Thursday, January 15, 2009

The Cultural Center at Shonan-dai

Feel free to touch everything!!!
What a fun place! It is called the Cultural Center at Shonan-dai. Right now the planetarium and star theater are closed for repairs. That is what is in that big globe. No worries. There is still plenty to do!
We had the whole place to ourselves until three different preschools came in. Believe it or not, there was still plenty to do without stepping on each other's feet.
Those kids above are playing in the Forest area. I would call it a prehistoric area. Those are dinosaur eggs they are climbing through.
The second floor of the Children's Center is the Loop Gallery. It is filled with different things about space. They have a video gallery, computer games, and a "terescope" of infrared rays among other things. Unfortunately, if you don't speak or read Japanese, you may be a little lost up here.
Back downstairs now. In this area, you can paint up your face. There are a bunch of photos pinned above the mirrors and you can make your face up to look like them if you choose.
This area is called, "Musical Instruments of the World". There are a few instruments in glass cases, but the rest are open for you to try any of them out. There are plenty of drums, but my favorite are all the instruments you play by plucking them with your thumb.

Near the forest area is this honeycomb. You're not really supposed to climb on it, but it was comically big and I like comically big things.
What are you looking at?
This! This area had a bunch of different lenses to alter things.
These pyramids have things you can look through and see different things. There are also little experiments in between the pyramids. There are kaleidoscopes, a microscope that kids can manipulate on their own to see what different things look like magnified. There is also a fun-house mirror.
This is the Costumes of a World area. Take off your shoes and see what you look like dressed as an Egyptian child.
There is also an area called "Toys of the World" where you can play with toys from all over the world. The whole place is very hands on.
Admission is 300-yen for adults. Adults are considered high school age and above.
100-yen for kids from the age of 6 to high school.
Kids under the age of 6 are free.
It's closed on Mondays.

3 comments:

Jamie said...

Now this looks like fun! Will have to add it to the list.

SabrinaT said...

Is this in Tokyo? Do you remember what train stop you all used? We are looking for something to do with the boys this weekend! Thanks in advance.

Dollars to Yen said...

Sabrina,
Take the train to the Shonandai station. You'll want Exit G. There are maps in English all over the station. Just walk out exit and it will be a block or so up on your left. Trust me when I say you can't miss it!

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