A Staycation Spring Break offers a chance to explore new corners of LA and our idea today will do just that. A clever exhibit that will help your kids get excited about science … by using magic!
The Impossible Science Lab is located in the newly opened Discovery Cube LA, which you can find in the Hansen Dam Recreational Area of the San Fernando valley. The focus of the Discovery Cube is to promote the wonders of science and this particular exhibit couldn’t do it better. An excellent exhibit is open only through March 26, making it a perfect spring break activity.
Brought to you by Jason Latimer, a world champion magician turned scientist turned curator, this exhibit is really engaging for kids of all ages as well as their parents. The exhibit is upstairs on the second story of the Discovery Cube. There are tables with bottles and liquids and bowels set up around the room, but as you approach each one is a hands on experiment in the science of magic and everyone gets into it. You can walk on water, try to create square balloons, suspend water, bend light, discover the secret of invisibility or make a battery from pennies.
Each station asks the child or adult to spend time first witnessing and then creating an illusion, only to discover it’s not illusion it’s science! Then comes Jason Latimer himself who does a half-hour show that blows the mind with magic. Mr. Latimer’s intention is to create wonder and that the wonder will cause us to ask questions and the questions will lead us to science. This fits in perfectly with a science space dedicated to promoting STEM. The show itself was really fun and many kids stayed behind to talk to Mr. Latimer and in fact to ask questions — his exact goal.
Mr. Latimer developed the exhibit at the Reuben H Fleet Science Center in San Diego where it has reached about 50,000 participants in the last couple years. This is his first venture to LA and he intends to bring it back a year from now for next spring.
The Impossible Science Lab takes place every day from March 19 to March 26 for 30 minutes at 11 a.m., 1 p.m., 2 p.m. and 3 p.m. Discovery Cube’s Los Angeles campus is located at 11800 Foothill Boulevard. The Impossible Science Lab is included in general admission pricing. Special promotional admission pricing runs through April 30, 2016: adults ($10.00), seniors ($10.00), children ages 3-14 ($10.00) and children ages 2 and under are free. Tickets are available onsite or online at http://www.discoverycube.org/la/.
Much to our surprise, the Discovery Cube shares a parking lot with the Hansen Dam, which has lots of recreational spaces and activities open to the public. The Dam was created as a flood control dam in 1940 by the Army Corp of Engineers, and was named after horse ranchers whose land was seized to create the dam. The recreational facility has a golf course, horse facilities, a public swimming pool and a lake for boating. There are some hiking trails in the Big Tujunga Wash, and here is a local stable that offers trail rides.
Discovery Cube Los Angeles // 11800 Foothill Blvd, // Los Angeles, CA 91342
Written by Cary Bickley
