Exploreum Science Center & Poarch Band of Creek Indians Digital Dome Theater — Attraction in Mobile

This museum "inspired" me to write the following post on Facebook.

I'm a US Citizen living in the US. Kids museums in Canada are just plain ol' better by a factor of at least 10+ than US museums. I've taken my son to no less than 10 museums in the US since May. Only 2 impressed and neither of those two were better than the least interesting museum I've been to in Canada. Today we went to the Exploreum in Mobile, AL. What I have noticed is that while there are interactive components on both sides of the border for kids age 10 and down, above that age level, the US museums think they can just slap up big touch screens with gratuitous environmental and health/diet messaging and this will elicit a child's passion and intellectual curiosities in biology, earth science, technology, medicine, math, civilization, space, etc. In addition, the pervasive use of little more than those big touch screens in the US where kids of all ages are supposed to be drawn to learn or do anything is egregiously counter-intuitive...and I'll say-- it is pathetic, teaches nothing, inspires nothing, challenges no one. It seems that museum designers believe that in order to inspire, they have to become a walk-in 'leap frog' device or it's game over for the institution. Think again curators, design committees and sponsors! You were kids once. What was the essence of your childhood experience that compelled your interests, your passions? Better yet, how about you just pay your staff-members way to a few museums in Canada and you'll quickly say, "Oh my god, we're totally doing this wrong." On top of this, some of the better things in the US museums are pay-only! Really?!?!? Come on. I pay to enter and you want me to pay additional to see a vortex of mist inside a closed plexi-glass tube with a self-service POS device on it? Nevermind that the IMAX cost 8.75 per person for a short movie. And we wonder why our institutiins are cranking out disinterested, uninspired minions who all hit the gloriously high mark of "meets expectations" in school while US companies get beaten in the face for importing actual foreign intellectual capital. Please! Exploreum, you've missed the mark like so many other museums in AL...

It was just ok. I took my three boys between the ages of 6-10 and paid over $50. First of all, it was funny to find extra things you had to pay for after paying a considerable price to come in - more than the Mobile History Museum around the corner, for example.

Maybe this is ideal as a rainy day activity for a preschooler. It was disappointing that for our ages, there was very little to learn - there would be a factoid about an activity, but not much explanation to actually understand and learn what was happening. For example, an extension of the lobby has space shuttle artifacts, but absolutely no information on them: what they are, what missions they're from, how they work, etc. And while some have signs that you can't touch, not all do, and most don't have barriers (let's think about this in a children's hands-on museum setting).

The "MyBody" exhibit, which comprises over a quarter of the museum, is very outdated and less than half the exhibits work. ToyTopia, the current special exhibit, had a lot of toys, so we spent most of our time there - but we have Lego and Lincoln Logs at home, so that was kind of pointless. There was one interesting room, with the toddler area, but again, a lot of things were missing to use the exhibits, like items to float in the air tubes, or marbles for the marble run.

It was a fine activity to spend a few hours in, but for the price, I definitely expected more...

Visiting here as a single parent with more than 1 kid is a no go. I dont know when, but they changed the rules...so now half of the kids area is off-limits to the 6 year olds...this wouldn't be an issue, unless you have more than 1 child of different ages and visit here as a single parent. There's almost nothing for kids under 2 in the other areas of the Explorium, which quickly leads to a crying toddler.

They don't tell you at the front, that you can't visit half of the children's play area(the wharf) because you have a 6 year old 2 year old(if they do, they dont make it clear how large that area is)..and frankly, this makes this the worst children's museum I have visited(over 25 across country currently).

Every children's museum has a crawler area, but when half of the children's play area is for 5 and under, it makes this not worth the $.

Would avoid at all costs until they think of parents who are attempting to have a full day of fun without their spouse. The value is not there.

Hint* its illegal to leave my children in 2...