The Tietomaa Science Center attraction in Oulu-Located along the way to Lapland.
The Tietomaa science center attraction in Oulu is an event for the
whole family. It's a smaller version
of the Heureka
science center, which is in the Helsinki Vantaa area.
Rosa pretends to be a flower.
The brochure states, 180 different exhibits are available for trying out.
We recommend giving yourself four hours touring Tietomaa Science Center to get your money's worth. We did it in just under 2 hours.
Tip: Come here during the summer, since the glass elevator provides viewing of building tops of Oulu. Chances are higher on a clear summer day to get a decent view of the center of Oulu from the top of the tower.
In the top of the 35 meter tower is a look-out platform with illusions and holograms.
Let's look at that arched window(center left) in the above picture...
....we take a peek outside of the arched window and see...
...buildings, spruce trees, and a dam with a walkway going over it.
If you like, walk down a spiral stair well leading to the main exhibition area of the Tietomaa Science Center. Enjoy a bit of Finnish architecture as you decend to the bottom of the tower.
A indoor movie "Super Screen" theater has "the largest Flat screen in Finland" 12 by 16 meters. Uses an 8/70 mm projector. The super screen looks like this:
Real large screen
Tomi and I watch the 40 minute documentary "Wild Ocean" about how Africa meets the sea, (shown also in English.) See when sardines get eaten by sea-guls and sea predators.
The tallest dummy in Finland.--To the right of Aura.
Shopping:
Shop at the serious "Sirius" science shop, and sip some coffee at the cafe restaurant Saturnus.
Science center attraction -"Must See and Do".
The Sporttimus section, which consists of hands-on activities children can touch, see, feel and involve themselves with. For example...
...A climbing wall which rotates as you climb.
...build you own bridge out of large wooden blocks.
...Top shot - measure the accuracy and speed of you floor ball shot. Look at a lit up goal. The goal is split up into different illuminated segments. The player gets too shoot at each segment of the goal.
Tomi playing Speed Floor Ball
...or test your hockey skills like Tomi.
Tomi is moving his hand to block the puck!
...A ski jumping simulator - Teach yourself the art of ski-jumping a' la-Fin. Get the real experience of ski jumping in 3 dimensions. When you try this out, it really feels like the real thing.
Inside the ski-jump simulator (4th. floor). Stand in place and let the automated movie guide you through the jump. The more jumping practice in this simulator, the more improved your jump becomes. Learn by doing.
The ski jump simulator
Picture: Top right corner light tells you when to start your jump(green means go!) The automated video cues you when to jump.
Tietomaa Science Center is where one can test out: Basketball skills, speed of reaction, and dancing skills.The Sporttismus Science Lab section at the Tietomaa Science Center.
I personally enjoyed playing ping pong against the ping pong robot. To me it appears that the robot sences what level ping pong player you are and then serves accordingly. I noticed that the ping pong robot missed one out of 30 serves. At times, the robot hesitates serving.
...and it helps them to learn the moves, as you go, you get to learn more moves and advance quickly.
This is a place you may want to go if you have friends who can also help translate the instructions into English, since not all the instructions for all the gadgets are easy to follow. Once you figure out how to use some, they are fun and interesting.
This science center attraction in Oulu is interactive, so once you and your child figure out how to use the stations and understand the directions, it is easy and fun to be involved in the activity.
I am trying out the flight simulator. Here you can practice basic take off and landing skills.
Inside the Flight Simulator
As you are going up to go up on the glass elevator, stop by this activity. Test your reaction time on a simple gadget that you hold in your hand. The rod drops, just try to catch it as fast as you can.
Rosa is using the air-shooter, trying to guide the all through the loop.
More sections like...
...the illusions room, the hologram gallery, and see what the the surface of Mars is like.
...the wonders of space, a journey through the solar system. See the planets, glaxies and star clusters.
The 3rd floor -- Fakir's bed. Lie down on a bed of nails. Make sure to take a friend with you. And make sure that you are not too tall Here is why...
...am I crazy or what? When I got on the bed of nails, (picture) my head hung over the edge and it rested rather hard on a nail. No blood, but it did hurt. Make sure you are shorter than 150 centimeters tall.
Me on a bed-of-nails!
First you lie on the bed, then, your friend pushes a button and the nails come up. Having the nails under you feels weird at first, then again, how often do I sleep on a bed-of-nails.
Directions and getting to the Oulu Tietomaa Science Center attraction.
The attraction is about one kilometer from the city center of Oulu. If you are on E75/E4 take exit number 9 toward the city center. (exit number 10 is at the city center) Once in the city center you should see signs for Tietomaa.
Driving directions to the Tietomaa Science Center by car, Nahkantehtaankatu 6, Oulu using Michelins recommended route.(Please choose your origin of travel)
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