A Day at the Discovery Museum | NJ storytelling photographer

“Play is the highest form of research.” – Albert Einstein

I'm a huge of believer in the importance of play in the development of a child.  I had grandiose plans of spending most of summer vacation taking my girls on fabulous outdoor adventures, letting them play till they dropped, and, of course, photographing it all in amazing sunlight.  Well, then life got in a way with its obligations, as it often does.  And then. . .my oldest broke her foot when she tripped and fell.  She tripped and fell not during a fabulous outdoor adventure, but while walking in our house.  Luckily, she was put in a walking boot rather than a cast, but she hasn't really wanted to leave the house much.

The other week we needed a change of pace, so we drove down to the Garden State Discovery Museum, which we had been to a few times before.  I thought we'd stay a couple of hours and then the girls would be ready to head home.  We were at the museum for over six hours.  Six hours of pure imaginative play.  And bonus: I discovered some really cool artificial light there.  So I took out my camera because it's usually with me and that's what I do.  Here are some highlights.

We checked out the science room and the glow-in-the-dark cave.

There was a lot of taking orders, cooking and serving at the Silver Dollar Diner.

Much time was spent in the ambulance and veterinarian's office.

Broken-foot kid even climbed through the indoor treehouse and built a plumbing system.

They loved the bubble station, especially being inside a giant bubble, beacuse, who wouldn't?

But the place we spent the most time, the place my girls felt right at home, was, of course, the stage.  Drama queens for life.