Da Vinci Science Center

I have mixed feelings about the new center. My son’s autistic and with his Access card we were able to get a year membership for an amazing price! He and my older son had a great time, and we will definitely be back. Parking in the spiral lot was easy and affordable. Is there enough there to entertain them time after time? Maybe…especially if we take advantage of their special events. Time will tell. We do miss the old location, as it was closer and had some of our fave hands on experiences, such as the ball mover, the car, needle press, and being able to go in the Mac truck. I was also thrown off by the public bathrooms…to the left there’s a family bathroom for complete privacy and to the right a family bathroom, which just means a large bathroom for EVERYONE, so when I walked in and saw a man washing his hands I had to walk out to make sure it was in the right place. Bathroom doors are ceiling to floor, which is great, but people forget that toddlers love to open doors as moms try to go to the bathroom. That could be embarrassing! All and all though we had fun and would return.

What a cool place! Lots to do for kids and adults. A good gift shop as well, lots of cute plushies and S.T.E.M toys/activities. The cafe looked like grab and go stuff, but it seemed busy and popular. Private bathrooms! I would recommend for anyone looking for a fun 1-2 hour activity, adult or kids. Some interesting stuff!

Parking is easy and straight forward in spiral garage. We got our tickets online for general admission and the Science of ice cream class. Def recommend getting tickets online for experiences as they sold out quickly. The class session was absolutely extraordinary and everyone hosting did such a great job! This was the highlight of our visit. We went with our friends on a double date. Its not just for kids. However, the museum itself was a bit lacking. It was smaller than we thought with only 2 floors, and experiences are "add-ons". It was a bit salesey with all of the names of companies/corporations everywhere. Activities were limited but fun and informative. Didn't realize there were turtles, fish, and otters as well which was nice. It almost felt like they had a little bit of everything but not much of one thing trying to squeeze as much as possible into the limited space. All in all this place is amazing for classroom experiences, outreach programs, and school visits/camps, but the museum itself didn't have as much to do as other science centers that we've been to like Liberty Science Center in NJ.

Fun science center with lots of hands-on/interactive learning stations. There's something for everyone. There's also a toddler area. The watershed exhibit has a nice little otter experience. The staff was friendly. Close parking garage with no need to cross a busy steet. The traveling shark exhibit was a great experience too.

I have been holding out visiting as my family loved the Cedar Crest location so much. The parking was fantastic and my kids always gravitated to the ball exhibit. The Allentown location is now in center city and you need to navigate and pay for parking and our favorite exhibit is no longer there. We went on a whim after a failed attempt to check out ComicCon and were so happy we did! The boys staying in their Mario and Luigi gear as we navigated the two floors of the Da Vinci Center. We liked the Science in the Making and Lehigh River Watershed the best. The lever pully chairs were so fun and the otters were captivating. I was a little bummed with the amount of exhibits with screens. I would rather avoid screens when out with the family. However, my boys (7 yrs, 3 yrs) loved the mimicking skeleton/muscle activity. I think I was honestly most impressed by the staff that really made my 5 star rating. They were friendly, passionate, and thoughtful. They even approached us with felt gift bags for the kids with trinkets from the gift shop after finding out our failed ComicCon excursion: a green bag for Luigi and a red for Mario! Also, loved the immaculate family restrooms. We spent maybe two hours in total here. There were no traveling exhibits that weekend so I'm sure we would have been there longer if there were.

We had a great experience at the museum! I would say this place is perfect for kids ages 4 and up, although there was one or two toddler sections. Lots of interactive exhibits consisting of a room or curiosity, one about building, sounds, air, and such as well as about your body and a watershed exhibit. It took us about an hour and a half to get through it all, although we may have stayed longer if our seven year old was up to reading every single plaque there. It was a cool experience overall but I wished it had been a little bigger.

We use our reciprocal membership benefits for ASTC here and the staff is always helpful and kind. The center itself is clean and fun - my 6 year old loved it. They often have traveling exhibits for an extra charge and my daughter loved when there was a dinosaur one. It does feel a little small and would probably only need 1-2 hours here. With the membership benefits we have, totally worth coming.

It's one of the best science museums! Very informative, well-maintained, and featuring many cool exhibitions. It's interesting not just for kids, but also for adults and even teenagers who don't typically care about anything. General admission costs $20, and it's worth every penny! My family and I spent 3 hours here and could have spent even more if we had the chance. I definitely recommend it to everyone looking for fun activities.

I'm not an avid science museum fan but had a fun experience at Allentown's Da Vinci Science Center. It's the new location for the museum which use to be located outside of town so visiting gives you easy walking to other downtown attractions and museums. Everything was interactive and modern with just enough text and things to immerse myself in to keep my attention. I especially loved that there are live animals I can see including otters! Some of the fish seemed a bit crammed in their tanks. :/ And I was excited to see the live animal reveal...but it was a cold day and this happened on the upstairs pavillion outside so, being a California guy who had checked my coat in the free coat check lockers, it was too cold for me to stick with it. There were all kinds of heaters out there that weren't on which would have made a big difference to me (or anyone who gets cold easily) had they turned those on. I was there with a group of ten with adults and kids ranging from 4-16. Everyone had a good time and had plenty to do and interact with.

Celebrated my son's 3yo birthday with a family outing to the Da Vinci science Center. Such a fun experience for not only him but both parents and his grandmom. The center was the perfect size for him. We will definitely be back!

My kids (7 & 12) had an "okay" time. Coming from the Boston area where there are so many museums and children's offerings this one fell a bit flat for us, and is only getting a fourth star because it is unfair to rate it in comparison to things not from the area. The largest complaint from my kids was that there were no dinosaurs, although dinosaurs are featured in their promotional videos. In talking to the gentlemen at the front desk they told us that this was the traveling exhibit when the center first opened, and now it is the Astronaut Training exhibit. The center was clean, although there were only a few hand sanitizer stations throughout. The large projector screen and digital stations was the highlight for my kids, along with seeing the otters.

Just opened, this facility is just excellent. Similar to The Franklin Institute with exhibits for kids and adults, they lots to see and learn about. Park at the big spiral parking deck (used to be part of Hess brothers department store), walk down a paved path and you are right in front of the place. Staff was friendly, knowledgeable and in some cases gave one on one instruction on all exhibit areas. However lets involve more mechanics and science, upstairs is more about teh human body and related information. When I was there they had a great dinosaur exhibit. They even have a nice lunch area with a rooftop view of downtown and the prices were reasonable. Overall, a fine addition and a great community resource.

My partner and I are seniors and found it interesting. We were there for almost two hours. It's a great place for children who are curious and love to learn. Highly recommend. P.S. They do have a coat room, I was hot with a long-sleeved tee on in DECEMBER.

So like others have said. Not a lot of things for kids unless your kids like reading boring placards on the wall. We have been to a BUNCH of science centers and this one ranks at the bottom. Your kiddo I'll be bored in about a half hour. If you like to pay $90 for that, good for you. Not enough hands on experiences and some of the ones they had were broken, with someone explaining how to "get it to work" even though they know it's broken. "Astronaut training" was a complete joke and not worth the money! And at the end of our short trip, the gift shop had no change to get a souvenir penny, so we had to go to the cashier for the tickets who had a hard time figuring out how to break a 10 and give me $1 in change (at a science center) sweet. They had their share of diversity in the staff if you get me. They get one star for not having "pride" merch in the gift store. PASS ON THIS

We were there today with our 6 yr old granddaughter and 3 yr old grandson. It was interesting and fun. The space is better than the previous location. There are employees all around who are actively looking for opportunities to interact and help visitors. A+ for all that. Downside: really expensive, $87 for 4 people. We are seniors - no discount for that. Kids up to 2 yrs free. No big deal there, kids under 2 can't really do much there anyway... We live in the area and won't be back. Once and done is enough. Not much to attract people to return.

We recently visited the center with the idea that it would be similar to the Franklin Institute, but was a little disappointed. The staff were incredible kind and pleasant but the exhibits were very small and actually had a lot of space in between them. You would think they would have more items inside. With how small the full facility is, you really shouldn't be charged for the "featured" exhibit. It was incredibly clean, I wanted to go with a 3.5 star rated but opted for a 4 because at the end of the day our kids did have a good time.

Went here with family and this was a surprisingly great science center. Not too large, not too small and enough space to roam around and try and wonder about everything. Totally worth the money. First we saw the animals and there was some great information concerning them and the exhibition was really interesting. So was the rest the science exhibits, and we were able to and try all the items on display. There's also some good areas to eat your lunch if needed. Finally we visited the exhibition shop and it had some great stuff , not over priced. The staff were also kind and the atmosphere gave many sparkles for curious minds. The whole family enjoyed this place very much!

the kids had great time there love the river otters and river table . also like hand on pieces

The judgment of the leadership of the Da Vinci Science Center is appalling as they have brought back an exhibit that has the same problematic elements as the Bodies Revealed exhibit 10 years ago. These are corpses of real bodies. In the past, the methods of obtaining these bodies was called into question. Can you really trust the side-show designers and merchandisers now as they harvest human bodies to plasticize? Even if every corpse had actually signed off knowingly - what country did they come from? These are the bodies of people who have living friends and family. It is entirely macabre - and intentionally so. Visitors are MEANT to marvel at the creepiness as they wander amongst the corpses. "These were real people??" Yes, they were. And the exhibit could have been just as educational if the bodies and body parts had been meticulously manufactured. But where would the draw be once you remove the "freak show" element? You are preying on a base instinct in the living and have complete disrespect for the dead. This is a nightmare waiting to happen - KEEP YOUR CHILDREN AWAY.

We love the DaVinci Science Center. Great exhibits for younger kids. They accept ASTC Museum passes.

We had an amazing time at the body worlds Rx exhibit. Very informative and unique. This exhibit was tastefully done.

If you are in the area I would throw it on the list. I will not be traveling an hour to visit again however. Just one of those if you have seen it once it is enough situation. Great place for a field trip or birthday.

We went for the ice cream wars, first visit here. Bought a membership (reasonable prices and offered many discount options for families.) Lots to keep our 4yo entertained (and his dad). It was really busy, assuming because of the ice cream wars event, but still enjoyable. Staff were all very friendly. There is no food for purchase other than a few vending machines. Most activities were functioning, a handful were unavailable but that's to be expected. Upkeep with a million little hands day after day is bound to be difficult! 2 floors of activities. I don't think we saw it all. There was an activity that cost extra, hurricane experience i think it was. Wind got up to 80+ mph inside a tube. Cost $2. The gift shop was priced ok considering it's a gift shop, not a huge variety of items though. Saw the same items 5+ different locations in the room. Overall great experience. Thanks so much!

Extremely loud, overcrowded due to unruly kids on field trips, their teachers/guardians and the staff don't make sure they're behaving. The staff discriminates against homeschool kids, wouldn't allow my child to participate in some things because he wasn't part of a field trip despite the fact that we were paying customers. There is very little to do here and its simply not worth the $. It's very small, and there is no food court, so you have to leave to find food. Alot of the exhibitions were out of order.

Excellent place for kids to explore and learn about science! We really enjoyed our experience. It's clean, best, organized and fun! Admission is $12 for each adult, tickets can be purchased online or inside the center. Visitor can select a time-slot. Once you enter your receipt is your "admission ticket." There are two floors. Main floor has a gift shop on the first floor when you enter and a bunch of theaters and rooms for fun activities! They had a 15 mins show about nitrogen in the back of the open theater. On the second floor, there is a bunch of activities for kids. There are two restrooms for both men and women on the first and second floor. Will come back again.

I'll start off by saying the little bit of staff on site was very friendly and welcoming. Our guide for the time was very nice and my kids enjoyed her presence and joyful personality. Because of Covid there are restrictions and it's a very short exhibit. We were done very fast. We enjoyed Pancake the and Lola still happy about going because they're doing what they can to stay open considering everything happening. My kids enjoyed it and that's all I need. I do recommend but keep these things in mind!

Sadly some of the less Star reviews miss the point complaining about costs. It is a facility with staff, lights, electric bills to pay for exhibits. For very young kids, many of the exhibits are beyond their comprehension, yet they will grow into understanding these. For them there's fun things to do. Many of the beyond playground exhibits are high school or college general physics level. The exhibits are clever. If you have a science background, you'll appreciate this immediately. Our grandchild will visit here for years to come with our yearly membership. The staff, who answers questions, are well educated in the sciences. Some with Masters and PhDs. This isn't Dorney Park. This is STEM.

It's the perfect place for kids who are inquisitive. We happen to be in the area and tried this out on a Sunday. Love the fact that it wasn't crowded. Staff are pleasant.

small but filled with lots of fun for kids and adults. yes including adults cause I saw, plenty of parents "playing". easy to find and free parking is always a plus! clean museum and clean bathroom. they dont offer any food though they did offer a place to sit and eat if you brought your own food or used their vending machines. which is always a plus because they allow you to BYO. they also have a coat/carriage room.

Very small and underwhelming. Expensive admission for what it has to offer. Not a science museum and a very bad discovery center. Only reason to come here is if you have kids and they need to be stimulated. Most exhibits here you can see elsewhere. A lot of exhibits are closed because machines need to be repaired. From the outside it looks bigger and better as the exterior of the building is quite nice.

My 7 year old granddaughter always has a good time. I have noticed recently that more of the exhibits have been in working order. In the past that was not always the case, which can be very disappointing to a child.

While my kids had fun, there is very little staff to help you or any instructions on what each thing is. I would also advise against visiting while a camp is here as the general paying public is very unwelcome and unwanted. The campers run around without Teacher's/staff to control them. My kids were bumped into and shoved around multiple times as well as rushed off the Blake shuttle by the staff so that the campers could take a tour even though our children barely got a chance to look around. On the bright side the gift shop is very well priced and our kids were able to find a few things.

Went with a friend to the Star Wars event and loved it. Characters were well dressed, friendly, and awesome. Really clean place, plenty of parking and had a lot of things that were fun for children as well as adults. They also have a nice gift shop as well. Building is two stories. Not huge but enough to walk around, explore, and have some fun. There was no admission fee when I went but not sure if they usually charge one or not.

it was lovely! went to see body worlds- so cool and informative. very friendly environment, staff are helpful and knowledgeable. would definitely return in the near future!

My daughter family with two kids are members for years. We , grandparents, came to center with our daughter family pass and daughter kids. We were not allowed to enter without buying additional passes to us and two kids , which already the members. The front desk wanted to charge us additional $120 for visit! The people were very rude and inconsiderate! We will never visit this place again.

This place is amazing! It's great for kids and for adults. My whole family went and we all thoroughly enjoyed our afternoon there. There are tons of interactive things that you can play with and learn all about that involve science and nature at the same time. It truly doesn't get any better than that! We stayed for the live animal show where they made sure to go around to each person and let them get a close look at the animals. I would come to come back again when I'm back in the area with the family and recommend it to anybody else that has the opportunity to check it out!

Honestly wish I would've just stayed home. It's literally like a 20 minute walk. There's a bunch of unattended bratty kids pushing their way Infront of mine. I was sweating profusely. Apparently there's no air conditioning. Half the science experiments were broken. My kid didn't learn a thing. Save your money and your gas.

We had a wonderful time here today with our 4 and 7 year old boys. They couldn't get enough of it and we had to drag them out of there! Nice staff, very clean and organized (and working) exhibits. Highly recommended!

A very generic "Science Center".....There was a couple busloads of camps and daycares there on the day I was visiting with my 2 nephews. Chaperones were sparse and the kids were running rampant. My nephews had to wait to look and touch some of the cooler displays because other kids were there and it was so noisy. Quite a few displays were working properly. I took a 7 year old and a 12 year old and after an hour they were bored. $40+ wasted. Don't waste your money. I've seen better exhibits at some school's science fairs.

It's nice! Don't get me wrong, but the place never changes. Every-time I went ( 3 Times ) nothing changed, at all. And for the price, they should make it more worth it. Went 3 times paid the stupid price for nothing new. Don't recommend, there is other science centers to take your kids to, etc. Not recommended

This is our second time coming to the da Vinci center and we unfortunately didn't have as good as a time as our last. While arriving, we saw three to four school buses in the parking lot. That should have been a clear sign to me to come back another day, but we drove the hour to get there and I didn't want to turn back around and waste gas. As soon as we entered, I could tell this was a mistake. There were so many summer camps there! My niece didn't get to do half the stuff she wanted because these kids from the camps were unruly and kept pushing her out of the way. Obviously, that's not the centers fault though. The kids were not being watched by their directors and just let them run wild. The center is quite lovely though. The staff were very friendly and helped explain some of the centers if you couldn't quite understand how to do some activities. It is very clean too and informative! Lots of stuff to do and very fun! Next time we will come during the Fall. Then maybe it won't be as busy with bus trips.

This has been - bar none - the best museum for our two small kids (and we've had lots of memberships to science museums, the zoo, the aquarium, et al): both times we have been here we've had to drag them out: the exhibits are meaningful but still playful and varied. My husband - a math geek - even had fun doing the brain teasers at "Discovery Island". Bring a lunch: they have a large seating area for meals. Also, if you get sick of chasing your kids around, there's a toddler area on the second floor with a couch: lots of like-minded parents there mindlessly checking their cellphones as their kids happily played.

Wonderful for an afternoon with a young child even though it is a bit pricey for what it is. I don't think I would come back because we did everything multiple times, but for a one time visit it is great.

My family and I really enjoy this place, the best part is that it's a hands on learning museum so the entire family can get involved. If your looking for art, this is not the museum for you. In addition, I did like that they have various display that feature local businesses in the area. As a result, it felt like the museum was really part of promoting the community. Take your kids here, they will love it! Don't forget to check out the gift store, we got some cool unique gifts for the kids.

I didn't know about this place until my first grader went here on a field trip. I was one of the chaperone's for this field trip, so I got to check the place out as well. It's a science center that teaches young ones about some of the basics of science and physics. It's a bit like the Please Touch museum but on a much much smaller scale! We were here for about 3 hours as part of the field trip and we were able to basically do everything along with a 30 minute break for lunch. So yea, the place is not very big and if you were coming here on your own, it probably wouldn't even take that long, but your kids would probably have fun just playing around and you could probably kill a half day here if you had to. While there is a place to eat, they don't actually serve any food so you need to bring your own lunch. There are a few vending machines for drinks and snack and they offer free coffee, water, and WiFi in the dining area. Note that there is absolutely no food or drinks allowed anywhere in the center other than this area. It's a 2-level building, but the majority of the stuff can be found on the lower level. The kids learned about electricity, weather, and forces. There was a small touch tank where you can pet a stingray and there was also a honeybee hive and a corn snake. A few of the animal exhibits were empty as the animals had recently passed away and they were in the midst of refurbishing them. On our visit, I didn't notice any of the exhibits that were broken. For the most part, the staff was great with the kids, except for one older gentleman that seemed to continually yell at the kids for not following the directions. I'm not sure what he was expecting, but these are a bunch of 6 and 7 year olds and he could have found a better way to get his point across. As part of the field trip, we did get to go into the Teacher Resource lab where they put on a neat little 30 minute demo about electricity, but I'm guessing this kind of stuff is not open the general pubic. All in all, it's a great little place for younger kids. I think you need to be in at least kindergarten to get some education out of it, but I'm sure my 2-year old would simply have fun running around and touching the various exhibits. We'll be back on our own on some cold winter day!

This is an excellent children's museum. There are a lot of great permanent exhibits that appeal to kids of varying ages. Then there are exhibits that rotate through. On our most recent visit, sept. 2011, they had a fantastic exhibit inspired by the factory tours from Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood. There were a lot of hands on things for the kids to make. Top Notch!

The Bodies Alive exhibit, featuring real human remains, represents to me a breach in trust and in ethics. This science center should be a place where parents can bring their children without worrying about them being traumatized by a morbid exhibit with real human bodies. This sort of thing should only be on display to a college anatomy class, certainly not to children. And these are relatively recently dead people -- people who probably have children and grandchildren alive in China. There has been some controversy about the bodies -- that they may have been prisoners. They are so small and undernourished-looking, I wouldn't be surprised if this were true. It seems unethical to me that the company that designed and runs this exhibit is making money off of these remains. How would you like your grandmother's body on display in another country? And someone making money off it?

I've been there about 3 times now and it's a good place to go if you have never been there. I wish it was bigger or that they would change things more often. It seems 90% of the museum stays the same and they add a theme once in a while but it's not worth paying the admission ( which is expensive ) over and over for that.

Note: Do not buy tickets online. Buy on location to avoid paying the service fee. You still have to stand in line to hand in your tickets waiting for other people to buy their tickets. Disappointed in science center. Quite a few exhibits were broken. Wrong day to go on Columbus Day. So many kids. Free parking. Did enjoy the huge pumpkin carving exhibit.

I visited the science center with my family. (Children aged 8 and 5.) My children had a nice time. The employees are friendly and interact well with kids.The site is relatively small for a science center but there is still plenty to do. The kids could easily be occupied for 3 hours. Enjoy.

I used to volunteer here, and I'm so glad I did because this place is awesome! I normally wouldn't pay $10+ for museums, but since it was free for me, I got to experience everything that they had :) Good for school trips and birthday parties!

Visited twice with my 4 year old DD. The first time was in the summer of 2012. It was extremely crowded with summer camp buses. Tried again today but my daughter was frightened by the poster they have for the "Bodies Revealed" exhibit and refused to go in. The poster looks like it might appeal to or look cool to 10 year old boys. It frightened the bejeezus out of my 4 year old. The humanoid on the poster looks like a zombie. Carried DD in anyway & desk clerks tried to reassure her but she just couldn't get past that poster. Suggestion: Redesign the poster so you don't scare away the little ones!

In one word EXPENSIVE! We purchased tickets through AAA and thought we got a great deal, till we got there and were told we could not see the Space exhibit with those tickets and had to pay an additional fee. So not worth it. There was a lot of reading and 6 & 9 year old boys do NOT want to hear you reading about Space, they want ACTION.

Love Da Vinci Center. This is our 3rd year as a members. Kids always find something good to expend time.

Good regional science center with interesting exhibits for younger children. Older kids may get bored quickly. A bit expensive for what it is, relative to bigger museums in larger cities but worth a couple hours with smaller kids.

This was a fun place for our family to visit for an afternoon...plenty of interesting exhibits, especially for grade school aged children and even adults who are interested in science. However, many exhibits seem to require some adult guidance, and because a few parents there were checked out and there weren't any employees or volunteers helping out, the older kids were running wild in the active play room for toddlers. My nephew-a toddler-therefore had few appropriate activity and exhibit options. I do not recommend this place for smaller children (who are admitted free entrance at least).

This place is great for the kids, and the adults. Very well organized with lots of stuff to see. They're always changing up themes and doing special events to keep things interesting. Ice Cream Wars is well worth checking out when they do it. I'm a member and there are additional perks to the membership which includes admission to other museums all over the country that are in the network. Check it out.