A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of attending an event at zeum, an interactive computer, television, and animation space for children. (It is actually the San Francisco Children's Museum, morphed to keep up with technology.) I was there to learn about a computer game for preschoolers, but remained in only one room of the actual zeum facility. My boys were in school during that time, so didn't get a chance to see the space. Thankfully, we were invited back to actually delve into the zeum experience itself, so my boys and I spent the afternoon today on our zeum adventure.
At first my oldest was hesitant. He wanted to stay home on his vacation day to play video games. But, I explained that he'd be producing things on his own at zeum. He loves creating his own video game levels, so it made sense that he'd enjoy creating his own animation. Once he saw zeum, he agreed that the excursion was worth it. (He's even considering holding his birthday party there.)
My youngest was game from the beginning. I had told him about zeum right after I saw it in October, so he's been eager to go ever since. He's quite the "ham" so I knew he'd be interested in putting on a show.
I admit that selecting a school holiday to visit may not have been the best choice, for the animator's studio was pretty packed, and one impatient lady let loose on me. Thankfully, the rest of the exhibit space wasn't over-run with bodies, so although there were definitely a lot of visitors today, the space was set up in a way to not over-crowd. Still, I think for our next visit, we'll choose a teacher in-service day unique to our district rather than a day that everyone has off!
My kids spent a lot of time at each station. Their attention was definitely captured, and they certainly weren't bored. They could have spent many hours there, if it weren't for the rumbling of our bellies.
For an experience that is so visual, perhaps it will make more of an impression if I show a few things rather than simply tell about them.
Here is a video showing the green-screen slide. The kids goof around while the camera records them on the green set, and then it plays back the scene so they can watch it. The kids select whichever background they desire, so they can swim with fish, float through space, go down a vortex, and so forth:
And then here is the video (which my kids dubbed "The Destroyer") that they created in the animation studio. It was SUPER easy to get our video - the zeum staff just emailed it to us! In fact, the email arrived while we were outside playing on the playground. Super-quick turnaround. If you want, you can burn a DVD instead.
My boys had a great deal of fun creating this animation. I wish we had a little more time to do something really awesome, but there was a rude woman (unrelated to the zeum staff) who was counting every second until her kids could use the equipment.
The staff in the studio were very sweet, but I think for such a busy day they perhaps needed a megaphone or a more streamlined, "transparent" process. As it was, we put our names on a list to enter the studio. Our wait was about an hour, which isn't bad considering that this was a school holiday. Plus, there was plenty to do while we waited, such as the stop-animation with paper people, creating a puppet show, or playing with the green-screen. One suggestion I'd have is to mount a digital screen near the animator's studio that would display the queue with the groups that were allowed to enter in a larger, bold font. It was hard to hear the staff people call out who was next, so I stayed close to them while my kids played. (I could tell some people were concerned that they were skipped over, or that "Katie" took "Katy's" spot and so forth, hence my idea about a computerized list that shows the line.)
Once inside, the staff person directed us to a table to create our characters. As far as I knew, we were then free to go to the camera area when we were ready. Turns out there was a separate waiting list for the camera, but I didn't know this. So - that created some confusion. I certainly didn't intend to line-hop, but since two cameras were completely free for several minutes and my kids had their ideas and clay figures ready to go, I figured we could step in. It wasn't until later that we realized our mistake. (Again, perhaps a computerized queue for the cameras could exist such that it would be perfectly clear whose turn it was?)
The rest of the exhibits are essentially open and available for everyone without any sort of wait. There are even a few very simple but exciting things to do, such as a LEGO wall and a place to create framed Colorforms works of art. We didn't hit all of them because we were hungry, so ended up going out to eat (psssst! Mo's Grill above the bowling alley behind zeum was totally empty and yummy!) - and then although the kids thought about re-entering zeum, they wanted to play on the playground for "just a few minutes," which turned into "until it got dark and zeum was already closed." I'm sure we will be back to explore more areas of the museum, because there is definitely plenty more adventure to be had!
I can see how each trip to zeum can be unique - because after all, kids have different ideas on different days, so might do a sports-related video on one day, but an animated snowball fight the next. They might want to do a music video one day, but work in digital animation the next. The possibilities truly are endless.
Thank you, zeum, for hosting us today. We definitely had an exciting adventure, and we will absolutely return!
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Disclaimer: We received free admission to zeum, as well as two tickets to the carousel. I will receive no further commission or compensation for completing this post. The link to "colorforms" goes to amazon and has an affiliate code embedded in it such that I get a few cents should you purchase something on that site.
