Cleveland Ohio – Momgineering the Future

Last week, I shared some of my top favorite STEM Education Museums and Centers across Ohio. Here’s what I shared on my Facebook and Instagram accounts in case you missed it!

National Museum of the United States Air Force: Located just outside of Dayton, Ohio.

The museum is located just outside Dayton, Ohio at the Wright Patterson Air Force Base. This museum has the oldest and largest military aviation collections in the world. It’s pretty incredible. I personally loved being able to view the World War II collection to see the types of planes that my Grandfather flew in during the war. I also loved seeing some of the former Air Force One planes. Very unique and incredible collection. And it’s FREE admission!!!! Go check it out!

Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal: Located in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio.

The museum is located in downtown Cincinnati and is a one stop for everything science, history and architecture. It just completed an entire remodel last Fall. This is truly one of my favorite buildings in Ohio.

Inside you will find the newly renovated and designed Museum of Natural History, the Cincinnati History Museum, the newly opened Neil Armstrong Space Exploration Gallery, the Omnimax theater and the Holocaust and Humanity Center and the local children’s museum, not to mention numerous special exhibits throughout the year.

The art deco design of the building itself is a wonder in itself that’s worth exploring. If you haven’t been there, it’s time to make a trip and check it out. While you’re in Cincinnati, taste some local favorites like Graeters ice cream located inside the museum! If you make it there during Christmas time, check out the incredible train display!

COSI: Located in Columbus, Ohio

The museum is located in Columbus, Ohio. It is likely if you’ve been to Columbus, you’ve been there too. It is very well known throughout the state.

They have wonderful science demonstrations and incredible changing exhibits that are mostly designed in house at the museum. We personally love the little kidspace (pictured). My kids have spent over two hours here. It’s a great one tank trip from Cleveland and Cincinnati. If you’ve been there, what are some of your favorite memories?

Cleveland Museum of Natural History: Located in Cleveland, Ohio

I love the Wildlife Center and Woods Garden at this museum. In this area, you can view 5 diverse ecosystems found in Ohio, along with the animals that are found there. Each animal was found as part of rescue and rehabilitation efforts and none of them are able to be released back into the wild so they call the museum habitats their home. Along the paths you’ll find surprising built in play areas for kids to explore.

We also love the Planetarium and Observatory. They offer wonderful and educational kids shows on space and the cosmos.

Inside the museum some of our favorites are the Earth quake demo and the gems collections as well as, Balto. If you haven’t been there, consider checking it out the next time you are in Cleveland.

The Great Lakes Science Center: Located in Cleveland, Ohio.

It’s one of my favorite Cleveland, Ohio museums and it is located right on Lake Erie.

They offer the BEST STEM Education programs and exhibits that I’ve found in this area. My space loving 4 year old loves the Nasa Glenn visitor center. We also love the entire second floor with tons of fun experiments for kids and adults alike, as well as the children’s area.

Their exhibits are top notch! We’ve seen Trains, Grossology and now Vroom! We walked away with a wealth of knowledge everytime.

We always find great quality experiments and learning opportunities like the one above that we saw recently to explain matter.

The Cleveland community is fortunate to have such a wonderful resource in this area. Check them out on your next trip to Cleveland. You won’t leave disappointed, but likely a bit more curious!

What are you waiting for? Go check them out! Where should I go next?

The Great Lakes Science Center did it again – they created another outstanding, fun and educational exhibit for kids and adults alike to explain how automobiles are designed, manufactured and serviced. VROOM! A Car Adventure is excellent!

The entrance to Vroom! At the Great Lakes Science Center in Cleveland Ohio.

Our Favorites:

As we entered the ginormous space, my kids first ran towards the tall multi-track called Physics Playground. Children (and adults – yes, of course I had to try it out too) can race cars down several tracks with loops, turns and jumps! It’s very exciting and fast paced fun and entertainment like I’ve never seen before.

The second place my kids explored and LOVED was the Automotive Care Center where they could work on ‘Mom and Dad’s Car’. My daughter was wearing a long dress, but that didn’t stop her from diving in to work on the tires, muffler or re-fill the fluids. My youngest explored the fun tire holes surrounding this exhibit.

Other fun areas included Tots Garage and the Aerodynamics wall. There are two areas for designing and racing your own vehicle – one designed for toddlers called Tots Garage and another area with wooden pieces and tires for bigger kids and adults. At the aerodynamics wall, my children could visually see how air flows around various shaped objects. My oldest found it interesting that vehicle designers evaluate the aerodynamics of vehicles for fuel efficiency (so they don’t need as much gas).

You can also test your skills and speed against an arm robot, named Lenny, which is a duplicate used in the automotive factories. My children laughed so hard at the celebratory dance after each time the robot won!

The area that I personally enjoyed the most was The Future of Car Tech section. This area had an example of airless tires and the LiDar sensor that is used to help self-driving cars navigate.

LiDar Sensor Technology screen inside the new exhibit.

My Thoughts:

This exhibit helps visualize many aspects of car design and servicing. We easily spent 3 hours exploring this space and we could have spent even more time. It is designed for all ages of children and adults. There is so much more to this exhibit that I didn’t add to this post.

We left the exhibit with plenty of knowledge on vehicle design, technology and functionality. I wished that there would have been more on vehicle manufacturing. There’s scores of science and engineering at vehicle manufacturing and assembly plants – i.e. the science behind paint color and appearance alone is a whole science in itself. However, this exhibit did not disappoint us at all and we will recommend it to everyone that we know!

The most impressive part for me about this exhibit was that it was built in house by the Great Lakes Science Center – it is truly one of a kind. We loved it.

Vroom over to the Great Lakes Science Center in Cleveland Ohio and go check it out for yourself!!!

Tag: Cleveland Ohio

Museum Week Wrap Up

The Vroom Exhibit at the Great Lakes Science Center in Cleveland Ohio is Tire-iffic!!!