Exploring Chicago’s Smitsonian Museum of Science and Industry

It’s National Smithsonian Day!  Did you know that the Smithsonian has curated a special online collection called “Explore America: Illinois” with art, americana, and other interesting information about our amazing state? Yep, pretty cool!  But that’s not all there is to love about our state, there’s the Smithsonian Center for Science and Industry, a mere hop skip and jump away in Chicago!

 Let’s get exploring and see some highlights of the museum’s current and rotating offerings.

• Blue Whales: Return of the Giants is now showing in the Giant Dome Theater. If you’re hankering for an eye-opening, awe-inspiring, and jaw-dropping educational film on one of our planet’s most majestic creatures. Learn about their behavior, environmental concerns, conservation efforts, and more.  The film makes a great follow-up to The Blue Paradox exhibit examining the environmental crisis of ocean plastics and pollution.

• Pompei is a history exhibit featuring artifacts and materials excavated from the doomed Italian City and will be part of the rotating collection on view now through January 16th!  So hurry in because you don’t want to miss this fascinating look back in history to the city frozen in time.  And when you’re done, head back to the Giant Dome Theater to check out Volcanoes: The Fires of Creation.

• Engineers and scientists of all ages will be fascinated by the Passport to the Universe film playing in the Giant Dome Theater.  It’s a budget-friendly way to take a trip into space to explore the cosmos in depth, and appreciate the vastness of our universe!

• Transportation fans will have a blast exploring the Transportation Gallery, Flight and Motion Simulators, the Pioneer Zephyr train, a tour of a U-505 Submarine, and a NASCAR Next Gen Ford Mustang Stock Car.

• If you’re looking for something unique and interactive, we recommend enrolling your youngsters in the MSI Camp experiences, or taking your middle school aged kids to the Science Exploration Days, enjoying an overnight experience at the Science Snoozeum event in December.  There’s even special dates and times to allow an accessible experience for those with sensory issues during “Low Sensory Mornings”!

•  Environmental enthusiasts will be overjoyed to get in depth look and real-time view of our planet at the Earth Revealed exhibit, learn about modern farming techniques and processes in the Farm Tech exhibit, view glacial photography at the Extreme Ice exhibit, and appreciate the incredible natural patterns that form all over our planet at the Numbers in Nature: A Mirror Maze exhibit.

Have you been to the Smithsonian Museum of Science and Industry? Let us know your favorite experiences and share with our readers on social media!

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