Urine: The Game

With the change of seasons comes the change from summer activities to fall playgroups and programs, a schedule of more organized recurring plans. Also we’re seeing the rotation of exhibits such as at The Children’s Museum of the Upstate, where “The Great Outdoors” exhibit has been replaced by “Grossology.”

We enjoyed the camping and nature exhibit, as it corresponded with the scout and guide jamboree Lielā Nometne Mantojums that we missed during our wait on the arrival of Vilis. With a kayak, tent and campfire there were quite a few things to do and see. However the boys are used to hiking in the actual outdoors and sitting by real campfires, so there was something lacking in making rubbings of fake leaves, or identifying artificial animal tracks and counting the rings on a tree indoors. I did appreciate the life jacket and campfire safety aspect of the exhibit, but we spent most of our time at the museum in the permanent portions.

The new exhibit is 100 percent disgusting. We started with the lifesize version of the game “Operation” but things got grosser fast with the human skin climbing wall, discovering how vomiting works with “The Vomit Center” and the down-low on farts in “Toot Toot.” My personal nasty-line was crossed with “Sniff Sniff,” that enabled visitors to smell the bacteria that cause foot, mouth, armpit and anal odor. We skipped the smelling to create burps in the “Burp Machine” and play “Urine: The Game” (or in our case, Ur-not-really-in: The Game). Similar in degree of grossness to the game we play at home when changing Vilis's diaper, I guess.

Although both boys were a bit put-off by “Nigel Nose-It-All,” the giant faucet explaining the technicalities of runny noses, they did enjoy the exhibit as a whole. I’m not sure how much time we’ll spend here during our visits to the museum because I think it’s generally meant for older children; however there are enough levers, gears and buttons for the boys to fiddle with that if they request to stop in again I’ll oblige (with nose scrunched).