We love Durham’s Museum of Life+Science and believe it’s important that you know how to maximize your visit here. So when they put up new exhibits and offer even more for families, we want you to know. Stacey gives you the scoop on the newest from this Durham gem.
One of our favorite Durham places just got better! The Museum of Life + Science just opened their newest exhibit “Blast Off,” and my two little boys (2 & 4) both had a blast trying it out.
In a brilliant effort to highlight and integrate the space features that have been a part of the museum since it was built at this location, the museum team has added several hands on labs to help get kids of all ages excited about flight.
Now, instead of whizzing past the aerospace exhibits because your kids won’t stop to admire non-moving pieces of space history, you can get involved with projects directly related to the memorabilia around you like customizing and launching a foam rocket right next to a real rocket. My boys (who aren’t known for their long attention spans) would have happily launched rockets all day, and that wasn’t the only new and exciting lab in the “Blast Off” exhibit.
The area in front of the moon lander is now the home to two hover tables, two wind tunnels, and a workstation filled with a variety of materials for kids (and adults!) to build their own flying contraptions and test their creations’ aerodynamics and hovering capabilities.
My 2 year old and I were both mesmerized watching a berry basket float in the wind tunnel (after his unsuccessful attempt to get his lovey to fly). While we were admiring the floating basket, my 4 year old was launching paper airplanes. Not throwing, launching. The museum has two paper airplane launching machines that allow the kids to adjust the launch angle, load their airplane into the launcher, and watch the machine zip the plane towards a target. There’s also a table with four wind tunnels that allow the kids to adjust the pressure and launch paper cups up through the tunnels.
There’s so much to love about this area for parents and kids of all ages. I spend all day telling my little guys not to throw things indoors, so they loved being encouraged to make things float, hover, and fly every which way.
Older kids will love all of that, plus be able to layer in science and engineering principles that they’ve learned in school to create their own aircraft and better understand the significance of the pieces of space history around them.
Parents will love having a cool (literally and figuratively!), new indoor space to visit during the summer heat, and if your memory of Bernoulli’s principle isn’t fresh, don’t worry, the labs will have a facilitator on site to help answer questions and explain the stations.
The Blast Off exhibit is included with regular admission, and will be here all summer long, so make sure you add it to your summer bucket list!
And now that you’ve updated your summer list, we’re ready to help two lucky readers check this one off! We’re doing a giveaway for two family passes (admit 4 each) to visit the museum. The passes are valid through September 30, 2013.
To sign up for your chance to win, simply enter the Rafflecopter giveaway below. There are many ways to enter (pick which one you like, or do them all to increase your odds). The contest ends Tuesday, June 25th.
The MiCHill team was provided free entry in to the museum in exchange for this review; however, all opinions expressed are strictly our own and authentic.
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