The Discovery Place museum in Charlotte raises the bar in hands-on, truly engaging science education. Every time we go there we’re learning something new while having a blast too.

Kids can touch, pull, fire, poke, drag, lift, build, crush (you get the picture) their way to some of the coolest and wackiest scientific experiments. While having fun playing they get to understand buzzwords like electricity, magnetism, 3D motion, molecules, gyration, air pressure, levers, gears and much more.

Nano, what nano? Without knowing kids play with and learn about matter on nano scale. Dunk the magic sand in water and watch it come back up dry! The specially treated fine grains make the sand hydrophobic.

The (electromagnetic) force may be with you young Jedi! You can blast a ring up in space thanks to the combined power of electricity and magnetism. A large pulse of electricity creates a strong but temporary magnetic field. The ring becomes a magnet too and it’s repelled upstream with great force.

Watch the little balls float up in the air. Simple, fun way for kids to explore air pressure and the Bernoulli principle.

I have a crush on you…Crank up the chain of gears and watch how the garbage can is crushed. Here you see first hand the mechanical advantage of gears. Did you know you need to generate 2.5 tons of force (more than a large SUV!) to crack up the metal can?

Put your engineering hat on to build a solar/wind power plant. I’m proud to say Lana managed to generate 1.5 Amps, one of the highest readings at the time.

Dance, dance revolution…it’s so magnetic!

“Dancing Trees” consists of permanent magnets covered in iron powder (hence the “fur-like’ strands). As electromagnets change strength and polarity, millions of iron particles line up in amazing patterns following the beat.

Discovery Place is open Monday to Friday 9AM - 4PM, Saturday 10AM - 6PM and Sunday 12 - 5PM. Admission is $12 adults, $10 seniors, and $9 children 2-13 ($18 combined museum and IMAX admission for adults, and respectively, $14 for children).

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