By Micaela Williamson
After much anticipation, the Children’s Science Center Lab will open its doors at Fair Oaks Mall on Saturday, June 20. The 5,400-square-foot facility features hands-on, interactive STEM-based activities and exhibits for children.
“This facility offers children the opportunity to have fun and extend learning within a hands-on, interactive museum setting, unique in our region. After many years of being a museum without walls, we are thrilled to make such experiences possible every day and for many more children at our new lab at Fair Oaks Mall,” says Nene Spivy, executive director of the Children’s Science Center.
The Children’s Science Center Lab is set up with four different experience zones:
-An Experiment Bar allows children to order from a changing menu of experiments based on scientific fundamentals.
-The Inspiration Hub is packed with stimulating exhibits that relate science to the real world such as: Power the City, Catching the Wind, Chain Reaction, Gear Table and the Keva Plank Construction Zone.
-A Tinker Shop that is dedicated to open-ended creating and engineering projects. Kids can tackle challenges like building structures and crafts, engaging with circuits and robotics and dissecting machines and toys.
-The Discovery Zone is a hands-on place geared towards children under 5. Exhibits such as Light and Shadow Play, Imagination Playground and science Discovery Boxes allow little ones to learn through play.
Patricia Hall, author of Fairfax Family Fun, visited the lab with her 7-year old son during a preview night.
“It has a more sophisticated look than I expected,” Hall says. “The Experiment Bar where kids can pick an experiment to do (with the help of a staff member) is very elegant and capable of serving dozens of people at a time. We spent two hours engaged in all the activities at the lab and only left because the facility was closing.”
Exhibits and programs will be changed regularly so that children can return for new learning experiences. The Children’s Science Center Lab facility also contains a flexible space called the Garage, which will be used for camps, classes, workshops, birthday parties and occasional mini expos to showcase regional STEM talent in action within local industry and among area youth.
Admission to the lab is $12 for visitors ages 2 years and older. Children under 2 are admitted free. Tickets are $11 for seniors and members of the military, and the group rate (groups of 10 or more) is $10 per person. For more information, visit childsci.org or call 703-648-3130.
The lab is part of a larger mission. The Children’s Science Center will be opening a world-class 30,000-square-foot accessible museum, with room for more expansion, in 2020 in Dulles. Progress and artist renderings of the future facility can be seen on the Children’s Science Center website.
Children’s Science Center Lab
11948 Fair Oaks Mall, lower level near Sears
Fairfax, VA 22033
Micaela Williamson is a coauthor of local travel guide “Kid Trips Northern Virginia,” an extraordinary resource that provides descriptions, useful information and insider tips for hundreds of local destinations. Micaela is also an award-winning blogger who enjoys supporting area businesses and scouting out family-friendly venues with her two young sons.