As a homeschool family we love museums. If we are covering birds, we go check out the bird section in our local museum. Talking about Egyptian mummies is more interesting if we can go to our museum and actually see a mummy and pretend we can read the hieroglyphics.
My family has a museum membership to our local museum. It has more than paid for itself with the visits we make there. We realize how fortunate we are to have a great museum so close, but while we love our museum, my kids would get tired of seeing the same one over and over and over.
Our museum is in the ASTC. The Association of Science and Technology Centers has a Passport program. This means that we are able to go and visit other museums in the ASTC Passport Program for a free or greatly reduced rate.
You can find a little more about our trip to the US Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama that my kids and I got into for free!
We have also had a chance to visit the Imagination Place in Gadsden, Alabama multiple times for FREE!
We have been able to go to our local museum many times and love to go and visit Tasha, the mummy.
One of our favorite displays at Anniston Museum, mummies. Photo Credit: http://www.annistonmuseum.org/exhibit-halls/#egypt
One of my children’s favorite museums is the McWane Science Center in Birmingham, Alabama. The museum is for kids so it is hands on and captivates their interest. Our days spent here are days so full of fun they don’t even realize they are learning. The Itty Bitty Magic City is a blast and while you only get one hour time slot to play there, it alone is worth the trip.
Itty Bitty Magic City in McWane Science Center
Photo Credit: http://www.mcwane.org/visit/itty-bitty-magic-city/
Southern Museum of Flight also in Birmingham is another favorite of ours. Being an aviation family we are right at home with all of the airplanes. There are planes inside and outside the museum so regardless of the weather you will have plenty to see. My son’s favorite part was of course the Lego room. It worked pretty well as it allowed the pilot of the family to take more time “oohing”and “ahhing” at the planes while we sat happily building planes.
Southern Museum of Flight
Photo Credit: http://www.southernmuseumofflight.org/exhibits.html
My son is a huge fan of robots. The Fernbank Museum in Atlanta had a robot program one afternoon, so we made our first visit there. While of course we loved the robots, we had a great time at the museum overall. Seeing the largest dinosaur ever classified was pretty incredible as well. The Fernbank is pretty well known for their Argentinosaurus display.
Argentinosaurus located in the Fernbank Museum.
Photo credit: http://www.fernbankmuseum.org/explore/permanent-exhibitions/giants-of-the-mesozoic/
We were even able to visit a museum while on some of our travels to Denver. Wings over the Rockies was another great museum for this aviation family. We were able to see some amazing planes, but of course my son had a favorite. Being the Star Wars fan that he is, he loved the X-Wing Starfighter replica. I have to admit I was also pretty impressed with it.
X-Wing Starfighter Wings over the Rockies Museum Photo Credit: http://wingsmuseum.org/x-wing-starfighter/
There are still several museums that are close enough for a day trip for my family and we intend to visit them all. Our family membership at our local museum is very inexpensive, especially if you calculate how much we have saved at other museums in the program. I urge you to check with your local museum about their membership program. The benefits do change from time to time, so be sure to check the website for the current membership benefits.
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