I’ve said before that I do not like driving in holiday traffic. However, our weekends and summers are spent on the road and I really don’t mind driving an hour or even more to spend the day at a favorite attraction. My little guy is a huge science fan, so any time we have a chance to get to the Franklin Institute, we take it.
There are three floors in the museum and each is packed with exhibits filled with hands-on learning. A relatively new exhibit is Your Brain, which takes you through all of its intricacies- its make up, how we use it, and different brain games and tricks. Of course, my son loves the part that illustrates the neural pathways in the most kid-friendly way: through climbing! This dark room lights up with your feet as kids climb up and through the pathways. The nice thing about it is that even though it’s dark, it is pretty easy to keep an eye on your kids in there.
We like to head up to the third floor and check out all of the gravity-defying exhibits in Sir Isaac’s Loft. Across the way in SportsZone, you can test your running speed, see how high you can jump with different starting stances, and try out your fast pitch. It’s a blast watching my son try to “surf” trying to position his feet on the marks on the board.
Two other favorites of ours are the Train Factory and Franklin Air Show. My daughter loves exploring the real train in the Train Factory and getting to feel the wind in her hair while spreading foam wings with her daddy. My son recently discovered that they have flight simulators in the Franklin Air Show exhibit. This is at an additional cost of $5 per person, but it was a decent amount of time for a ride that gave him a firsthand look and feel of taking off in a fighter jet. They have two different intensity levels for kids and adults.
There really is so much to do at the Franklin Institute that you can definitely make it a full day trip. In addition to all of the permanent exhibits, there are traveling exhibits- the current one, Game Masters, is featured until September 3rd. You can check out different movies in the IMAX or regular movie theaters, try virtual reality down in Space Command (there are height requirements), explore the stars in the Planetarium, and even do an Escape Room challenge. Keep in mind that some of these attractions are at an additional cost.
Address: 271 North 21st Street Philadelphia, PA 19103
Cost: Basic Admission: $23 for ages 12+; $19 for ages 3-11 (special exhibits and attractions’ costs vary)
Parking: On-site garage- it’s pretty pricey at $18 for up to 4 hours, $22 for up to 12 but there are plenty of lots a few blocks away that are much more reasonable.
Food: Two places to get food- Franklin Foodworks has a great variety of sandwiches and hot food; Franklin Foodworks Express h
as quick snacks. You are able to bring your own food in and there is plenty of seating available.