What do you know about the Leonardo Museum in Salt Lake City? I want you to know everything there is to know. It is such a great resource for homeschoolers, for families, for educated adults, for visitors. I've attended an educator workshop there in the past, but recently returned for a visit with my entire family. I thought I'd share some insight into how to easily spend a day there...
The Math Room
Truthfully, I got giddy walking into this exhibit. It is FUN and my kids had absolutely NO IDEA they were learning. They dropped marbles to measure the effects of impact and motion, followed a "yellow brick road" while creating a pattern, and got their groove on in an infinity mirror closet.
Exploring the Senses
Talk about turning your world upside down! The hands-on activities in this area can really get you thinking. Hearing backwards, optical illusions, and exploring dimension left some of us feeling woozy and others just really confused!
Saturday Special Events
Every Saturday, the Leonardo hosts activities related to a specific STEM-related theme. Throughout the museum, special projects and displays focus on the days' idea. As an example, the day we attended was Adopt-A-Rock day. After choosing a rock, the boys cleaned and studied it. They weighed and measured their rocks and then a geologist each one to discover what kind of rock they had and how old it was. Ours ranged from young volcanic stone at only a few thousand years old to a beautiful piece of old marble at over 300,000 years old.
The rock-themed activities continued throughout the day as they made a home to carry their new pet around in, raced them in cardboard cars, figured out how to balance them, and made their own shiny rocks in the members-only activity room. I loved how the theme carried throughout our visit and actually taught the boys something scientific and important. (Saturday Special Events are included with general admission. Members are able to do one extra activity that also includes a small snack).
FLIGHT
The Leonardo Museum's first original curated exhibit is a must-see! Make sure as you're going through that you keep looking up-the are planes stacked upon planes. My husband and I could have pulled up a chair and watched the entire film strip of the first moon landing, but the kids shot off like rockets to get a look inside of the authentic cargo plane. My oldest was mesmerized by the hundreds of cockpit buttons and controls, and the youngers loved the slide coming out of the tail.
We didn't spend enough time in this exhibit. There is a lot of information to read and learn about. Videos and interviews to watch, and things to do. Which brings me to my next favorite part of the museum, the...
Hot Air Balloons
Okay, no, there is not a hot air balloon in the museum. And, yes, this is part of the FLIGHT exhibit, but it is no secret that we are huge balooning fans, and so should be no surprise that the section on bouyant flight intrigued me. It actually was one area my kids never even made it to, so we are heading back up soon for a unit study. It will be perfect timing before our annual trip to the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta.
As I've begun sharing our experiences visiting The Leonardo, I'm beginning to find it is still a fairly undiscovered attraction in the Salt Lake Valley. Too many people know little to nothing about it. Take my word, it is a gem for families. It's not stuffy and hands-off, it's not amateurish and boring for the adults. It is engaging and I know your family will love it as much as ours.
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More Information
Daily Admission & Annual Pass Information
can be found here.
This is not a sponsored post,
but I have received museum membership
in exhange for writin gin the past.
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