[Saga Trip] Yumeginga - A Space Science Museum Where You Can See, Touch, Experience, and Nurture Intellectual Curiosity
I'm Kei, a mom of a first-grade boy.
On the second day of our Saga trip,
after visiting the Takeo City Library, we visited the Saga Prefectural Space & Science Museum Yumeginga also located in Takeo City.
Saga Prefectural Space & Science Museum Yumeginga
The Saga Prefectural Space & Science Museum Yumeginga opened in 1999.
Earth Discovery Zone - Saga Discovery Zone - Space Discovery Zone - it features three exhibition zones, a planetarium, and an astronomical observatory.
We didn't watch the planetarium show this time, but I will introduce the three exhibition zones along with photos.
Earth Discovery Zone (1st-2nd Floors)
The Earth Discovery Zone allows you to experience various forces of the Earth, such as gravity, magnetism, and wind power.
What was especially interesting was the "Space Cycling".
You can experience what it feels like to cycle through space by riding a bicycle across a rope stretched at a height of 4.5 meters.
Though I don't remember the story at all.
My son was riding the Space Cycling with a calm face.
I wondered if he was okay, so I called out to him when he returned, and he said, "It was scary..."
So that was a face of fear and tension. Haha.
The secret to why it doesn't wobble or fall even when crossing a single rope is the 150kg weight attached under the bicycle.
It is truly a device where you can feel the power of gravity.
Saga Discovery Zone (1st Floor)
The Saga Discovery Zone allows you to learn about the history of the Earth and the evolution of life, as well as the land, diverse natural environments, and living creatures of Saga Prefecture.
There are dinosaur skeletal models, exhibits of fossils and minerals excavated from Saga's strata, as well as an aquarium and a touch pool.
What caught my son's interest was the "Earthquake Experience Machine".
My son has seen news about earthquakes and has experienced strong tremors a few times.
He seems to perceive earthquakes as a familiar disaster in his own way.
In the machine, we experienced a seismic intensity of 6.
It was so scary that my legs went weak from the stronger-than-expected shaking, but I felt the importance of "knowing" the strength and terror of an earthquake by experiencing tremors close to a real one.
Space Discovery Zone (3rd Floor)
Learn about the mysteries of the universe in the Space Discovery Zone.
It underwent a complete renewal this year, 2024, marking its 25th anniversary.
You can learn about the birth and history of the universe, stars, rockets, artificial satellites, and more through videos and attractions.
The zone itself feels just like outer space.
There are even cockpit-like booths that are exciting just to look at!
There are also interactive devices that get you moving, such as a plastic bottle rocket, digital attractions, and a gravity experience jump (which my son couldn't do due to height restrictions), and my son enjoyed them too.
Lakeside Restaurant Hanayasume
For lunch, we ate at the "Lakeside Restaurant Hanayasume" inside the museum.
I ordered the Sicilian rice.
Sicilian rice is a local gourmet dish that originated in a coffee shop in Saga City around 1975.
I was a bit worried about the calories from all the pork and mayonnaise, but if you eat it with vegetables, it's plus-minus zero! (Not really.)
It was delicious!
Summary
My son has been curious since he was little.
Until now, he mostly asked questions about things close to him, but recently he has started asking things like
"How far do numbers go?"
"How were the first humans created?"
"What is beyond the universe?"
He has started to have large-scale questions about the beginnings and endings of things.
I wonder if reading books and visiting museums and science centers on a regular basis has had some influence on this?
(When I threw the 'which came first, the chicken or the egg' debate at him, he held his head and said, 'Wait, it's the egg, right? Hmm? Or the chicken?' Sorry, Mom doesn't really know either. But my son seems to like those kinds of discussions.)
Like with this trip to Yumeginga, there are still things at museums and science centers that are too difficult for my son.
However, even if he can't understand everything, he learns by seeing, touching, and playing.
I felt that this accumulates as experience within the child and leads to new interests and discoveries.
Even so, between the Takeo City Library and Yumeginga, Takeo City's educational facilities are truly attractive.
I want to visit Takeo City again and again, and I wish my own prefecture would enrich its educational projects in this way.
This marks the end of my record of our Saga trip, where we enjoyed plenty of play and learning as a family.
Thank you for reading until the end.
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