Yesterday when we got up, we didn’t know what we were going to do in the morning but when my friend got in the car with us she said “Let’s check out the Science Center.” I did a quick lookup on my phone to see what it cost and was pleasantly surprised that again St Louis has a free attraction. That’s right, you don’t have to pay to get into the St Louis Science Center. It’s $10 to park in their lot.
When you first walk into the science center there is this huge contraption that is powered by human hamsters :). You have to run on a wheel to make the balls travel up the tube so they can race around the track above your head. It looks like a giant gumball machine. Poor Monkey and Little Man couldn’t get the wheel going if their lives depended on it!
While we were there they had a medical fair going on that you could walk around to different stations and talk to doctors about different things. My friend did that, but there was no way three kids were going to stand still long enough when there was so much to do and touch. Everything on the main level is hands on and the kids had a blast trying everything. I like that a lot of the items were cooperative so that one kid wasn’t sitting there watching while another had fun.
I thought it was appropriate to have monkey stand up next to the Emperor Penguin to judge size since we had seen them the day before at the zoo. She was freaking out about the skeleton and wouldn’t go near it. It wasn’t just a skeleton, but the circulatory system of a female. Along with the bird shadows on the wall there was a display of the sizes of bird eggs and there was even a chicken skeleton that you could look at.
We went down to floor 1 next which has paleontology (and a Build a Bear workshop). The animatronic dinosaurs that they had were awesome looking! Monkey was really afraid of them at first and didn’t want to go downstairs. You can’t touch them, but they have skin samples that you can touch to see how they feel. There was a really cool section where you could learn how to dig for bones. They also had a really neat display that shows how erosion works. I could stand there and watch that for a long time.
We headed up to the third floor last where the kids were able to play a string-less harp, play hopscotch, watch sound waves and so much more. There is also a hands on area for toddlers that looked fun, but I didn’t want to let my kids loose in there since there were so many little kids. Monkey’s favorite spot was looking at this display of little wooden fairies and items. She loved it and wanted to stand there for a long time.
The museum has a lot for everyone and I love that it’s so hands on and FREE! They do a great job of keeping it up and clean. It’s definitely on my must-do list again the next time we come back to St Louis.
Note: I was not compensated, nor asked to write about the St Louis Science Center. I’m just sharing my family’s road trip adventures.
You can save the $10 on parking by parking in Forest Park by the Planetarium where it’s free to park. 🙂 My kids love crossing the highway on the bridge and looking down through the floor windows to the traffic and using the radar guns to track their speed. Also, if you’re a member of a science museum that’s a ASTC program, like MSI Chicago, you get a discount on Omnimax tickets and free planetarium tickets!
What a FUN museum!!! I love the human hamster wheel! Did you wear the kids out?!
I love that it only cost you $10 to PARK and enjoy the museum! St. Louis sounds like the place to be for free fun!
Oh that just looks like sooo much fun!!!
This looks like a wonderful museum .There is so much to do.