We think this review of Animal Grossology is informative and enlightening, and we want to share it with you. Jersey Family Fun is one of the Academy’s blogging ambassadors.
By Lauran Jones
My daughter is constantly asking me “how does this work” and “why does this happen,” so I was beyond thrilled when I was offered the chance to take a trip to the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University. This would be the first time my preschooler was going to a museum. Not only were we super excited because this her first trip to a museum, but we were also going to get a sneak peak of their brand new exhibit – ‘Animal Grossology.’ We invited some friends to go on our gross adventure with us and headed out to Philadelphia. I knew her curious little mind would just love the wonders that this museum has to offer.
About the ‘Animal Grossology’ Exhibit
The ‘Animal Grossology’ exhibit is based upon the best-selling Grossology children’s book series by Sylvia Branzei and offers a fresh take on gross things that animals do. The exhibit is on view until Aug. 30th and uses play to introduce young people to the world of biology and features sophisticated animatronics and imaginative animated characters to engage visitors.
Ewwww
A hugely funny and popular area of the exhibit was called “Slimy, Slimier, Slimiest!” This is an interactive game where a snail, sea cucumber and a hagfish all compete to see who is the ultimate slimiest. They do this in a manner similar to the dating game as each contestant tries to woo the audience members with facts about themselves. These facts help children to learn that in many cases slime is necessary in order for the particular species to function. The children got to push buttons on the Slime-o-meter to guess who indeed is the slimiest.
Blood Suckers
Slime isn’t the only thing that animals need in order to survive. Insects feed off of human blood. I know, disgusting…but very true and ‘Animal Grossology’ does a great job of turning something so disgusting into a fun learning experience with an insect station that allowed visitors to squeeze pumps and watch as huge model insects become filled with blood – surprisingly the tic was the insect that loved blood the most! There was also a game in which children can vote on what color blood animals have. Each time they push the correct answer button their empty container fills with fake blood-first to get to the top wins!
Vomit Munchers
The grossest part of the exhibit was when we learned about how some animals eat their food. The hilarious Freddie the Fly explains that he doesn’t have teeth so in order to eat. He first vomits on anything he lands on food wise, making it all mushy, in order for him to slurp it up – definitely not for the faint at heart! More importantly we learned that flies carry many germs and that is best never to eat anything a fly has landed on! We played with a statue of a cow and helped pass food along her FOUR stomachs.
The Gas We Pass
Children love talking about poop and the’ Animal Grossology’ exhibit encouraged just that! In Mr. Penguin’s ice house a pile of poo was left. We played a game in which we had to match the poo to the perpetrator and in the end solved the case of the party pooper! We got the chance to smell what a skunk scent was like and even watched a video of a tapeworm squirming around in someone’s belly and then measured how long an actual tapeworm would be!
A Few of Our Favorite Areas in the Academy of Natural Sciences ‘Animal Grossology’ Exhibit Were
• Shooting babies out of a frog’s mouth
• Helping Peter the Penguin find the party poopers
• Pumping blood into a tick
• Playing the Who’s Slimiest Game
We had such a silly and interesting time at the Animal Grossology exhibit. Who knew that science could be so much fun?!
This review originally was published on JerseyFamilyFun.com on May 27.
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