This time of year is very hard for me. There’s no school to occupy many hours of my kids time, and new episodes of neither Sherlock nor Elementary are on. It’s a grey time my friends.
Luckily the gods of museum curation heard my woeful cries, and stepped up big time! The TELUS World of Science is the only Canadian stop for the The International Exhibition of Sherlock Holmes, and not only does it scratch my consulting detective itch, it kept my kids merrily occupied for hours.
The scene of the crime. You will have to study it in depth to solve the crime, Sherlock style.
I was a bit hesitant to bring my 4 and 7 year old to the exhibit as I didn’t know what sort of crimes we would be investigating. Spoiler alert: it is the apparent murder of a woman and young girl, and the subsequent suicide attempt by the alleged murderer, their husband and father.
So yeah, pretty grim.
Where the magic begins: The digs at 221B Baker Street
There is an audio recording played on a phonograph in the recreated flat at 221B Baker Street. It spells out the evidence and the crime scene so I tried desperately to tear them away (but buttons!) Otherwise is was pretty easy to gloss over the more gruesome aspects of the story. My 7 year old is still an emergent reader in English so that helped a bit, but be warned there are things you may need to explain if there are questions. And [ENORMOUS SPOILER] there is a happy ending, so that might help make things better in the end and soothe some worried kids.
Despite the scenario of the crime, I still think it is a worthwhile exhibit to spend some time at this summer. They have done an excellent job of creating a multi-layered experience so that it will appeal to different audiences on different levels. There is a junior detective booklet handed out to the younger participants that is basically a huge I-spy game throughout the rooms. The detective’s notebook for the older crowd helps you organize clues and it gets pretty complex. It was a living brain teaser, and let’s just put it this way, I don’t think New Scotland Yard will be beating down my door anytime soon with job offers.
The amazing disappearing car in the lobby at TWOS
On the way out of the science centre I stopped to take a picture of an old fashioned car that turned out to be the car Robert Downey Jr drove in his turn as Sherlock in a movie adaptation. I marveled at how quickly they had moved this artifact into the lobby, as it wasn’t there when we went in. Well, *cringe* turns out it has been there since March, and I am decidedly not cut from the same cloth as Mr. Holmes. Observation is possibly not my strong point.
Sherlock Holmes at the TELUS World of Science Contact Details:
When: March 25-Sep 5, 2016
Time: Spring Hours (April 3-June 24) Sunday-Wednesday: 9 am-6 pm; Thursday: 9 am-10 pm (after 5 pm is reserved for adults) Friday and Saturday: 9 am-8 pm
Where: TELUS World of Science
Address: 11211 142 Street NW
Phone: 780-451-3344
Email: info@twose.ca
Website: www.telusworldofscienceedmonton.ca
