Jamarcus T.
Yelp
The Science Museum of Virginia is such a fun place! Before you even make it in the museum, you're met with two stone spheres, one of the earth kugel, one of the moon kugel, both rotated by flowing water and there are little puzzles to solve while in the parking lot with these two.
Stepping inside, you're immediately met with a tremendous pendulum. The Foucault (pronounced foo-koh) pendulum, is large and swings slowly back and forth, moving (and designed) as the earth rotates on its axis. The pendulum swings back and forth in a straight line, but knocks down little pegs as the earth rotates. It's so cool to watch this, and so far i've only explained the parking lot and the entrance!!
Getting inside the museum, as an adult anyway, is $15 a person, and from here on, the museum touches on topics such as speed (including the speed of light...or the speed of a child), electricity, force, leverage, wind, architecture designs, and best of all, these are all hands on experiments that children (and yes, adults) can interact with and play with.
Speaking of all of these topics is great, but to see them in action are very fun! From the wind room that allows you to experience hurricane winds is crazy! Playing a robot in skee-ball, and winning is great! Watching little kids run on a track and seeing their times compared to an Olympic athlete, a cheetah, and other FAST things never gets old. Seeing a large Jet hung in the air for all to see is kinda ridiculous, and seeing two rats playing basketball for treats is just as enjoyable as it is unbelievable.
In addition to this, there are several breakout rooms where you can experience art, wildlife, engineering (you can build to your heart's content), and while we didn't stop to see them, there are several actual trains on display on the grounds.
There is a gift shop that's cool to visit, as well as a small cafe called the Periodic Table, which gets points for its name in this science filled spot! We didn't visit this on our trip.
This multi leveled museum is definitely family friendly and you can spend an entire afternoon here, and in case you're saying I can't do that...just know that you're granted access all day with a purchase. So take a break, get some lunch, and come on back.
I had a blast here, and it brought out the inner kid in me while also making my science nerd self feel right at home. Please give the Science Museum of Virginia a shot, if you live here or if you're just paying Richmond a visit.
Definitely a fan!