Activity Overview
The Great Lakes Science Center located in Cleveland's downtown area is a museum and educational facility designed to be enjoyed by all ages. It is home to science related exhibits that cover a wide spectrum of topics. There is also an OMNIMAX Theatre and regular programs and events organized on site.
Things to Do
- Take in a show at the Center's OMNIMAX Theatre. Watch super realistic movies about the wonders of science and the natural world around us on the six story screen. The 11,600 watt surround sound system and IMAX shot films are sure to make you feel like you are really there.
- Catch one of the Museum's entertaining and educational science demonstrations. These include shows about electricity, liquid nitrogen and more. The "Big Science Show" offered by the harbor in the afternoon consisted of a lot of mentos and diet coke, and liquid nitrogen experiments.
- Check out the hands-on "Cleveland Creates" section where kids get to make their own parachutes, paper rockets, light sculptures, and more; a fun interactive gallery of math and science phenomena (echo chamber, a toy tornado, etc).
- At the NASA Glenn Visitor Center you can be treated to space themed science demos. Here you can see how a space rocket blasts off into space and get an insight into how astronauts live for extended periods of time in space.
- If your kids (or you!) want to be an astronaut then head over to the NASA Glenn Visitor Center. This center is closely connected with NASA so lots of space science is explained here. Here you can see all kinds of artifacts from previous NASA missions including a moon rock, the actual command module of the 1973 Skylab 3 Apollo Command Module and real suits that astronauts like Buzz Aldrin wore on previous missions.
Great Lakes Science Center Insider Tips
- The Science Center is closed on Mondays. They are also closed on Sundays when there are Cleveland Browns games at the FirstEnergy Stadium.
- Look into getting a package deal to include either the William H.G. Mather Steamship or see a movie at the Omnimax Theater and make a day of it.
- You can find parking at the 500 car parking facility attached to the Science Center. Visitors to the Center are granted special rates. (Make sure you park in their lot, you are going to pay the same as the public parking). *Just remember to say you have parked there when you are buying the ticket, so you can get the discount. There is also metered street parking.
- If you have friends visiting Cleveland in the better months of the year, take a day and do the Science Center and the Rock n Roll Hall Of Fame on the same day. They are both right there on the Cleveland Lakefront.
- If you have a weekday free, the best time to come is late afternoon to avoid the crowds completely.
