The Nehru Science Centre is a great place to take your kids to, for a half or full day family outing. Even the really little ones can enjoy watching the various exhibits at work. What better way to inspire a love for science at an early age?

Kids as little as 3 will have a great time pushing buttons, pulling levers and making the experiments work and watch in wonder at the spectacles the experiments present. The little ones will probably be happy with the "What" questions. "What happens when I pull this string?" or "What happens when I look in this funny shaped mirror?" or "What happens when I turn this wheel really fast?"

The older ones can explore the Hows and Whys. If your kid id burnt out from too much exam studying this is a refreshing way to look at the stuff they learn in school. And this wont be boring for the parents either. You are just as likely to learn something.

Here are a few examples of Exhibits Just as you enter there is an exhibit for conversion of mechanical energy. A little ball goes on an exciting roller coaster ride. It is raised by a pulley to a height by your turning a wheel. Then its potential energy converted in to translational kinetic energy and then rotational as it goes around a spiral. The exhibit demonstrates transfer of momentum and a bunch of other mechanical physics ideas. Your 3 year old wont understand the physics but it will still be exciting to watch. Older children will have varying degrees of understanding and appreciate it at different levels.

There is a sound section which has various simulated musical instruments which the little ones can have a blast playing. The older ones can also learn a little about longitudinal sound waves and the focus of a huge concave sound reflector.

There is a section on surface tension that makes large thin soapy films. These are much larger than those you would make on a regular soap bubble stick.

The light section has lots of mirror based exhibits. There are exhibits of optical illusions that would fascinate children of all ages. Of course there is a telescope too! There is also Newton's color wheel. A great way to show even a 5 year old that white light is made up of all the colors of the rainbow. There is an exhibit where you can show your kid how the pupil in the human eye dilates when the light is dimmed to let in more light and contracts in bright light.

There is a walk through the human heart where you can actually hear the heart beat when you are inside. The exhibit explains which blood vessels carry blood in and out of the heart and the working of the different chambers of the heart.

Somewhere there is a dinosaur exhibit that my 3 year old really enjoyed.

This is just the tip of the iceberg. There are hundreds of exhibits in there that explain basic science in a spectacular and fun way. Every exhibit comes with a plaque that explains the "Whats, the Whys and the Hows".

It would take at least two or three whole days to do justice to every exhibit. I recommend that you start at an early age and take your children there once every year or two years so each time they can re-examine the exhibits with better understanding from their increased knowledge and experience and have many "Eureka moments" over the course of their visits there.

Update

August 12, 2017

Now the Nehru Science Centre had added many more sections and exhibits. There are sections on climate change, technology, nuclear physics, optical illusions and more.