We’d planned on spending an hour or so there, but we wound up passing a good part of the day, as Emilia and Malena ran from exhibit to exhibit, calling each over to see the latest wonder they’d discovered, and Pablo ran behind, eager to see what had gotten his sisters so enthusiastic.

The science center occupies a vast space enlivened by bright colors and inventive graphics explaining what each of the dozens of displays means and what it has to teach them. A grouping of large, bright red foam building blocks demonstrates the way in which the arch is a surprisingly strong and stable architectural form; the text accompanying a ball and a net (almost like something one might find in a carnival midway) describes the enormous amount of coordination and judgment required for a child — whose nervous system is not yet fully developed — to catch a ball. “So let’s be patient on the playing field” was the helpful conclusion offered.

A permanent exhibition, entitled “Human,” invites kids to appreciate the wonders of the body — the eyes, the ears, the mysteries of the brain. Emilia and Malena were amazed — even shocked — to learn that humans share certain genetic similarities to the banana! A robot with pincers that can be manipulated to pick up blocks teaches kids about the ingeniousness (and the challenges) of prosthetic limbs.

Other exhibits, equipped with screens — rather like video games — challenge players to stop a fictive epidemic threatening Quebec, or to catch an antelope (like the cave people did) to feed their families. An animal skeleton half buried in sand that visitors can remove with brushes allows pretend archaeologists to unearth thrilling discoveries. The feature that most excited all three of the grandchildren — so much so that we could hardly persuade them to leave — was a pad on which they could stand in the midst of a kind of moat of soapy water. By raising a circular bar immersed in the water, they could encase themselves, head to toe, in a bubble; the children’s excitement was such that everyone lost sight of what scientific principle this was intended to illustrate.

What extended our stay for another hour was a free workshop in which kids and their parents were given a wide assortment of wheels, pulleys, rods and decorative feathers — material from which they could construct imaginative vehicles capable of sliding down a long piece of string. Everyone in the family becomes involved, even in the required cleanup following the construction — a brilliant aspect of the workshop, in their parents’ and grandparents’ opinion.