Since my last review, I ended up purchasing a family membership to the Children's Science Center and it is the BEST purchasing decision I have made all year. It's close proximity means that I have a go-to spot to bring the kids on school breaks, rainy days, cold days, or whenever we simply have nothing to do. While there are a few standing exhibits, the staff does a really good job at changing things up (and keeping things topical) so each visit feels special. And the best part... SLIME. We've made slime conductors, spider slime, fluffy slime, snowflake slime, glow-in-the-dark slime .. basically alll the slime. The experiment lab always has a slime option and it is a highlight of every visit. My eldest daughter went from barely reading and needing help at the beginning of our membership to fully reading and creating experiments on her own. It is so much fun to see. For the littles, there is a small playroom with building blocks, magnatiles, books, and those large blue fort/construction material building materials. My two-year old loved spending time in this room but now that she is three she likes making her own hovercrafts and setting them sail in the wind tunnel. The staff is SO kind, SO helpful, and so passionate about what they do. I love how they offer volunteer/internship opportunities to teens and will also set up special traveling science labs to Title I schools. If you are a member you also get discounted or free visits to children's science museums all across the United States which has made this membership 100% worth it for our family. If you are looking for an experience gift to give a little one this year, I highly recommend the Children's Science Center! read more

Had a great time with my toddler today. She's not quite two so her admission was free and there's a $2 discount for purchasing tickets in advance. I was worried there wouldn't be enough activity for her age but she had a blast playing with exhibits and blocks in the interactive room. She also made "play dough" as an experiment. The staff were all friendly and helpful, we will definitely be back. read more

Children's Science Center - Stirring our experiment - Museums Near Me - Fairfax, Virginia

Held my son's 4th birthday party here and I think all the kids had a great time. But really, the parents seemed to actually enjoy it too. I think that speaks volumes about this place. It's fun and educational and the event rental lasts quite a long time. The staff was also extremely accommodating and they're great with kids. Highly recommend a visit or renting out the venue if you're looking for something besides a jungle gym for a birthday party. read more

What an awesome opportunity for young future scientists! I came with a 16 month old and a 4.5 year old in a weekend 1000-1200 time slot. I would definitely say the experiences are geared towards, at a minimum, 3 years old. It was hard to keep my toddler entertained while my budding scientist wanted to do all of the activities. We successfully crafted a hoverboard, explored gas, and made sun prints and...slime! The Discovery room has lots of stuff for little ones that my kids like, including magnets and a glow board. I think the price of $15 is worth the experience and under 2 is free. I think my son really enjoyed it and in a couple of years my daughter will too. read more

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Came here with my friend and her kids. It being in the mall, I wasn't sure what to expect but I think I may have had more fun than the kiddos. We started at the experiment desk and made slime, snow, and learned about germs. Then we went and did a bunch of hands on science experiments like building, learning about magnets, trying to figure out balance, building machines, and more. We were there for about an hour and a half and got a good feel for most of the exhibits and hands-on activities they offer. My favorite part was where we left and the 4 year old said "that was a really fun playground, but when are we going to the science museum." The best way to make kids learn is when they don't even realize they're doing it! read more

Children's Science Center - Museums Near Me - Fairfax, Virginia

This is a small but engaging science center with enough to do to captivate a six and a nine year old. The experiment bar was great and I appreciate that they rotate experiments to keep it fresh if you return. read more

My son has aged out. Yet my hope is he will volunteer here. He still enjoys science, and the roots begin here. The Children's Science Museum is A plus! The staff here are passionate and humble. Science can be intimidating, but they've brought it to countless adults, children. My full approval of a must visit place for families. A lot of interactive exhibits. Also love the animals that they have here. They have lots of experiments that kids can do. Also if your children have a creative side, they can build airplanes and other items from paper. Admission is reasonable, and I'd recommend being a member. This is at Fair Oaks Mall, and it's a tremendous treat for all! read more

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My 2 sons really enjoy this place. We have a toddler that requires more monitoring so we stick to the front room with building toys and the light up wall. The older one is able to entertain himself with the science kits in the middle room. Absolutely lovely staff. They're very sweet with the kids. read more

I am a fan of the Children's Science Center, located at the Fair Oaks Mall! If you are an educator or an individual who is looking to have a great STEM experience with a child or a group, look no further! Children can participate in various activities, engage in hands-on exhibits, and do various exploration throughout the museum. For example: +there's an Experiment Bar, where there is a rotating menu of experiments that demonstrate the wonders of science +there's an Inspiration Hub, where children can demonstrate real-world applications of STEM +there's a Tinker Shop, where children can make, create, and build based on open-ended engineering design challenges +and, there's a Discovery Zone, where children can do hands-on learning, designed for any budding scientist! I had a several group outings here, and it has always been a blast! Don't let the small space throw you off, as it's laid out quite nicely and all the staff are friendly, welcoming, and very engaging. They're great teachers, too, as they can keep the attention of the group and do amazing experiments! Don't forget to check out their event calendar for any upcoming events and, currently, hosting of any virtual trips! Plenty of parking in the mall lot! +STEM experience for children! +located at Fair Oaks Mall +plenty of parking in the mall lot read more

Our family came here for the first time with friends! I didn't know much about the place but it was very cute! Everyone lined up and got checked in for their time slot (10-12pm was our slot). There was a good number of people there! I loved the experiment bar and how kids get to choose which experiment to do! They had 3 options when we went and we tried each one. There is a tablet to go at your own pace which is great for toddlers~ and staff floated around to make sure we didn't miss any key steps/give tips. The place was a little smaller than I thought with the number of people, but the kids were good at floating around and discovering new stations. There was a "make your own hovercraft" station that was cute (craft materials like lids, pipe cleaners, construction paper were given). Overall great experience! 4/5 since some stations didn't seem as interactive/group friendly? But it did seem like the place tried to have something for every age group! read more

fun, especially the exploding bottles thing, smells nice because of restaurants nearby

Hosted a birthday party here for a 7 year old and couldn't be happier with how everything turned out. For $650 you get to have up to 50 people for 2 hours, a demonstration with the birthday kid, individual experiments, free play/exploration AND the staff does everything so parents can relax and mingle. You have 15 minutes before and after for setup and take down in case you want to decorate, bring snacks, goodie bags etc. and the staff is there to assist. It's a great alternative to arcades, trampoline parks, and offers a fun, engaging and educational experience. We had kids as young as 2 and as old as 9 and everyone had a blast, including the parents. Kids were free to explore the entire facility and could also sit with friends or parents to conduct experiments with the staff. Highly recommend for events, field trips or just a visit. read more

We drove from hours away only to be turned away at the door after standing there for 20 minutes (the first ones) in line with our tickets ready in our hand because we didn't have a child with us. The staff was very kind but the company needs to do a better job at advertising that information as this was a very important trip for my boyfriend's birthday present because he absolutely loves science. I understand the complications between adults and children alone together in an environment such as this but please be better with communication in the future as this was very disappointing. read more

This place is pretty expensive but it's a good alternative to taking your kids to one of those indoor play places which are also pretty expensive. Here at least you get the STEM educational experience out of it. However, this place charges for adults which is annoying. We ended up just getting a membership. It pays for itself if you are going to visit more than twice in a year. It's a bit small but they have plenty of activities to entertain the kids for an hour. We have a 4 yo and a 2 yo. The 4 yo gets much more out of it but that's okay. The experiment bar is fun to do hands-on science experiments but I wish they would change them up a bit more often. Same with some of the activities in the back room like the hover craft building activity. They love seeing and petting the live snakes! read more

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This place is not big (maybe the equivalent of 4-5 classrooms), but they pack a lot in to cater to children of all ages. I brought my 18 month old, fully expecting her to find nothing to enjoy, but even she got value out of the center. Some of favorite activities: -Watching the sealife in the many aquariums (clownfish, hermit crab, shrimp, lionfish, starfish, and especially the seahorses) -Playing with the giant magnetic cogs -Turning a wheel to trigger a ball traveling down a maze of chutes -Throwing paper and other objects into the wind tunnel We did also try out a few activities that my daughter would probably enjoy more in a year: -Making snow in the science lab area -Touching the snakes (they take them out of the cage every few days) Altogether, we spent about 1.5 hours at the center. So if even an 18 month old can find activities to entertain her, I can imagine an older child entertaining him/herself for much longer. read more

I wanted to take my kids so badly to this place. We got our tickets a week in advance, unfortunately, I got sick and was unable to take them. ( I was told I could put a mask on and come sick). Their policy is ridiculous I asked for a gift card and they said no. We won't be coming to this place. read more

We booked a tour recently and were unfortunately unable to go as we got seriously ill that morning. As a warning to parents their policy is to reject refunds or rescheduling if you tell them under 48 hours. It's an absurd policy, completely insensitive to families (especially low income) as there's no way one could know when a child will get sick. No children's museum should have such an unreasonable policy. On top of this, when we notified their guest services we received a rude response, with zero sympathy for our situation. We will not be rebooking and do not support places that create barriers for families to access educational opportunities. read more

Can I borrow someone's kids so I can come play here everyday? I came here with a visiting friend to search to find something her kids would have fun doing. It was empty cause it was a school day so yay for us! The staff was extremely friendly and helpful. What a fun place for kids to play and learn. As school let out, more kids rolled in but there was still plenty of space to play and learn. I spent a few hours checking everything out including the robot arm and I seriously had just as much fun as the kids! They even have memberships here too. I asked and they said that the change up their bar activities all the time to keep it fun. What a great place for kids! read more

Children's Science Center - Robot playing xylophone - Museums Near Me - Fairfax, Virginia

I purchased their yearly membership and worth it. Some days the place gets to crowded making very difficult for the kids to use each station. From the last time I visited they did swap out new stations. I would recommend a little more involvement from staff with kids (not babysitting them) but making it more interactive, some seemed relatively bored. The space is clean and the restrooms as well. Enough space for some one strollers. read more

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So we went here for the first time for their family event on sharks. They had two sessions, one for Pre-K to 2nd grade and a second one for older kids. (They didn't really enforce those ages/grades though.) They did a great job explaining things at a level the kids could understand, giving relevant examples so that concepts like eco systems made sense. The kids got to look at live sharks in their eggs/purses. Then they got a chance to pet a young shark. There was also a station to learn about shark teeth. Each station had a biologist/naturalist to talk with the kids and answer questions. After exploring each station each child made a rubber shark fin and got a shark tooth to take home. As part of the event you get free entrance to the science center. We ended up spending 3+ hours there. I think the biggest things parents need to realize when coming here is that it is intended for the parents to be engaged with their kids. If you take the time to discuss what you are learning from the station and really experiment with what is there it should take at least 15 minutes if not more. The staff are there and they do help with science questions and how to use the stations, but they also spend a lot of time cleaning up after kids whose parents don't interact as their kids run from station to station throwing things around. When we did have questions they were very happy to help and explain. Staff generally approached us at each station and offered assistance at some point while we were there, signs also helped explain what you could do. At the lab bar we had fun doing all three experiments. (The staff member said that the take out the oldest one each month and rotate a new one in.) I like how they explain the science behind things as you do the project, and that they have a tablet to help at each set of seats. I will say we did the most waiting here. The girls seemed overwhelmed as people come and go freely requesting the different projects. It might be easier if the staff were assigned sections and each section was one of the experiments They were very knowledgeable but we spent a lot of time waiting. They have tanks with a lion fish, sharks, a mantis shrimp, hermit crabs, and SEAHORSES!! This place is relatively small and new. I think they are still figuring out what works best and adding new programs. I don't disagree that a lower adult price might not be a bad idea, but I do think that parents need to plan to be hands on and not just sitting on your phone. (Going as part of a program made the price seem totally worth it.) I think this place is probably good for ages 4-12 (12 may be pushing it depending on the kid). Parents need to go in and have fun too. Explain how/why things work then play. Make a hover craft while your kids make one to see whose spins better or floats higher. Build with the Keva planks to see who can make the most complex tower. Let your child show you how to program the robot arm. Talk about where robot arms are used in real life. (If you don't know learn together.) I've gone to other Children's Centers that were much bigger, but honestly I had more fun and felt like my daughter learned more here. The option to leave and get lunch and come back was also great. We are already planning on going back soon. read more

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My kids love this place ... have literally spent all day there. And I'm impressed with the things my 5-year-old learns when she's there. She has become quite good at understanding how to program the robot arm and loves thinking through how to make a hover craft. We also always pay a visit to the experiment table, where she loves any of the experiments where she gets to make something. The place might be small, but it has a lot for everyone ... even my toddler, who will spend hours in the building area. read more

The blonde women in the front cashier could learn a thing or two about costumer service. They were very awkward in the front desk and seemed less enthusiastic speaking with me based on skin color. BUT the young man inside the museum and the brunette woman operating the lab were very kind - thank you for knowing how to show customer service. read more

I really don't understand what the hype is. I took my 3 and 6 year old here twice. I spent almost $50 here for our family, and have had much more fun in the free playground in Fair Oaks mall!!!! I came here through a recommendation of a friend. My children spent the entire time playing in the blue foam playground-like area. Staff members here are incompetent in handling kids. They just walk around and don't ask the kid if they need help learning or putting anything together. What am I really paying the $12 for?? Just so my kids can come in and play with Lego's and me sit in the corner and watch them? Staff helped my kids perform a few science experiments, about putty that kept them interested for awhile. There's a small room in the back that is almost always full with kids who are in some kind of camp. Other times the place is just so crowded that there's no space for the kids to sit and really "learn". When my son was trying to put together the Lego's most of the pieces were missing, and when we asked a staff member for help, she told me the pieces were donated to them, so there may be some missing. Again, why am I paying $12/kid for donated Legos with missing pieces???? She seemed uninterested in helping us figure out the Lego area. The robotics mechanics area is too complicated, even for the average adult to figure out! Maybe my kids are too young for this place?? There's an area with wooden blocks, tucked away in a dark, dim corner for younger kids to play with. The whole area doesn't seem at all inviting for kids under age 6. Tables and chairs are too high for a 6-year old to comfortably sit on to work with experiments. There's a section for building with paper clips or something. Everything seems to be geared towards the 7+ crowd. There was a story time, but overall the place is just boring, and staff members are just wandering around doing nothing really. I just think the whole place is way over-priced for the amount of entertainment you get. Like other reviewers, I agree children under age 4 should be free or something. There isn't much there to do for them. read more

My 7 year old enjoyed all the activities they offered such as the Bubble-ology, Wired Dough and the Floating Rainbow. They really explain to kids what needs to be done and what the experiment is all about. I enjoyed it as much as the kids did. I recommend this place for some interactive fun and brain exercises. read more

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Stopped by here for a birthday party this weekend. The location is a bit small, but well organized. The guy who led the party was very engaging and helped the kids during the experiment. One reason I've deducted one star was due to the girl located near the wind turbine and heart pump. I didn't realize someone was in that area, but when I went to grab another chair for the lego table, I realized the girl sitting at the other table was suppose to be working this space. A pet peeve of mine is that she was on her phone. We stayed in that area for a good 15 minutes and I watched how she did not engaged anyone. In fact, one parent asked her to explain the heart pump and she couldn't. The other reason is the front of the location is suppose to be secure, keeping the kids from leaving the space. Yet I didn't see any workers standing there to ensure kids remained in the space. I would worry about dropping kids off that were under 5. read more

This placed is staffed with many educated and passionate people happily helping inspire children to love science and discovery. Not a large science center but quite a bit to pique interest. Unfortunately they lost a star from me for charging full admission for adults when clearly none of this is geared toward adults. However the value lies in the all-day access the admission price affords you and the staff members. read more

Children's Science Center - Create your own hovercraft - Museums Near Me - Fairfax, Virginia

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My husband and I brought my 9 year old God daughter here for her bday and we had a great time! She spent most of her time at the experiment bar. They had three experiments to do, all of which were easy enough for younger kids to be able to do with some assistance from their parents but still fun enough for a 9 year old to be interested in. She also spent a lot of time in the room with the air tunnel hovercraft building thing. She loved putting together little hovercrafts. My husband had a great time building some too! They had a great little putty piano thing which was pretty awesome. I think I played on that more then my god daughter did. Overall I would recommend. read more

We are visiting from CO and wanted to take the kids to someplace fun on a rainy day. Found this little gem near us and decided to give it a go. It wasn't cheap at $13 pp including adults so but well worth the cost. My husband and I am enjoying all the experiments and building things as much as our 5 and 6 year old sons. We built a flying contraption in their air tunnel and played with a slime piano. Yes, you heard me right - a slime piano! A piano that plays while you squish slime. My 6 year old son is enthralled with their nice LEGO collection while my 5 year old son is doing a geology experiment to figure out what type of rocks he has. This place is not a jumping, running sort of place so keep that in mind. But it is an amazing place with many great STEM type toys. The admission price is for the entire day so you can leave and come back so I highly recommend coming before lunch, taking a break for lunch at the Fair Oaks Mall Food Court (since this place is inside the mall) and coming back for more fun. Well worth the $13 admission!!! So glad we decided to check this place out. If we lived here, we would definitely invest in the membership. read more

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Unfortunately, I fail to see what all the hype is about. Took my 9 yo son at the end of SnowZilla week. $12 ea (parents required to pay too). We first visited the counter where the staff provides you with one of 3 experiments: invisible writing, make snow, and . . . something else to do with snow (ya know, because every human in the area hadn't seen enough of it by now). Lady puts paper cups, crayon liquids, q-tips, a dropper, popsicle sticks, paper, etc in front of us. Instructs us on what to do. (Dip q tip in here and write on paper; use the dropper to add water to this; pour this into here and stir.) Ok, great! Now what? And we waited . . . meanwhile I hear the group next to us getting a "presentation" about organic matter. I see our gal helping some folks down the counter get started, & think she'll come back and explain the science part (and provide the ultraviolet light needed for the invisible ink) . . . nope. She sweeps by us to pick up the pieces we used, but no explanation. So I wait a few and then try to prompt her for the explanations. "So what's the science behind all of this?" She babbles off something about adding carbon to vinegar . . . & leaves. Alrighty then. I then make eye contact with someone else & ask for the science explanation (the kiddo has by far lost interest now) and she recaps each experiment. Realizing my son just wants to see what else this place is about by now, I thank her and we head to the next area. Turbines and airflow. Essentially, the kids pick what type of (3 or 4?) fan blades they want onto a fan (mix and match) to see what makes the fan go fastest. A computer screen shows the speed. That took all of 60 seconds. Moving along - there's this huge magnetic board that you place tracks and turnabouts on and try to direct wooden balls into a hole. Pretty cool! But there's zero guidance. So when a 4 yo plops themselves into the bin area where the balls drop, it prevents the other kids from engaging with the experiment because the wee one is pulling the carefully placed tracks off . Eventually the kids get slammed in the head with a ball (youch!) and the "creativity" continues . . . only each of the now preset 5 kids has their own thought about how to make things happen. Realizing this would be a hard collaboration for my 9 yo (and the 5-8 yo's that remain) I anticipate the meltdown and encourage we move along. Next we do the turning gears table. Larg'ish table with a magnetic top. Gears stick to the table. You line the (10+) gears up so they interlock and when you turn one gear, the others also turn. Time spent: 2 minutes. Next stop is the "trinket room." There's a super cool 16"'ish tube of air, and a bunch of domed slurpie lids laying around with pipe cleaners, paper hot dog trays, coffee filters, paper clips and such. You pop one of the creations into the tube and see which one goes the highest or does the best trick. Eventually we saw the supply of items that go with this "experiment" behind us, but at this point all creations have been made and left by others, so what's the point (in my kids eyes at least)? There's a counter in the room with some circuits and a laptop. COMPUTER?! My kid's ALLLL about it! Laptop is tuned into a website that shows you how to make an (elementary) computer program. Hmmm . . . no instruction in sight. Looks like you could fiddle with it and figure it out, but . . . yah, my son loses interest and moves on. With half an eye on him, I stay and fiddle to see how the program works. A minute later, as I'm walking away, im approached by an employee who asks if I'm interested in help. "Yes!" "Oh, well let me get you one of the instruction cards." She walks to a drawer on the other side of the room and brings back a d-ring with several laminated cards on it with tasks to try. I understand kids likely chew on the things or walk off with them, but seriously? This would have been helpful like 5 minutes ago. I take the booklet and hope to re-engage my son. He's over at a MANNED table where fishing line is attached to poles and you're supposed to balance things, attached with binder clips, on the line. There are 2 kids sitting with their parents and my kid is standing and trying his hand at the experiment. Employee looks none too thrilled. I finally realize that my son had stuck his nose into the experiment midway (believing HE is THE master of balance?). The employee doesn't know how (isn't allowed?) to tell kids that butt in to wait their turn, or how to coach along with ideas. (Or, maybe her means of telling him to wait his turn is to unenthusiastically watch him fail? Not a horrible idea I suppose.) I realize the (wrong) way of my son and redirect him to . . . (the heavenly gates opened and showed their light! A table with 3 bins of LEGOS! YEA! (Um, because we don't have those at home?) I can definitely see the potential the place has, but until it's staffed properly or provides better direction for parents, it's a bust. read more

We have a membership but don't plan to renew. The staff are flighty and don't seem capable of handling a crowd. In particular, they do not demonstrate sensitivity for developmental differences of children. The staff take far too long to process people in the door. On our most recent visit, the sole staff member at the desk was giving a long-winded sales pitch to a passer-by while a line of people (with children) several deep waited in vain to get in. No other staff came to assist. Finally, I just walked in with my kids and told the young woman at the desk that my wife would check us in whenever the young woman got around to us. Overall, they need to work on their processes and ability to handle the crowd, especially on weekends. On the plus side, the children seem to enjoy the different activities, though there is an upper-limit on engagement time. read more

We recently celebrated my child's 6th birthday with the Children's Science Center. He said it was his favorite birthday ever. Everyone who attended also expressed how much fun they had. The staff was excellent and incredibly engaged with the kids. There were so many different hands-on stations where kids could make slime, make hovercrafts or just play. There was also a special experiment that the birthday boy could perform in front of his friends. Clean up and set up was taken care of completely and again, the staff and manager were excellent . We could not recommend this place more as a birthday party option. read more

We have a 4 year old and she is so curious about how things work and why things are the way they are, this is great for that. We visited as a family once and decided to go with the membership after (you can use on receipt towards your membership, so no value lost and we got to see what we were paying for). With the membership we have been back several times. My daughter loves the Monday Budding Bookworm - story time for preschool aged kids at 11am AND Friday Budding Scientists - an experiment related to the story from Monday. In response to some of the negative reviews, my take is that this is a great place for young kids with parents that want to be involved in the learning process. If you want to sit on your phone in the corner while your kid plays, go to a park. read more

Amazingly cool and active place for kids. Kids are actively doing experiments and building things. read more

Children's Science Center - Playing piano with slime as the energy source - Museums Near Me - Fairfax, Virginia

Children's Science Center hosted our son's 7th birthday party and it was a BLAST. The staff was great, kept a tight ship to ensure our huge group (17 kids!) was always in their eyesight. Kids have plenty of time to explore the Lab, participate in the experiment and enjoy their pizza and cake. Also, I read reviews below saying how tiny the place is. This place is huge. The garage was able to fit our 17 kids and several of their parents. There were plenty of activities for kids to do, from tinker shop to the experiments' table. Finally, our birthday party coordinator, Anna, was amazing. She had everything all set up, her crew members were fully engaged with the children. You got yourselves return customers! read more

So many fun things to do here even if you have little kids. I had a 6, 4 and 2 year old and we had a lot of fun ! The staff however drove me insane! There were too many of them and they kept following me I guess they were bored. They were like hi are you in here talking, what are we talking about #nope read more

The science center is amazing! My cousin loves coming here. The staff is all very friendly, and engage the children. They have been upgrading and adding new exhibits. I definitely recommend visiting this museum. Ignore the bad reviewers, they were probably on a phone and chose to ignore with their kids. read more

The science center is amazing! My son loves coming here, and for the first month or two of membership we came every day. The staff is all very friendly, and engage the children. They have been upgrading and adding new exhibits. I definitely recommend visiting :). read more

Very good concept and program for the kiddies. Staff was incredible and worked very diligent to make sure every kid was given exemplary service. My daughter had a blast! read more

Great place for my 8 and 5 year olds on a rainy summer day. A nice range of activities - making soap at the science bar, programming a robot arm to move blocks, stamp papers, and play the xylophone, making things to float in a wind funnel - all staffed by knowledgable and engaged young scientists. The fee is really good (far less than we've paid in other cities) considering the hands on approach and the patient attentiveness of the staff. Highly recommended. read more

This place is the biggest fucking rip off! $13 per kid for 3 rooms of junk! It claims to be a 501(c)(3) organization, but I dont see any charity. Discounts to Seniors who don't fucking come here. Family of 4? $52 fucking dollars! This place needs a motherfucking audit! read more