Spend an afternoon visiting the hands-on exhibits at the Great Lakes Science Center in Cleveland!

If you’ve got a little scientist in the family and you’re in the Cleveland area, you’re going to want to stop by the Great Lakes Science Center. Little ones can explore a huge range of concepts, from outer space to music, to physics, and more!

The first floor of the museum is mainly comprised of two areas: the NASA Glenn Visitor Center and the BioMedTech area. In the NASA Glenn Visitor Center, kids can see artifacts from real space missions, try their hand at landing a lunar craft, see what it feels like to blast off, and more! The BioMedTech section features exhibits and hands-on activities about prosthetics, genes, and other fascinating medical marvels. While the first floor boasts some features that the youngest kids in the crowd may enjoy, we found that the older kids in our group (around 7 and up) got the most from the exhibits on this floor of the museum.

If you’ve got younger kids in your group, the second floor of the museum is where it’s at. This floor is a veritable playground of hands-on science activities that will have little ones itching to don their lab coats.  The Science Phenomena section is all about exploration. This is a great area for families with mixed-age children. The older ones in our group loved exploring what would happen when the exhibits were used as suggested while the younger ones took more of a “try and see” approach. By the time we left, we had explored the physics of ramps, the science of sounds, the effects of magnetism and more. (I must admit, I had just as much fun in this section as the kids did!)

In addition to the Science Phenomena Section, the second floor is also home to Polymer Funhouse and Port Polymer. These are specially designed areas for scientists 7 and under. In Polymer Funhouse, kids can explore indoor exhibits (and a climb zone!) that feature scientific principles broken down for the youngest visitors. Port Polymer takes the action outside with a pirate ship-themed play area and some fun water play activities (open seasonally).

While we didn’t get to explore it on our visit due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Cleveland Creates is a multi-floor exhibit that offers visitors the chance to become engineers while they create using a variety of materials including light rods, recycled materials, LEGO, and more! This is an area that would likely be a hit with kids of all ages as the materials and projects are widely varied.

The William G. Mather Steamship is another area that we couldn’t take advantage of (thanks, Covid) but that looks like a ton of fun. Kids and families can tour this 618-foot historic ship to see the cargo holds, pilothouse, guest quarters and more in this 1925 ship.

The ground floor of the museum features an auditorium that houses rotating exhibits (check the website to see what is available on your trip!). The science center is also home to the Dome Theater where visitors can see a variety of science-themed flicks.

Hungry visitors can stop by the museum café to get a variety of snacks and lunch items including pizza, salads, coffee and more. If you’ve brought lunch from home, you are welcome to enjoy it on the outdoor patio that overlooks Lake Erie! For families with little ones, strollers are allowed, and lockers are available to stow extra items, as necessary. The Science Center also has paid parking in a garage that is attached to the museum.

Even with some sections being closed, it took us around 4 hours to explore the whole museum. If you’re on a limited timetable, I recommend heading straight to the top level and checking out the other levels as time allows (but good luck getting the kids to leave).