’ll definitely go back and soon.  Next week they decorate for Christmas which includes a display of model trains and trees decorated in various styles from around the world.  I can’t wait to go back!

Fun at the Clay Center

Fun at the Clay Center

Fun at the Clay Center

Fun at the Clay Center

Fun at the Clay Center

6 thoughts on “Adventure at the Clay Center

  1. Welcome to WV! We enjoy getting feedback from guests and are happy to hear you enjoyed your visit – and received the benefit of a reciprocal membership.

    If you’d like to pick out more favorite pieces of art, check out our online collection at http://www.avampatoart.com/.

    The holiday exhibit is always fun so we hope you’ll come back and see us for that. It will open on Friday, November 28 and we’re extending our art galler and gift shop hours that day (open ’til 8 pm) to take part in the Charleston ArtWalk http://www.charlestonartwalk.com/.

  2. Ah ha ha ha!!!
    So, there I was, looking at Abigail’s feet, trying to determine if those were truly PINK cowboy boots on her feet (I want a pair!!!!), so I clicked on the picture of her on the hoisty-thingy (9th picture down). I am still not certain about the boots, but I did get quite a surprise. Do this now. Seriously. Click on that picture right now to enlarge it.
    How’d you get it to do this? 🙂

    🙂 🙂

  3. Missy – we had a blast and are so thrilled that Charleston has such a place! It’s incredible! We’ll check out the art walk. It looks like fun and I had fully planned to avoid shopping at the usual places on Black Friday anyhow!

    Farmgirl – Abigail does indeed have pinbk cowgirl boots. She wore them to school today! The effect of picture you clicked on was an accident, but I htink it is cool. I will leave it like that! I just made the original pic a link to another pic. It is supposed to be a larger version of the same pic…but I linked to the wrong one! Handsome bugger, eh?

  4. For some reason, I couldn’t get the video to play for me. I’m certain that it is not the video’s fault but mine. Hmmm….

    Anyway, I realized that when I typed up that pattern for the Basketweave Knit Dishcloth — I left out some important bits. Yikes! I’ve fixed it now so I hope you haven’t already cast on and discovered my loopy mistake.

    🙂

    Anyway, I love the pictures and I really hope your daughter gets that print. How terrific that she’s into art and so faithful about following through with letters to the artists. What a great young woman she’s becoming!

    The kids look so happy exploring the museum. I’ve bookmarked the museum info. so I can take our future children one day.

    Blessings!
    Lacy

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