ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related institutions. ***************************************************************************** For those of you who have motion simulator rides or have used them in the past.... Do any of you have data - numerical is better but anecdotal is fine - about how these rides have been used by children UNDER 7? In the next few years, we will be converting our museum to a children's museum (still a science focus). In surveys of educators and parents, including those of pre-school aged children, motion simulators were highly rated exhibits. From doing planetarium programs I know that many very young children are frightened if they think their seats might move or rumble or shoot water (I think A Bugs Life at Disney has scared a few). Are very young children allowed on simulators? Do you have an age or height cut-off? Do particular manufacturers have age recommendations? Would these vary with the type of simualtor - for example, the ten-seat stand-alone simulator versus the thirty-seat one that's built into a room? Is this left to the parents' discretion? If so, what do you do if a child does try to get up during a program? I think of the four-year-old who sat next to me during the 3D IMAX film at the Luxor hotel in Las Vegas. She the 3D-ness of the experience, but the haunted house theme was getting to her after a while. If she had needed to get up, they would have had to raise the lap bar on all of us, interrupting our view of the film. She told her father she could be "very brave" and stay. You can reply off-line, unless you think this is a wide-ranging issue...Thanks. Kristie M. Mazzoni Assistant Planetarium Director Science Center of Connecticut *********************************************************************** More information about the Informal Science Education Network and the Association of Science-Technology Centers may be found at http://www.astc.org. To remove your e-mail address from the ISEN-ASTC-L list, send the message SIGNOFF ISEN-ASTC-L in the BODY of a message to [log in to unmask]