Field Trip: Franklin Institute, Philadelphia

This weekend hubby and I took turns going to the Philadelphia temple while the other watched the kiddos.  Happily, the temple is an easy walk from the Franklin Institute and a bunch of future field trip spots --  The Academy of Natural Sciences is next on my list.  We went to the Franklin Institute last year to see the Terracotta Warriors.  That day we didn't have time to visit all the regular exhibits and the kids have been anxious to go back and see the rest. 

The Train Factory exhibit:

 They had wonderful displays showing the way steam, electric, and maglev trains work differently.

 

 

 I never get tired of the "touch an asteroid" exhibits. It fell to the earth from space!

 Lots of people are excited about going to Mars.

The exhibit about flight made us wish Grandpa J was with us.   

 The kids sat in a fighter jet.

  They each tried on some wings in a wind chamber to see what happens when you tilt them this way or that.

 

In the body exhibit, they went through the giant heart several times.  We entered via the vena cava into right atrium, through the tricuspid valve into the right ventricle.  We talked about how sometimes people have the valve replaced in their heart... Then on into the lungs to get oxygenated. it is a detailed model.

 They also had a real video of a heart surgery projecting on a mannequin.  I watched in fascination and then proceeded to stagger and nearly black out. Seriously. Just as bad watching a video as watching my kiddos get stitches in real life. Good thing I did public health instead of medicine.

 The brain exhibit had this fun jungle gym area representing the many synapses and pathways that messages are transmitted within the brain.

Another part of the brain exhibit demonstrated perception vs. reality and how you can visually trick your brain. 

 We went back to the kids favorite sports exhibit from last time.  We had fun playing all the games.

  Daddy showed off how high he could jump.

 They also had a lego exhibit... of course they could have stayed there all day.

 A liberty bell made of legos.

 A model of Philadelphia made of legos.

Family Schooling: The Franklin Institute -- Special Exhibit of China's Terracotta Warriors

Getting to see these ten 2000 year old terracotta warriors on display was an amazing homeschool adventure. With traffic and such it took us about 4 hours to get to the Franklin Institute, but it was definitely worth the trip.  They are going to be on display in the US in only two locations. 

When we arrived their were only a few people in the exhibit.

  The kids were able to do some hands on activities:

  I spent a lot of time looking at the display showing the building process. Knowing a little about pottery making gave me a better sense of the work that went into making these. I kept thinking things like, "2000 warriors of this size would take an incredible amount of clay!"
 Some parts, like arms and legs, were mass produced with molds. Details to make each one look unique were added by craftsmen later in the assembly process. According to the description cards they have unearthed 2000 warriors so far and are not done! After 40 years of careful digging they have yet to reach the emperor's tomb. They estimate that about 700,000 workers/slaves must have been employed in the creation of this tomb.

This hands on station was showing the kids how much faster and more consistent molds make the process.

 

 Each warrior had a plaque telling when it was excavated, how many of that type of guy they have found, and other details.

 Their were special effects in a couple of places that scared miss L.  This hallway was supposed to give us a sense of what walking through the tunnels of 2000 warriors would have been like.

 

 Projections showed how they would have looked when they still had their lacquer or glaze.