Science Museum of Minnesota - Saint Paul - TravBuddy

The Science Museum of Minnesota is a great place for kids of all ages. Dozens of exhibits to learn from and participate in. Exhibits range from dinosaurs to weather science to mummies to tugboats to the Minnesota River. The learning opportunities here are fun and endless. One of my favorite exhibits is one where you have to peddle a bike to power a light bulb. That is definitely harder than you think and may make you think about leaving a light on. The Science Museum is also home to the Omnitheatre and the National Park Service’s Mississippi River Visitor Center. Admission prices are as follows…

Non-members
Omnitheater + Exhibits = Adult $16. Child (4-12) and Senior (60+) $13
Omnitheater + Exhibits = Adult $7.50. Child (4-12) and Senior (60+) $6.50
Exhibits = Adult $11. Child (4-12) and Senior (60+) $8.50

Members
FREE

The science museum of Minnesota has a lot of the same experiences as other science museums I've been too... something historical to their area, nice employees, an omnimax theater, a place to explore science like the weather and electricity but the one thing that Minnesota does that I have not seen everywhere is the touring exhibits that a usually put in natural history museums and what not.

In the normal stuff you see in the musuem... the dinosaurs, electricity and weather... you have really friendly staff members who are anxious to help you learn and put your thoughts to the text. They are willing to answer any question that you throw at them.

The other portion of the museum is the traveling exhibits... in winter of 2007-2008 there was the Pompeii exhibit and going on now is Star Wars...coming up is the mysteries of the great lakes and then CSI: The Experience. The one thing I've noticed from going to these special exhibits is they don't get the friendliest of people to work it... they just sit there and avoid eye contact which is sad because some times they get guests to come in and teach them, like Anthony Daniels from Star Wars (I found this out from the guy in the weather portion)... which is a shame. I guess they figure that the special exhibit is enough of a gimmick to get you in the doors they don't need that special touch from the employees where as in the rest of the museum they need something to keep you coming back?