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Blinded by Science: COSI

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Today we bring you yet another guest post by our ‘Dad About Town’-Rodney Q:

cosi 1Nobel prize-winning chemist Sir Cyril Hinshelwood once called science, “an imaginative adventure of the mind seeking truth in a world of mystery”. There are few places where this quote rings truer than at the playground for the imagination known as COSI! Formerly known as the Center for Science and Industry, COSI is a multi-story science museum located in Columbus, Ohio. Many years ago, I had visited COSI on a series of school field trips, and I have fond memories of the colorful, hands-on exhibits and mind-boggling science demonstrations I witnessed there. Amy and I were recently able to take the boys up for the first time, and after this most recent visit, I have to say that my memories did NOT do it justice!

COSI was about a 90-minute drive for us from Northern Kentucky, so it’s definitely close enough for a summer weekend day-trip. We made the trek early and arrived not long after the complex opened, but even though we stayed the full day, we still were not able to experience everything there. We would definitely recommend arriving as early as possible – especially if it’s your first visit.

Before I get into a thorough account of our visit, I’ll preface by noting that, in addition to the bigger attractions, there are many smaller standalone exhibits scattered throughout the museum that would be difficult to cover in full. A few highlights include the Foucault pendulum that greets visitors at the entrance, whose swings illustrate the rotation of the earth; a set of high-tech instruments including a laser-harp and a drum that pulses along with one’s heartbeat; and a collection of massive butterfly sculptures created with a hodge-podge of junked and recycled materials. Let’s just say that it’s no exaggeration to say that there’s a surprise around every corner at COSI!

The first major exhibit we experienced, Adventure: In the Valley of the Unknown, required a small additional fee, but it was well worth it – this was the clear standout for our family and provided us with one of the most memorable experiences we’ve had together, period. Incorporating interactive animatronics and jaw-dropping set pieces, Adventure sends your family on a free-roaming quest through a temple, a maze, and a cavern to uncover clues that reveal a priceless “treasure” in the big finale. The production values were top notch and easily on par with something you might find at a Disney theme park attraction. As a result, the level of immersion was unprecedented – we really felt like we were in an Indiana Jones movie, using our brains to solve ancient puzzles. The best part is that kids are able to contribute just as much as the adults when overcoming the challenges and solving the mysteries. I won’t spoil it, but one of the challenges required some physical maneuvering to complete, and here our littlest was able to shine, dodging around obstacles to seize the prize while the rest of us cheered him on. When he reached his goal, he felt like a super-hero who had just saved the day, and it was easy to see from the huge grin on his face that it was an experience he would remember for a long time. A word of advice: allow yourself plenty of time to fully enjoy this attraction. I believe they recommend setting aside about 50 minutes to get through it, but we spent closer to 90 minutes and easily could have spent longer.

Our next stop was the Ocean exhibit. Like Adventure, this attraction incorporates immersive sets with fun, interactive activities that teach scientific principles using methods that kids can relate to. Oceans is divided into two distinct areas; the first is designed to look like an undersea laboratory and contains aquatic technologies like submarines and submersible robotics. Our boys absolutely loved pretending to be captains of their very own submarine, and had a great time taking turns navigating an underwater drone until its mounted camera was peering at us through a porthole. The second half of this exhibit is focused on the behavior and scientific properties of water itself; it assembles an assortment of hands-on exhibits like water cannons and fountains around a stunning, larger-than-life sculpture of Poseidon. Kids love to learn by experience, so what better way to learn about water than by getting a little wet? A note of warning, parents – be prepared to get a little damp yourself!

After marveling at the fact that it was already lunch time, we enjoyed a fresh, reasonably priced lunch in the onsite restaurant, the Atomic Café, before continuing on to the Mezzanine level. This smaller floor houses a collection of bite-sized exhibits all loosely based around the themes of astronauts and space travel, and the boys particularly loved boarding a replica space pod and controlling moon-landing rovers. This floor is also home to a death-defying unicycle ride across a tight-rope high above the first floor that was extremely popular.

We proceeded to the second floor and one of the exhibits I remember most vividly from my youth visits: Progress. This walk-through installation takes visitors on a trip through the past with reproductions of streets and storefronts from various time periods. The attention to detail here was incredible and the boys particularly enjoyed sitting in a horse-drawn carriage and playing with an old phone board that operators from the early twentieth century used to connect phone calls by hand. Like the Adventure exhibit, one of the best qualities of Progress is its ability to transport visitors to another place and time; it reminds me very much of the steamboat-era street scene in the Cincinnati History Museum at Union Terminal.

After completing Progress, we returned back to the future (heh) to the first floor’s “Extreme Screen” movie theater for a 3-D showing of Flying Monsters, a film about the evolutionary history of flying dinosaurs. The hour-long film was fairly light viewing, but it served as a nice “intermission” for our day; the boys were thrilled by the 3-D flight scenes and Amy and I were relieved to sit back and relax for a while after a full day of walking. The best part, though? A concession stand with prices that didn’t break the bank!

Our final stop for the day was back on the second floor, at an exhibit called “Gadgets”. Just as the name implies, this area is filled with various technological gizmos that demonstrate a variety of scientific principles. The boys’ exploits here included refracting lasers through prisms, firing balls through cannons, and playing with magnets that produced all sorts of surprising effects. There is also an interactive show element to this exhibit called the Gadget Café, though there is a limit to the number of participants for each show and it requires check-in ahead of time, so we weren’t able to get in on it so late in the day.

When we finally hit the road back to Cincy, we were all exhausted, but in a very satisfying way – imagine the mental equivalent of a good workout at the gym. Our boys were reeling from all of the incredible things they had seen, and it blew their minds that many of these wonders were produced by real-life principles – no tricks, no CGI… just science. For them to be growing up in the age of Photoshop and green screens, it was a precious lesson for them to learn that the natural world possesses many special effects of its own.

For that reason and many others, COSI earns our highest recommendation. It makes for the perfect family day-trip destination – all of the top-notch exhibits it houses combine memorable family fun with immense educational value. What parent could ask for more?

Family Friendly Cincinnati wants you to experience COSI for yourself so we are giving away a Family 4-pack of general admission tickets PLUS a 4-pack of tickets for one of the Extreme Screen movies!  What a great summer road trip in the making!

COSI is located at 333 W Broad Street, Columbus, OH 43215.  Phone 614-228-2674

disclosure: Tickets for our Family Friendly writer’s family, were provided by COSI.  All opinions above are 100% honest and true-this really is an amazing science center!

When not blogging at Family Friendly Cincinnati you can find Amy Q. writing at her own blog In A Galaxy.

 

 

 

Comments

  3. melanie fulk says

    in grade school we powered light bulbs with c batteries and did morse code, we won the science fair!

  15. Chris Einhaus says

    Daughter did an experiment testing the quality of paper towels. Not really exciting but it was informative.

  22. Kara Kahmann says

    We’ve tested out which kinds of light bulbs pull the most electricity. But the experiment my kids liked most was soaking m&m’s in water overnight and seeing the M’s float on the water in the morning!

  34. Gina Holt says

    My son recently measured how a wheel chair moves and at what speed on different type of flooring. This was inspired b/c he spent three months in a wheel chair last year.

  39. Angela says

    My favorite experiment was the balloon and oil experiment. when you run the balloon with oil and try to pop it with a needle it doesn’t pop!

  45. Tiffany Walters says

    Well, I have to be honest, the coolest science experiment I have ever witnessed or been a part of is GIVING BIRTH AND HAVING CHILDREN…..4 times 🙂 Science experiments have constant and controlled variables (mom & dad) but, then you have that creation of the unknown variable(s) (children). What will they look like? Sound like? Behave like? React like? It is like the world’s greatest and most magnificent experiment that as parents we get to live day in and day out. Who needs to go looking for adventure? It’s all under my roof 🙂

  46. Amy Tolley says

    i signed up to get your newletter under the same email as here greeneyesamytolley

  48. Tiffany Walters says

    Well, I have to be honest, the coolest science experiment I have ever witnessed or been a part of is GIVING BIRTH AND HAVING CHILDREN…..4 times 🙂 Science experiments have constant and controlled variables (mom & dad) but, then you have that creation of the unknown (children). What will they look like? Sound like? Behave like? React like? It is like the world’s greatest and most magnificent experiment that as parents we get to live day in and day out. Who needs to go looking for adventure? It’s all under my roof 🙂

  49. Samantha Richards says

    The coolest experiment we’ve ever done was making paper airplanes out of different types of paper and testing which paper was the best!

  52. Becky Vanderpool says

    The coolest experiment we’ve done is growing crystals at home. It was very cool to watch them grow!

  53. Brandi Rainer says

    Best experiment was penny in a coke stopped drinking it for quite a while after that.

  60. Amy Tolley says

    the best experiment we did scientific would have to be the home made volcano….lol..who dosent know that one…

  66. Amy S. says

    In high school, we kept a radio running on a copper sulfate powered battery we set up with a divider beaker and some copper and nickel electrodes. While it didn’t explode like some of our more spectacular work – it did provide WEEKS of in class music since our teacher told us we could use it as long as it lasted and we kept secretly replacing the solution. Best ever!

  70. Courtney says

    The science experiment I remember doing in 7th grade was how coke can clean a penny and what it does to a tooth.

  83. Jill Mays says

    Mentos in a two liter was awesome, but my grandkids love to make “slime” at home with glue and starch.

  87. Cristy R. says

    My coolest experiment is definitely the mentos and 2 liter of diet coke! Awesome every time:)

  89. Mike says

    I did an experiment with my cub scout den using a glass bottle with an opening that is smaller than an egg. We hard boiled the egg, then lit a small piece of newspaper on fire, put it in the bottle of the bottle then set the egg on top. The egg started to vibrate, then was sucked down into the bottle. Had something to do with the air molecules and pressure. Very cool!

  91. Jessie says

    We like making ice cream in a bag – good lesson about freezing points with tasty results. 🙂

  92. Melanie says

    My kids really liked the Mentos experiment. I found a tube online that allows you to stack up the Mentos and walk away, then pull the attached string to release the Mentos. Much easier to pull off the geyser without getting soaked. I gave it to my son for Christmas and we did this outside. The even cooler part was the geyser froze before it hit the ground.

  101. Arthur Caudill says

    My favorite experiment was static electricity, taking balloons, rubbing them briskly on my head (hair) and then letting them stick on the wall.

  105. Amy K says

    My favorite experiment was making slime with my twins using glue and borax. My husband had never done it before so we made some for him too and everyone had a blast. It was so much fun.
    Also, I did A, B, and C too. I don’t have a Twitter account so I couldn’t do D. 🙂

  107. Regina says

    The coolest was making the planets (by size and color) and then spacing them out in the back yard…it was neat…

  112. Laura Trimpe says

    My son and I made a moon box to show the different phases of the moon, did not think it would work but really very cool!

  114. Carla Kautz says

    My best experiment ever is going in to the boys’ classes and teaching them about chemistry. The favorite is when we make slime! They get to learn all about polymers!

  118. Jessica M says

    The coolest experiment I have ever tried is when I was around 11 or 12. It was so hot one summer and my friends and I had heard if the ground was really hot it could fry an egg. So we tried it. It work a little=) I already receive your news letters, checked you out on printerest and like COSI on FB!

  119. theresa moeggenberg says

    The coolest science experiment I ever did was putting a Peep in a vacuum seal and making it gigantic in size!

  121. Lisa H. says

    Coolest science experience: I did a lot when I taught a class on chemical interactions but I actually had a lot of fun creating bubble solution with the kiddos. It was fun to test.

  128. Mel Reynolds says

    Best experiment ever: Magic Milk. Pour milk in a shallow, large bowl. Add a few drops of food coloring. Swirl a Q-tip in a small bowl of dish soap. Touch the soapy Q-tip to the surface of the milk (on top) of the food coloring and watch what happens! Great for learning about surface tension.

  132. CHRIS MURPHY says

    When I was in first grade I put eggs in vinegar . it makes the shell soft . I think I won a ribbon for that one .
    I LIKED FFC ON FACE BOOK ANS COSI ON FACEBOOK AND I GET THE NEWSLETTER ALSO.

  133. Jen O says

    I like both on FB. I haven’t been to COSi since my kids have been old enough to enjoy it. I used to go to the old COSI that was across from the first Wendy’s building with the Girl Scouts and we would have sleepovers there and get “behind the scenes” access. Very fond memories. Would live to make more with my own kids.

  139. Alice Stuart says

    The coolest science experiment for me was in first grade when I did the classic volcano with vinegar and baking soda. At the time I thought it was the coolest thing ever!

  140. Jen O says

    I always loved the baking soda and vinegar volcano. I even taught my 5 yr old about this past month.

  145. Alice Rericha says

    The science experiment that I have the fondest memories of is when I was in preschool we put an egg in vinegar and it became rubbery. I remember thinking it was just the coolest thing ever.

  148. Heather Smith says

    Coolest experiment we’ve done at home so far is the mentos and coke. Would love to take kids to cosi!!

  150. Jessica says

    My coolest science experiment involved studying the daily lives of several different types of animals on the farm of a family friend. The farmer’s wife got the idea of setting me on top of one of the horses, bareback, to take my picture for the cover page of my report. (This was in elementary school.) When she took the picture, the flash scared the horse and he bucked me off–one second I was sitting on his back, the next I was lying flat on the ground watching his tail swish as he sprinted away across the pasture. She was horrified, but I was fine–after she bought me a Happy Meal, of course. Quite the inaugural adventure in the name of science. I’d imagine a trip to COSI would be much safer!

  155. Stephanie Brown Eversole says

    The coolest experiment I’ve ever witnessed was when my daughter’s Super Saturday class built and set off a rocket!

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