Popular 'Water Ways' Exhibit Gets New Look At San Diego Children's Discovery Museum

ESCONDIDO, CA — One of the most popular exhibits at San Diego Children's Discovery Museum has received a much-needed upgrade.

Water Ways reopened earlier this month at the Escondido-based museum's outdoor Trudy Bronner Discovery Garden. The reimagined interactive and educational exhibit has been a staple of San Diego Children's Discovery Museum since 2014, according to Kathleen Sandoval, the museum's director of marketing and events.

"With over 10 years of loving use, it was time for a much-needed upgrade," Sandoval told Patch.

The new exhibit allows guests to manipulate and play with the flow of water. Through hands-on exploration, children can turn water valves on and off, launch balls into a water vortex, and experiment with dams.

The new water table includes Escondido landmarks such as Lake Hodges, Escondido Water Treatment Plant, City Hall and more, allowing families to make a real-world connection on how clean drinking water is sourced from lakes and rivers and flows into cities to support communities.

"While the exhibit has always been focused on engineering principles and water flow, we decided to take a localized approach to this new table and incorporate Escondido landmarks that children and families would recognize," Sandoval said. "This approach also allows us to facilitate a real-world connection to how water actually flows into our local community and provide an opportunity to discuss the importance of conserving water here in Escondido and San Diego County."

Infants and babies love splashing in the water mushrooms at the exhibit, Sandoval said. Toddlers and older children enjoy experimenting with the spigots, levers, ball launchers, water vortex, and more to change the flow of water as they guide a boat through the table.

"We hope that kids will learn how fresh water reaches their communities and the importance of conserving natural resources," she said. "Through sensory play, we're also hoping to improve problem-solving skills and introduce basic engineering design principles. As kids play in Water Ways, there are many interactive components that will change how the water moves throughout the table. By turning different elements on or off, children can experiment with how little changes can make a big impact on the amount of water areas receive, just like in the real world."

San Diego Children's Discovery Museum aims to open one new exhibit annually, with refreshes and updates to current exhibits made throughout the year, Sandoval said.

Water Ways is included with museum admission. The permanent exhibit will be available at the museum year-round.

This year, San Diego Children's Discovery Museum is celebrating its 25th anniversary. Since 2000, the museum has served more than 1.3 million children and families.

An all-day anniversary celebration is scheduled Saturday, June 21. Admission will be reduced to just $4 to commemorate the price of admission when the museum first opened. There will be a magic show at noon, crafts, cake, face painting and more.

San Diego Children's Discovery Museum is located at 320 N Broadway in Escondido. The museum is open from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and from 12:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Sunday. The museum is closed on Mondays.