Discovery Zones
Center OF Science and Industry, Columbus
What to Expect: Lift a whole car using a lever and pulley system, make waves with a wave machine, manipulate an energy grid, see breathtaking views in the planetarium, check out dinosaur bones and make your hair stand straight up using an electrostatic generator. Find these hands-on exhibits, activities and play areas that teach kids about biology, energy, paleontology, space and more inside the 320,000-square-foot Center of Science and Industry. “It’s not just something where you sit and study. Everything you do at COSI is interactive and comes to life in front of you,” says director of communications Kristy Williams.
Why Go: With so many engaging activities, kids are in for a ton of fun, which blends perfectly with loads of education. “They’re learning valuable life lessons about pulley systems, about simple machines, about gears,” Williams says. “They’re learning STEM — science, technology, engineering and math — and they’re not even realizing it. They’re just having fun.” Williams brings her niece and nephew, who are 2 and 7, to COSI, and they especially enjoy the Little Kidspace, which includes a farm area, a water play area, a doctor area and more. Her niece drives the mini ambulance while her nephew pretends to be a doctor and interprets X-rays. “COSI provides the tools to give them those opportunities to let their imaginations run wild,” she says.
Don’t Miss: Kids love superheroes, so don’t miss “Nature’s Superheroes: Life at the Limits,” coming to COSI April 15 through Sept. 4. Meet organisms with extraordinary survival tactics, like live axolotls that can regenerate limbs and larger-than-life models of beetles that children can climb on to better understand the beetles’ pinchers. “It’s a really neat hands-on exhibit for kids and adults that showcases these different ways that animals thrive and survive in ways that you don’t see every day,” Williams says.
333 W. Broad St., Columbus, cosi.org
Imagination Station, Toledo
What to Expect: Standout activities include balancing in the gravity room that’s tilted 25 degrees, building a dam to stop flowing water, creating a bridge out of magnets and watching 3D educational films about nature in your backyard and oceans. At Imagination Station, kids can learn while experiencing these interactive activities. “Exhibits are really designed to get kids excited and inspire them to explore different aspects of STEAM education,” says senior information officer Amy Mohr. “Kids learn through play. It’s getting hands-on and seeing how things work.”
Why Go: Curiosity can bloom at Imagination Station. “We’re really trying to prepare the kids in our community to go out, to be the next engineer, to be the next innovator, to be the next artist,” Mohr says. “We’re hoping that these early experiences here propel them in that direction.” And it’s not just science that kids learn about; they can also learn some important life lessons. In the Tinkering Space, families can experiment with a topic, like circuits in April. They won’t get set instructions and instead work on figuring out how to complete a circuit with batteries and other objects. “The idea is you want to make a mistake but not look at it as being a failure,” she says. “It’s like, OK, I’ve made a mistake. How can I make this better?”
Don’t Miss: Embrace your adventurous side with a bike ride along a tightrope — suspended 20 feet above the ground. The high-wire cycle is one of the most sought-after activities at Imagination Station. It teaches kids and adults alike about counterbalance and weight, but it can also be daunting. “Little kids are probably a little braver than some of the adults that we’ve seen on it,” Mohr says. “It’s definitely something that gets your adrenaline going.”
1 Discovery Way, Toledo, imaginationstationtoldeo.org
Break Here
Check out these kid-friendly spots during your trip.
Columbus
Franklin Park Conservatory and Botanical Gardens: Connect with nature in the 2-acre Children’s Garden that contains a nature play zone where kids can jump from stump to stump and use garden tools to dig for buried items and a sensory garden where visitors of all abilities can encounter plants that engage their sight and smell. 1777 E. Broad St., fpconservatory.org
Legoland Discovery Center: Explore Ohio landmarks in Miniland, a replica of Ohio cities made out of over 1.5 million Legos. Also build and race a Lego car and become the best Lego builder with tips from a Master Model Builder. 157 Easton Town Center, legolanddiscoverycenter.com/columbus
Otherworld: Adults and kids 3 and up can take in large-scale interactive works by 40-plus artists in 47 rooms that employ 190,000 LED lights. Experience mind-boggling installations in this lit-up fantasy world turned real. 5819 Chantry Drive, otherworld.com
Toledo
Mud Hens Baseball: For an exciting family activity, cheer on Toledo’s minor league team at Fifth Third Field as they play against the Louisville Bats and Syracuse Mets during April. 406 Washington St., milb.com/toledo
National Museum of the Great Lakes: Learn about the lakes and their uses all the way back to the 1600s through stories and artifacts and tour the museum ship S.S. Col. James M. Schoonmaker. 1701 Front St., nmgl.org
Valentine Theatre: This 125-year-old theater is perfect for older kids and art lovers. Enjoy “The Pirates of Penzance” April 3 or watch the Toledo Ballet perform April 28 and 29. 410 Adams St., valentinetheatre.com