Fun for Kids: The Exploratorium and San Francisco

Always a pioneer, the Exploratorium was founded in 1969 by Dr. Frank Oppenheimer as an educational, hands-on science and art museum for kids and adults. The museum pioneered the online experience, as well, by launching its Web site way back in 1993.You'll find that the online experience and opportunity for discovery is just as intriguing as an in-person visit to the museum. The Web site has had time to create thousands of Web pages to help satisfy your curiosity about the world. Exhibits cover a broad range of perspectives; you can start off by learning how to fix any cooking mishaps you might cause in the kitchen, or study more global issues, such as climate change. There's also a page full of science projects you can make at home, as well as interesting videos and more available to you.

The Palace of Fine Arts houses the San Francisco Exploratorium. Built in 1915 to celebrate the opening of the Panama Canal, this impressive structure was used for the Panama Pacific International Exposition (a world's fair). The palace took more than three years to construct. It proved an economic boon to San Francisco, which had suffered great devastation from the 1906 earthquake and fire. Interestingly enough, the palace was scheduled for demolition after the fair, but the city's residents saved it from this fate.

Located not too far from the Exploratorium is what may very well be the most identifiable landmark in San Francisco: the Golden Gate Bridge. Construction on this engineering wonder began in 1933 and took a little over four years to complete. At the time, it was the largest suspension bridge in the world. In case you've ever wondered why Golden Gate Bridge isn't painted gold, it's actually named for the Golden Gate Strait, which is the entrance to San Francisco Bay from the Pacific Ocean.

You can see photos of the construction of the bridge at the Virtual Museum of the City of San Francisco Web site.

If you think you've got a future as a bridge designer, you can test your engineering skills at the New Bay Bridge Web site. Start off by learning a bit about earthquakes, and then test your knowledge as you engineer a bridge to see if it can withstand a California earthquake. Not only do you get to design the bridge from scratch, but you also get to pick the magnitude of the earthquake.