Fun Museums, Close to Home

By Julie Senger

Some modern museums have totally upped their game. Instead of visitors quietly walking around to look at objects and read placards that explain what they are seeing, many of today’s exciting museums include features such as immersive activities, hands-on experiments, and 3D movies. So, if your family is planning a staycation for fall break, it’s the perfect time to check out what these nearby museums have to offer.

 

 

Children’s Museum of Atlanta

275 Centennial Olympic Park Drive NW, Atlanta
404-659-5437

 

“Welcome to a world of hands-on exploration & discovery that sparks imagination & inspires learning,” touts this museum’s website. At Children’s Museum of Atlanta, kids are not only allowed to touch things, but they are also wholeheartedly encouraged to “learn through the power of play” in the
following interactive exhibits:

• Grocery shop, milk a cow, and be a server in a cafe in the Fundamentally Food exhibit.
• “Visit” six continents as well as the layers of the Earth in the Gateway to the World exhibit.
• Peruse a magical forest, go fishing, and climb into a treehouse in the Leaping Into Learning exhibit.
• Paint, do crafts, build sandcastles, and try on costumes in the Let Your Creativity Flow exhibit.
• Perform STEM-related tasks using various equipment at multiple displays in the Step Up to Science exhibit.
• Explore skilled professions by using real tools to build items in the Tools for Solutions exhibit.

 

Also, Rube Goldberg’s The World of Hilarious Invention, a featured exhibit available September 18, 2021-January 2, 2022, includes “a collection of 3D, life-size machines and hands-on, interactive components that connect Goldberg’s iconic cartoon contraptions to the way things work in the physical world.”

 

 

College Football Hall of Fame

250 Marietta Street NW, Atlanta
404-880-4800

 

In addition to housing the actual Hall of Fame, this museum highlights 775 schools. Fans begin their visit by choosing their team and watching that school’s helmet light up on a huge display wall. After that, guests can experience the following:

• Relive exciting moments in college football history on a 52-foot touchscreen wall.
• Test athletic skills by attempting to kick 20-yard field goals, throwing balls like a quarterback, and trying other agility-testing obstacles.
• See how you fare as a sportscaster by attempting to call real-time plays.
• Feel fully immersed in the game by becoming a virtual reality quarterback.
• Sing karaoke fight songs.
• Try digital face painting.
• Find out how your vertical jump height and 40-yard dash time measure up to the greats.

 

 

Tellus Science Museum

100 Tellus Drive, Cartersville
770-606-5700

 

In addition to its multiple galleries in which visitors can see things such as a full-size replica of the Wright Brother’s flyer, a huge Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton, minerals that glow in the dark, replicas of space capsules, and a 9-foot-wide jaw of a megalodon (which is an extinct shark that was larger than a school bus!), the Tellus Science Museum offers many hands-on activities for children including:

• Pan for gems.
• Dig up fossils to take home.
• Play with light, rainbows, and mirrors in the greenhouse.
• Conduct experiments related to sound.
• Discover the properties of magnets and work with electricity.
• View the night sky through a 20-inch telescope perfect for observing the moon and planets in our solar system (only during special events and astronomy workshops).
• Explore the solar system in the Bentley Planetarium with its state-of-the-art projector (an additional $3.75 fee is required).

 

 

World of Coca-Cola

121 Baker Street NW, Atlanta
404-676-5151

 

The World of Coca-Cola allows visitors to see the bottling process of the most “pop”ular beverage on the planet, which was invented right here in Georgia. Those touring the museum will also see exhibits such as the Coca-Cola Portrait Wall, the Pop Culture Gallery, Milestones of Refreshment, the Coca-Cola Polar Bear, and the Vault of the Secret Formula. Here are some more immersive activities visitors can enjoy:

• Sample beverages that Coca-Cola has made for countries all over the world (Eww — watch out for Beverly, which is a nonalcoholic aperitif that the Coca-Cola Company produced for its Italian market).
• Guess the origin of a variety of scents in the Scent Discovery Room.
• View In Search of the Secret Formula in the 3D theater.
• Create taste and flavor combinations in the Virtual Taste Maker.
• Capture a photo of yourself in the The Bubble-izer, which “transforms your image into an effervescent, bubbling form that is immersed in the bubble and fizz of Coca‑Cola.”
• Test how well you protect Coca-Cola’s secret formula in three immersive, virtual environments.

 

In addition to the previously mentioned options, visit ExploreGeorgia.org/blog/free-museums-in-georgia for a list of Georgia museums that are free to visit.

 

Sources – ChildrensMuseumAtlanta.org, CFBHall.com, TellusMuseum.org, WorldOfCoca-Cola.com

 

 

COMING SOON!

• On June 23, 2021, the Cherokee County Historical Society broke ground on its NEW History Center, which will be a multi-functional facility that will “meet the challenge of protecting, preserving, and sharing Cherokee County’s unique and compelling history.” For more information, visit RockBarn.org/history-center.
• Savoy Automobile Museum opens in Cartersville this fall. It will contain one permanent exhibition gallery and two rotating exhibition galleries. For more information, visit SavoyMuseum.org.