Next stop in our Series of Summer Fun is the Museum of Science in Boston! It is my family’s opinion that the Museum of Science is one of the best places to take your family in New England. The Museum offers tons of educational fun with over 30 exhibits, the Mugar Omni Theatre, and the Charles Hayden Planetarium (to highlight just a few). The Museum has also opened up a few new temporary exhibits to include 2theExtreme: Math Alive!, Grossology, and Animals Without Passports!
Every exhibit and attraction at the Museum of Science is interactive, kid-friendly, and kid-approved! Below you will read about some of my family’s favorite exhibits and attractions at the Museum of Science.
Grossology:
Grossology is the impolite science of the human body in an interactive exhibit. “Get answers to the most slimy, oozy, crusty, and stinky questions about the human body as you explore the good, the bad, and the downright ugly about runny noses, body odor, and much more!” While Grossology sounds, well, gross, it appeals to children for obvious reasons 🙂 I’m a big fan of anything that is both fun and educational, even if it is a little “gross”!
Photo Credit Courtesy of © Advanced Animations, LLC.
2theExtreme: Math Alive!
I had to include Math Alive! in the list of my family’s Museum favorites because this exhibit was made for my math-loving husband. Math Alive! is an interactive exhibit that brings to life all of the math behind video games, sports, design, music, entertainment, space, robotics, and more. During your time at the exhibit you’ll be greeted by the BotZ, “three math-loving virtual guides with quirky personalities.” Math-Loving BotZ with quirky personalities? Hmm, is my husband secretly working for the Museum of Science as one of their BotZ? I’m kidding (I think) but that would be his dream job 😉
Visitors step onto a photo stage, pose and have their image captured in 360 degrees, using the same freeze-motion technique made famous in contemporary action movies. They are exploring the inverse relationship between the number and size of the cameras’ angles. Photo Courtesy of © MathAlive!
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!
Pandas at the Mugar Omni Theater
When you walk into the Mugar Omni Theater you will see a five-story-tall IMAX Dome Screen. It is truly incredible! “It wraps audiences in larger-than-life images of flora, fauna, and faraway places. A state-of-the-art digital sound system completes the immersion effect.” I can only imagine that seeing Pandas would be an amazing experience! Here is some information about Pandas from the Museum of Science’s Website: “Pandas are a lovable, iconic, and — unfortunately — highly endangered species. In Pandas: The Journey Home, meet the dedicated team working tirelessly to save these captivating creatures from extinction. Filmmakers were granted unprecedented access to the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda to tell the story of our furry friends. The pandas’ fascinating habits and unique personalities will leave you with a huge appreciation for the animals and the individuals working to protect them. Witness an incredible story of survival and fall in love with these black and white gentle giants on the IMAX Dome screen!”
A mother panda carries her cub at the Wolong Panda Breeding Centre, Sichuan Province, China. Photo Courtesy of © Yang Dan
When you’ve explored all there is to see inside the Museum of Science, which I don’ think is possible to do in one day, you can take advantage of the beauty that surrounds the Museum! I love walking along the Esplanade and watching my kids explore the Charles River. They are fascinated by the ducks, the boats, the duckboats and everything else that is going on on the Esplanade.
I hope you are able to make it to the Museum of Science this Summer to learn, explore and have fun with your family! To enter a Giveaway for a Family Four Pack of Tickets to the Museum of Science and the Mugar Omni Theatre please visit this link.
I was provided with Museum tickets for my family however all thoughts and opinions are, as always, my own and my children’s.