June 6, 2019

Your Guide to Being Alone in the Museum with the Kids

Learn how to entertain kids when you’re their only adult supervision in the Museum

Being a busy, working parent can involve surrounding yourself with other busy, working parents and developing a calendar of who does what when. Tuesdays you might be on car pool duty, but Wednesdays it’s someone else’s turn.
While the saying “it takes a village” really is true, what that sometimes means is that you might end up alone with a village worth of children for a day. And when that day comes, whether it’s two, three, four or 10 kids, Discovery Place Science is a great place for you to take those bundles of energy and let them burn some of it off.

Check out these ideas throughout the Museum that will help engage and entertain your kids, regardless of how many there are, and help you keep a watchful eye over them (because, yes, adult supervision is required in the Museum).

  • Burn energy on a human-sized hamster wheel. Being Me, an exhibition that takes you and your kids on a biological journey through the human body from real anatomical specimens to virtual reality, is a must-see for families of all ages. Located on Level 2 of the Museum, the exhibition includes a human-sized hamster wheel, a virtual reality tour of the human body and the internal systems that make it tick, a deconstructed look at the ingredients that make up your body and more! Kids could spend a while here, and still not try everything.
  • Take a nap on a bed of nails, or launch objects in the air. After you’ve explored Being Me, check out our Cool Stuff exhibition. Explore the physical phenomena in the world around us with the super cool science principles that govern the workings of our everyday. Lie across a bed of nails, play with the physics of lifting, launch objects through the force of chemical reactions and more.
  • See who can build the tallest tower or the coolest fort. Build curiosity and more in Project Build, another of our permanent exhibition. Use multimedia technology to design a mock building or rearrange the layout of a room. Create blueprint sketches, experiment with floorplans, discover different architectural styles and build structures and forts with Build It! Blocks and PVC pipe and posts.
  • Stop by a Live Show. With multiple Live Shows at The Stage year-round, there are plenty of opportunities to experience an explosion, connect with cool critters or explore an ecosystem. During a Discovery Place Science show, you never know what will happen. Shows change daily, so check the Daily Schedule to see what is happening when you stop by.
  • Feel at peace as you watch jellyfish float by. Even the youngest learner will be mesmerized by the jellyfish swimming along in World Alive. Meet an octopus, pufferfish stingrays and more in the Aquarium, and stop by our Rainforest to meet a parrot, frogs, turtles and more. Kids will also love the canopy rope bridge, where they can witness a birds-eye view of the tropical habitat below.
  • Touch a starfish or a crab. Because what kid doesn’t want to stick their fingers in a tank? Our Explore More Life lab includes a touch tank, where your group can get up-close at live aquatic species, and yes, touch them. You can also meet a Madagascar hissing cockroach or a hairless fancy rat.

And, if you need it, the Curio City Kitchen sells beer and wine. Just saying, you probably earned it today.