The science of entertaining kids

ON A whim last week, I asked my seven-year old if she fancied coming with me to the Science Gallery in Trinity College.

I had tickets to the preview of their summer exhibition, Biorhythm: Music and the Body, which explores sound and how it affects us physically and emotionally.

Apart from the slightly manic promises in the gallery’s publicity emails – of a hairy banjo and sonic furniture – I wasn’t too sure what to expect. Still, the young one was up for adventure, so off we went.

We first made our way through the big crowd to a “theremin”, a curious plank of wood with antennae sticking out of it. It makes eerie, alien-movie wails if you wave your hands over it.

The trick was to find the spot where your body was in tune with the instrument, according to the helpful Science Gallery volunteer. For the adults who stepped up to the plate, it seemed to involve much grim concentration and flailing of arms.

But my daughter walked up, stuck her hands out over the board and got it instantly. “The kids always figure it out the quickest,” smiled the volunteer.

Charged by her theremin success, my daughter bounded on to a series of installations that let you “play” music by donning an apron and sweeping a camera up and down your tummy while software converts the visual patterns into sound.

We had a lie-down on a sonic bed thumping rhythms through the mattress. We cantered down the musical stairs to machines that play music with your pulse and can make a virtual dancer boogie.

By now the volunteers were calling time, but the child was looking for more.

As I dragged her out the door with promises of returning to see the several installations we had missed, she uttered words that were music to my own ears: “I’m really glad you brought me.”

Biorhythm is now running at the Science Gallery, Pearse Street, Dublin 2. For more see sciencegallery.com