4 Kids: iQ Park

On weekends at 16:00 there is a Science Show, but only in Czech. I’m told it’s still educational; for example, the Van de Graaff electricity generator will make your hair rise whether you speak the language or not. However, weekends are very crowded. A staff member recommended we come on a weekday, and I’m so glad we did. We were given a demo of the Van de Graaff, a lightning generator, and a tour of the lab. Sarka and Kuba, who worked there, spoke perfect English, and everyone was helpful. Call ahead, if you are concerned. You can order the Science Show in English for groups of 20 -30 people. If you’re going on a weekday, you have the place to yourselves. Should you take your kid out of school for a day trip? It’s your call – mine are only in preschool, and they learned so much in one day, that I would say yes.

The English-language version of the website is not a reflection of all that is available; try the Czech pahe and run it through Google translate. They are currently working on an English-language brochure. The exhibits on the top two floors, the new additions, have everything written in English (and Polish and German) on laminated cards kept in a slot behind the main Czech description. The ground floor is missing most data in English.

If you’ve ever been to Boston Science Museum or the fantastic Exploratorium in San Francisco, you will know what this place is about. It’s such a welcome change from many Czech museums, where not only can kids not touch anything, but they need to be led by hand the whole time. This is not how kids learn. But build a bunch of hard-wearing, colorful, and intuitive pieces, and kids will learn without even realizing it – just as a byproduct of their play. There were many large wooden constructions – like huge Montessori learning tools. The top floor was dimly lit and filled with machines that demonstrated principles of electricity, light waves, and how sound waves can move a wall of CDs. You could see what your weight was on Earth, Venus, or Mars, and the rest of the planets. There was even a “Bed of Nails” where pushing a button activated a grid of nails that lifted you up – but, although they were sharp, it didn’t hurt – because your weight was distributed evenly.
The water installation on the first floor showed Archimedes’ principle and how electricity can be generated from water flow. You could also walk through a miniature model of a coal mine – the kind the region is known for.

Most experiments were intuitive, but I thought a few could have used more information. The “body” room, where you can place organs into models of the human torso, had no identifying labels on the organs, and no pictorial guide to help you stack things right. It would have been more educational if there was a clear right or wrong way to do it. One “physics” exhibit said to “push the ball from a random point in a parallel way to the parabola axis and watch its trajectory after bounce. The trajectory will always cross the focus.” Well, it’s been a while since geometry class, and although it was written in pefect English, I still found myself wishing there were a diagram showing exactly what to do. Everyone’s iQ needs a boost, I suppose, and it’s nice when the whole family can learn together.

Related/ While in the area
Liberec is good for skiing in the winter and bead shopping in nearby Jablonec nad nisou, any time of year. Take the trip to the top of Jested mountain to see a retro space-age hotel and a great view. Babylon happens to also have a water park as nice as Aqua Palace, and there’s a top-notch adults-only wellness area. The more stressed-out parent could pawn the kids off on the other, and have a day of relaxation. There’s bowling, laser tag, and the works for older kids, but if you go with preschoolers, head for the Lunapark. After 16:00, the entry price drops to 95 CZK for persons over 100 cm (free for under) and that give you four HOURS of unlimited bumper cars, mechanical bull, buggy cars, bouncy castle, moving climbing wall, and one of the best jungle gyms around. In other places, the “transport simulator” alone would cost 60 CZK per ride – we got to sit there doing every ride over and over: the roller coaster, the race cars, etc. When it’s this dead though, you need to request the rides be activated – by the attendants at the info booth. Just ask, it’s never a problem. But you have to alternate between the swing carousel and the ducky train – you can’t go over and over again (nausea prevention, I’m guessing). There was no one there but us and three other families, on a Tuesday evening. The kids worked out any remaining energy, and slept the 1.5 hour ride home.