Be blown away!
A-Mazing Airways is a clear, pneumatic tube system with a motorized blower that creates a powerful air stream. The force of the air can move a variety of objects – such as balls and scarves – a long distance!
Guests can open and close diverter boxes to change the pathway of the air that moves through the 100 feet of tubes. Playing with A-Mazing Airways helps children and adults make air “concrete” even though it’s invisible!
Let’s play and learn!
• Choose different objects to push into the entry box. Observe where the objects go, where they come out, and how long it takes to come out.
• Use the knobs on the two diverter boxes to move the flaps and block the flow of air into the tubes or even change the flow of air as an object goes through the tubes. Predict where the object will come out.
• Which items travel most quickly through the tubes? Which objects fall to the ground most quickly?
• Invent a catching game to play with other children!
How ART thou?
Designed for both clean and messy experiences, Art Mart engages guests with the wonders of the creative process! Kids can use their imaginations and natural inventiveness, all while developing skills – like problem solving, critical thinking, cooperation and discipline – essential to academic learning.
Art easels and stencil tables allow kids to get creative. Chalkboard walls and tables give creative freedom to any artist.
Let’s play and learn!
Feel how soft the play dough is. Can you make a long squiggly snake? What happens when you squish it with the rolling pin?
Sit in front of the mirrors and make a self-portrait. Do you think it is harder to make a drawing or a sculpture of yourself? Try it!
Paint a masterpiece on the easel. Is it abstract or realistic?
Let’s. Get. Crafty!
Creativity is a key part of child development. Creativity and imagination spark ideas and creations with limitless possibilities.
Scrap Studio gives kids complete creative freedom. Using recycled items, kids build crafts. From cardboard tube animals to water bottle rockets and much more! Kids’ crafts come to life.
Let’s play and learn!
Use the materials in the Scrap Studio to create a masterpiece. Can you think of other things we throw away that you could use to create art? What other everyday objects do you think you could incorporate into your project?
Take inspiration from crafts left by other children. Will yours be exactly the same, or will it have your own style?
Grow and cultivate big ideas!
Aunt Sugar’s Farm & Uncle Pickle’s Barn lets children discover the farm-to-table pathway as they use their imaginations to role-play as farmers, market stand operators and cooks. Families and teachers can talk about how farms connect us to our food, the value of nutrition and how to incorporate healthy eating into our daily lives.
The barn brings all of the aspects of farming to kids in an interactive experience. Take the sugar beets from the planter and send them up the conveyor belt. Send them back down the pickle shoot. Take the fruits and vegetables from the farm stand to the play kitchen to round out the farm-to-table experience.
Let’s play and learn!
Sort fruit and vegetables in the market. Can you name them? What is the difference between a fruit and a vegetable? What color are the fruits and vegetables?
Can you make a healthy meal in the kitchen? What type of foods should we eat every day? What type of foods are only sometimes foods?
Do you know where sugar comes from? How do farmers make sugar from sugar beets?
Take a road trip!
From their earliest days, children spend much of their time in and around cars, trucks and busses. They hear horns honking, watch traffic lights change, see adults pump gas and they may even watch as a mechanic lifts the hood to examine and fix a problem.Car Works invites children to stop observing and join the world of automobiles as they become drivers and mechanics!
Let’s play and learn!
• Choose a car and pretend to take a trip. Can you honk the horn? Can you turn on the radio?
• What do the traffic signs mean? Help your adult safely cross in front of the cars.
• How fast can you change the tires on the car? Have an adult time you!
• Did you know you can race small cars? Place three cars at the starting line of the track, push the red button on top to reset the clock and then lift up the platform to start the race! Check
your time at the finish line. Can you find the fastest car?
Spread your wings and take in nature!
Take a little stroll through this exhibit and spot all the flowers and wildlife, or sit down and feel the the nice breeze brush your skin.
The flowers planted around the flutter field are known butterfly & other insect favorites, and attract many different flutterbys.
Let’s play and learn!
• Observe which flowers different insects enjoy the most.
• Do they like a specific color?
• Can you smell the flowers?
• Do different flowers smell different?
Next patient, please!
Insides Out offers children an opportunity to investigate and explore all the interconnected systems and parts of their body. As they examine and touch organs and bones in the operating room, weigh babies, repair teeth, listen to the heart, and test their eyes, kiddos are discovering answers – and questions! – about the very complex human body.Make sure to visit each themed “office” – ophthalmology, cardiology, orthopedics, pediatrics, and dental – as you discover what makes up our bodies.
Let’s play and learn!
• Check out an x-ray. Can you identify the bone or tooth structures? Is the x-ray of a person or an animal?
• Test your vision by reading the eye charts. Do you need glasses? Try on some of the frames on the wall and see which you like best.
• Put on a lab coat and have an adult be your patient. Can you figure out what’s wrong? How can you make them feel better?
• Find a scale and weigh one of the babies. How much do you think you weighed when you were a baby?
Relax, recenter, reconnect!
Mind Unwind offers a space for our guests to escape from the activity and energy in our other galleries and exhibits. Take a brain break and visit the tactile wall with its soothing textures, borrow adaptive play devices from the front desk – like weighted blankets or headphones – and unwind as you relax in this dimly lit, sheltered space.
Ahhh … don’t you feel better already?
Let’s play and learn!
Can you see the colored lights on the ceiling? Imagine you are in a submarine or a spaceship.
Take a break and using calming techniques to bring your heart rate down before exploring the rest of the museum.
Mind Unwind is in the process of getting some new interactives tailored toward sensory awareness and mindfulness. Keep checking back to see what’s new!
Energy everywhere!
Did you know that energy can come from all different types of sources? The wind, the food we eat, steam, and even stars like our sun create power!
Explore energy and discover how we can harness the power of the sun and use it to power things we use every day, like phones, computer monitors, and even refrigerators! Guests can also learn about power sources closer to home, like themselves!
Let’s play and learn!
• Rotate the swivel solar panel by the window. What happens when you move the panel? Did you notice anything change in the gallery?
• Jump on the silver floor panels and see how much energy you can create! Check out the screens and the light tower to measure the energy you made.
• Practice solar-energy-related words and phrases that you find in the gallery. Can you find any that are new to you?
Start Your Engines!
What makes our bicycles go? From our own energy to the parts and pieces used to construct a bike, They are a machine that teaches many mechanical properties. As you make your way around our track, your children will not be using energy to power our scooter around the course. Parts to build your own scooter, chair, table, or creation of your own can be found in the bins in the center of the track. Tires on the racecars can be changed to help grow fine motor skills.
Let’s play and learn!
• Race to change the tires on the wall like a real racecar pit crew.
• Follow along with the plans on the table to build a scooter.
• Turn the wheel on the scooter bike to steer around the padded poles.
• Use the knob to turn the starting light from RED to GREEN.
Explore! Invent! Test!
With a variety of raw materials, an unstructured space, and curiosity, children can discover their own potential as inventors and investigators. Try It provides an open and safe area to create, design, and plan while developing critical thinking and problem-solving skills. Whether testing spatial and design skills at the magnet wall or exploring faraway lands through the power of imagination in the theater, kids will learn about themselves as they learn about the world in the Try It gallery.
Let’s play and learn!
• Put the basket underneath the conveyor belt. Can you get the balls to fall into the basket?
• Become a conductor! Use the train to haul your cargo around the map. Where do each of the train cars want to go?
• At the Macro Magnet wall, create a ball run to deliver your ball into the tub.
Little kids, big fun!
The whole museum is meant for children up to age ten, but when you’re a small fish in a big pond, it’s nice to have a space meant just for you! The aMazing tot spot is a quiet area surrounded by low walls specifically for toddlers. Small children can play with the train set or cook food in the kitchen. A small nook in the corner provides a cozy dim area for taking a break.
Let’s play and learn!
• Look at the mirrors on the low walls. Doesn’t your face look silly?
• Can you be a little chef? How about a tiny doctor?
• Have an adult help you into the see-saw rocker. Can you make it rock?
Dive into fun!
Water is everywhere! From a hot morning shower, to the rivers and lakes near our towns, to rain in the spring, children see and experience water every day – which makes it a great tool for scientific exploration!
As children play, they can explore the properties of water by trying to direct, divert and contain it. They can see the water cycle in action at the Evaporation Station. Watch as children become scientists when they are given the opportunity to pour, measure, hypothesize and experiment with water.
Let’s play and learn!
• Gather toys and guess which ones will sink and which will float. Do the floating toys have anything in common?
• Use the white pipes to channel the water. Can you make a waterfall to turn one of the spinning wheels.
• Put a boat at the base of the big water wheel. Does it move down the table? How do you think currents in rivers are created?
• Draw a picture or write your name on the Evaporation Station slate wall.
Big, Roomy, and lots of windows. This is our largest room. Doesn’t have a sink. Seats around 49 adults, and 9 children.
4 – 5′ Round tables
3 – 4′ Round Tables
2 – 8′ Rectangle Tables
1 – 6′ Rectangle Table
Tables and chairs can be rearranged to fit your needs.
This is our smallest room. Great window lighting, lots of big tables, closest to the lobby. Has a sink. Seats around 24 adults and 16 children.
4 – 8′ Rectangle Tables
2 – 6′ Rectangle Tables
2 – 6′ Kid-sized Rectangle Tables
Tables and chairs can be rearranged to fit your needs.
Room 3 is our mid-sized room, lots of kid seating, great window light, has a sink. Seats around 27 adults and 22 children.
5 – 8′ Rectangular Tables
3 – 6′ Kid-sized Rectangular Tables
Tables and chairs can be rearranged to fit your needs.
