Just before the kids started back up at school my family and I had the opportunity to spend an entire day at the Museum of Science in Boston and it was AWESOME! My kids are still talking about their day at the Museum of Science and asking when they can go back. In fact, the Museum of Science is where my oldest wants to go for her birthday – now that’s love!
Before spending the day there I (naively) didn’t realize just how kid-friendly and FUN the Museum of Science could be for families. So, as winter approaches and we all begin our search for indoor entertainment, I wanted to highlight some of the great exhibits that the Museum of Science has to offer. I’m highlighting a few of my kids’ favorite spots at the Museum of Science. For a full list of exhibits and happenings please visit their website at www.mos.org.
Big Bird’s Adventure: One World One Sky at the Charles Hayden Planetarium
This was a great show for preschool and young grade school aged children. The show was entertaining for adults and the kids loved it. In this show you will explore the night sky with Big Bird, Elmo and their Chinese friend Hu Hu Zhu. “Follow along with Big Bird, Elmo and Hu Hu Zhu, as they take you on a journey of discovery to learn about the Big Dipper, the North Star, the Sun, and the Moon.”
Butterfly Garden
The Museum’s Butterfly Garden is a little tropical oasis overlooking the Charles River. The kids had such a great time looking at all of the beautiful butterflies. After butterfly viewing my kids decided to stand perfectly still to see if a butterfly would think they were a flower and land on them. Unfortunately the butterflies weren’t fooled but it was so cute to watch them try!
The Discovery Center
The Discovery Center, designed for children from infancy to age eight, is the perfect place kids to explore and play. This Center has many hands-on activities to include “discovery boxes”, magnet and block play, an experiment station, an infant-only area, live animals in aquariums and much much more! This was my crew’s favorite spot in the museum. They could (and we probably did) easily spend hours in the Discovery Center jumping from one activity to the next. (The pictures below are only of a small portion of the Discovery Center! The center is deceptively large!)
Science in the Park
The Museum’s indoor park was a lot of fun. “In this park-like setting, run, jump, swing, and use familiar objects, like playground equipment and bicycle wheels, to investigate the pushes and pulls of everyday life…Learn about harmonic motion, momentum, and mechanical advantage. Hop onto swings to measure how long it takes to go back and forth. See a seesaw in a new light by balancing on it with a friend, or race balls on different slides to determine which is the fastest. Twirl like an ice skater, and compare your speed with one leg extended versus having both legs tucked in.” This was one of the last exhibits that we visited but I wish we had done it earlier in the day. The kids could have spent quite some time playing on all of the park equipment and my husband loved the opportunity to teach them all about the science behind their play.
Lightning Show!
The Museum’s Lightning Presentation is VERY COOL! They actually make lightning in the cage pictured below! “Indoor bolts produced by the world’s largest air-insulated Van de Graaff generator spark exciting explorations of lightning, conductors, insulators, electricity, magnetism, and storm safety.” My kids loved the spectacular nature of this show. That said, it does get LOUD. If your little one is afraid of thunder, lightning or is startled by loud noises then this may not be the show for them.
Dinosaurs!
All I have to do is say the word “Dinosaurs!’ around my three-year-old and he gets excited! The Dinosaurs Exhibit allows you to see a model of a T-Rex and get an up-close view of a 65-million-year-old fossil named Cliff. Little Paleontologists will have a blast with these big dinosaurs!
I was provided with Museum tickets for my family however all thoughts and opinions are, as always, my own and my children’s.