We Tried It: “Playing With Light” at Bishop Museum

What: A limited-time interactive exhibit that explores light and light technology

Who: A family of four—a mom, dad, a second grader and a preschooler

Where: Castle Memorial Building at Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum

When: A Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m.

Photo: Maria Kanai

Attending Bishop Museum is a favorite family activity for us and we were thrilled to receive an opportunity to check out the new exhibit “Playing With Light,” that opened in early October. Created by Scitech in Australia and produced by Imagine Exhibitions, the same group responsible for Bishop Museum’s previous buggy exhibit Backyard Adventures, this exhibit is hands-on, interactive and perfect for keiki of all ages.

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It’s a bright and sunny afternoon at Bishop Museum and entering the dark Castle Memorial Building with its air conditioning is a welcome contrast. Multiple spaces are illuminated by—you guessed it, light. Or, specifically, lights. The first thing we walk through is an entryway with thousands of LED lights, that plays techy sounds as the lights follow us along as we walk through. My kids immediately and predictably start dancing, jumping and waving their hands. Next up is a giant kaleidoscope you can walk in and a large wall where you can play with shadows to make different shapes like a circle or triangle with your arms. For my two keiki who have watched Peter Pan at least 20 times, the concept of watching your shadows come to life is a big hit.

Bishop Museum Playing With Light Color Mixing Interactive

We continue onto the next room where we blend blue, red and green lights to create different shades. My husband was impressed with the light lab close by, where we use mirrors, lens, prisms and filters to play with light on a table and see its different effects.

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Photo: Maria Kanai

Photo: Maria Kanai

The concave reflection station is fun for my daughter, who says it’s trippy watching her reflection and trying to touch it with her hands. “It’s like a giant spoon!” she says. She loves the Painting with Light station, where you can “paint” with different colored lights on the wall. My four-year-old son is too short for the sensors to work when he tried to paint, so we have to pick him up for the colors to actually read his movements and transfer the colors on the wall.

Photo: Maria Kanai

Photo: Maria Kanai

There’s so much more to do. We play with reflections and freeze our shadows on the wall, then we experienced what unanimously turned out to be our family’s favorite part: laser dodge! It’s a simple concept: you start from one end of an enclosed space and make it across without any of the green lasers touching your body. If you do touch them, a buzzer will sound. We end up doing this multiple times, feeling like we were in a sci-fi movie.

Photo: Laser Dodge Room, Courtesy of Bishop Museum

We spent about one hour at this exhibit, but I believe older keiki with longer attention spans or keiki on a more structured, school field trip may stay here longer. It’s neat how each station is educational—there is a display description explaining the learning element and how to interact. While our keiki were too young (and impatient) to read through each description, we gave them short summaries. As parents, we loved having this opportunity to incorporate learning into play.

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Our Tips

1. The space is stroller friendly, so you can bring your younger babies—it’s pretty dark in here, so they might nap!
   
2. For the exhibit where you can freeze your shadows, you’ll stand in front of a wall and the technology will take a “photo” of your shadow using a bright light. Be sure to warn your keiki to close their eyes as the flash is quite strong.
   
3. No food or drinks are allowed, but you can check out the Highway Inn café next to the Planetarium if you get hungry afterwards.

Playing With Light runs through March 24, 2024. Tickets can be booked from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Kama‘āina admission is $14.95 for adults, $10.95 for youth (4-17), and free for children age 3 and younger. 1525 Bernice Street, Kalihi. (808) 847-3511. bishopmuseum.org, @bishopmuseum