Rachel Roland is a mom on a mission - exploring beautiful Arizona (and beyond!) with her two little companions, Jeremiah and Sarah, in search of the best restaurants, attractions, and products for you and your children. See what she has in store for your family today!
Oh, that's just my 3 1/2 year old daughter laying on a BED OF NAILS! Don't worry, though, it's perfectly safe and actually quite fun, according to both Jeremiah and Sarah, who loved our recent visit to the Arizona Science Center in downtown Phoenix. Besides laying on hundreds of nails, there were so many other incredible interactive exhibits to experience! In the "Get Charged Up" exhibit, in addition the bed of nails, museum-goers can build their own electrical circuits, learn about pulleys and levers, as well as electromagnetism. What's fantastic is that everything is hands on - children are encouraged to touch and learn!
There's also the featured exhibit the LEGO Travel Adventure, which features various ways of transportation and cities - all built from LEGO blocks, of course! This life-sized race car was a hit, for sure, and you can see how seriously Jeremiah's taking his race. Inside the exhibit, children could build their own LEGO cars both with real LEGO blocks and digitally through a computer program. Fun!
Watch out! Another travelling exhibit, Giant Mysterious Dinosaurs, is also visiting the Arizona Science Center through January 2013. This exhibit is an additional cost on top of the museum entrance, and while I found it fascinating, both Jeremiah and Sarah were a little scared of the dinosaurs. You can really get 'up close' (as you can see) and I'm not sure if that made them uncomfortable, or if they were just tired from a long day of exploring the museum. Most kids would love this exhibit - making it worth the extra ticket price!! ($10/adults $8/kids & seniors)
This exhibit, located immediately after you enter the museum, is actually outside. It has so many machines and fun ways to, well, shoot water and plastic balls around. We probably would have spent our entire day out here - both kids went from each station and really loved seeing were the red ball went after it landed on a certain area - it was fun. You can see Jeremiah shooting a ball into the air to try to get it into a basket at the top.
There's really so much to see, do, and experience at the Arizona Science Center! We loved the Forces of Nature gallery (with a real Forces of Nature show where you feel rain, wind, and heat - even an earthquake!), as well as the "All About Me" gallery focused on the human body and how it functions.
In addition to all these great experiences, there is also an IMAX theater and a Planetarium! (Both do require ticket purchases outside of general museum admission.)
The Arizona Science Center has a fantastic feature on their website, where you can plan your day and purchase tickets for all the shows and exhibits that you want to visit. I highly recommend this for a fun family day-long event - because it's easy to spend all day there! Have you visited before? What's your favorite part? Join the discussion on Facebook!
The Arizona Science Center is located at 600 E Washington St in Phoenix!
Photo courtesy Red Phoenix Photography
I'm Rachel - a mom, wife, and 'green' blogger at Small Steps On Our Journey. If you want me to come visit your place of business, have any questions on this article or suggestions for a future article, you can email me at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , tweet me at @rachelroland, or connect with me on Facebook.
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