the Science Center

I took Tom to the Carnegie Science Center this past Friday. My brother and his family are in town so we have been enjoying lots of local attractions lately. It is easy to forget what great resources you have in your own area.

We got into the Carnegie Science Center for only $2 each with Tom's Access Medicaid card. Life is not easy when your child has complex medical issues so take advantage of every program you can participate in.

Discounted admission is really a blessing when you are unsure about how much your child will be able to participate in at events or exhibits. You really won't know until you try it out for yourself. Public outings can be stressful for any family, and discounted admission takes away some of the pressure to have a good time so you don't waste money. I was pleasantly surprised to find many hands on exhibits at the Science Center that Tom could enjoy.

Here are some attractions in the Pittsburgh area that offer discounted admission with your Access (Medicaid and/or EBT card):

• Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh (Oakland Museums, the Science Center and the Andy Warhol Museum) I highly recommend the Carnegie Science Center. They have something for children of all ages and abilities. It's a very interactive place that kids can enjoy. I hear that you can arrange special "hands on" tours at the Museum of Natural Science for blind children but I have not explored that myself. Maybe when Tom is a year or two older.

• Children's Museum of Pittsburgh ($1 admission only for EBT Access card holders -  not Medicaid Access card holders. We learned that the hard way but they still let us in at a discount because we did not know.) I am glad we did not pay full price for this museum because there really wasn't much for Tom to do there.

• Come visit the Pittsburgh Aviary on Tot Tuesdays, where all kids five and younger get in free with a paying adult - no card needed. There is also a speical story time and activity for the kids (10:15 am and 12 pm.)

Here Tom is "playing" many different styles of guitar.

I was really impressed by how much there was for Tom to do at the Carnegie Science Center. They have a huge guitar exhibit going on right now. They have the largest playable guitar on exhibit for the kids to play and crawl on. It's HUGE! Tom has been jamming on his Dad's electric guitar for a while now so this was just perfect. Tom got to feel the inside of guitars and touch and strumm different types of strings (catgut, metal.)

The second floor was all about robots and had a model train room. That floor was very loud and almost completely visual so we didn't spend much time on the second floor. The third floor had an kitchen experiement exhibit and aquariums.

The fourth floor was where we needed to be! It had a special area for the young ones to run around and a huge water table with fountains and floating toys. Tom had a blast with the water tables. Unfortunately, I couldn't keep Tom from licking the sides of the metal water tables (ugh!) and now he has a runny nose and a cough. There were lots of little areas for the kids to explore and fun things for them to play with.

It's a shame when they put the stuff for the little ones at the furthest part of the building. By the time you make it there you are exhausted and the kids are getting cranky. I wish I would have known the section for the youngest children was on the top floor because we would have went right there after the guitar exhibit. Oh well! We will try to go again very soon.

Tom checking out a water table with his Uncle Dennis.