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Telus Spark

Water Art to examine the Earth's Atmosphere

I am not a science person. While The Husband teaches science and math, I for one am much more inclined to visit heritage sites than science centres. However, this past summer was full of stops that were "for me", so I decided to surprise him and take him to Calgary's relatively new science centre, Telus Spark. I was so glad that I did!

Stunning Montessori-like exhibit design

The Telus Spark is located directly across the road from the Calgary Zoo and features beautiful exhibits. The open-space entrance is reminiscent of Edmonton's new Royal Alberta Museum, which also features two main gallery areas stacked atop one another. Telus Spark has an incredible earth-sciences exhibit on the main floor, which was one of my favourite stops. I know it's rather "millennial" to say this, but the aesthetic of natural materials and neutral tones made the Telus Spark feel oddly relaxing and clean. I also just adored the use of art to create meaning and visual context for otherwise complex scientific concepts.

More maps for The Husband

The main floor also held an area devoted to hands-on learning at a scale which I have never seen before. There were countless stations where guests could interact with simple machines, using the parts provided by the Spark. It was incredible to see so many adults participating and finding pure joy in discovering. In addition, this area had a Rube Goldberg Machine, which I could have watched for hours, and nearly did! Unfortunately, this only ran a few times a day, but thankfully we were there early enough to find a good place to watch it run before a crowd arrived to do the same.

Electronics Station

Upstairs was an area with a similar level of dedication to hands-on learning, but this time was based on varied activities such as robotics, sound technology, electronics, and much more. There were several stations throughout this exhibit, which kept both The Husband and I entertained and engaged. It was actually a lot of fun having him be "The Expert" as he led me through the stations and filled in my gaps in knowledge, as usually, I get to do that for him at heritage sites. What I also really enjoyed about this area was that they had common household objects, like old CD Players, for us to take apart and explore. It was actually really neat to get inside those objects and actually see how they work!

Another favourite of mine was the Children's Gallery. WOW! The aesthetic was again very Montessori-like, and was filled with twig-trees which were in theme with their area of the gallery. From shapes to sounds, to art, and more, this children's gallery is possibly the best I have seen. There was a Tree House for the kids, and a place for them to make slime, and water stations, and music areas, puppet theatre areas, and block-based learning areas. It was honestly just wonderful, and I wish I had had the opportunity for such a beautiful place to learn back when I was a kid. In addition to all this, within the main hall of the Spark, they were running interactive programming which was available for the public to participate in. I thought this was a great use of an otherwise waste of space and was a fantastic way to get kids excited as soon as they entered the building.

Now, unfortunately, I was not able to find a pin or a patch from the Telus Spark. They didn't even have one that said "The City of Calgary" or "Science Rules". Nothing. So, alas, my jacket will bear no memory of my fantastic visit to the Telus Spark. However, I will be going back, and hopefully, by then they will have something for me to remember them by!

Recommended Time: 2-2.5 Hours

 Highlights: The overall look and feel of the Telus Spark was simply beautiful. Sometimes science centres feel innately dated and dirty from all the hands-on elements. However, this museum was just beautiful. Also, the theatre there is crazy cool, as the screen wraps under your feet and way above your head! Definitely worth checking out.

Missed: Unfortunately, we went on an incredibly busy Saturday, and we missed out on the rotating exhibit. I would have liked to have been able to see some content that was specifically geared for adults, but I understand that this is rarely the core audience of Science Centres.

Ratings
Family Friendly: 5/5
Cleanliness: 5/5
Staff Knowledge: 3/5
Content: 5/5
Experience: 4/5
Overall Experience: 4/5








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