A Review of the Exploreum in Mobile, AL

Today Dad and I took Kaleb to the Gulf Coast Exploreum Science Center in Mobile, AL.  What follows is my review of the parts of the museum we visited.  There were several of the exhibits that were geared toward children much older than Kaleb, and so these exhibits were not on our trip through the museum.

Our original reason for going to to Exploreum today was to check out the Reptile Planet exhibit showing at the Exploreum from July 9th until October 24th.  I have seen numerous billboard and internet advertisements for this exhibit over the last several weeks.  The Exploreum's website has this description of the exhibit:

These are NOT your garden variety reptiles! The Gulf Coast Exploreum’s new exhibit, Reptile Planet, features 30 exotic, live reptiles from 20 different countries. Get up close and personal with Burmese pythons, snake-necked turtles, veiled chameleons, American alligators and more! The exhibit also features numerous interactive components and activities that are fun for the whole family.  See this exhibit before it slithers away for good!

I am SO glad this was not the only exhibit accessible on our tickets!  It's true that there are 30 species of reptiles there, but I really didn't know that I was getting all excited to go and see lethargic turtles and sleeping snakes.  One of the animal exhibits was uninhabited while we were there, so that the caretakers could clean the terrarium.  Um, hello!  You're only open from 9-5 each day!  Don't you think it might have been a good idea to do your cleaning during the 16 hours the museum is closed?!?!  The "interactive components and activities" associated with this exhibit were static displays of anatomical parts of various reptiles.  I guess by "interactive" they meant "you can read the labels."  This exhibit was small, and tucked away in an upstairs area.

Next, we visited several of the museums permanent exhibits.  First stop was Hands-On Hall.  Now THIS exhibit was fun!  There were lots of things for the kids to see and explore.  There were many, many large scientific things to play with.....pulleys, fiber optics, building blocks.....plenty to keep a kid occupied for a good while.  Many of the activities were a little much for Kaleb, but he enjoyed watching the big kids.  This exhibit would be spectacularly fun for kids aged 5ish to 10ish.

After that we walked through the My Body Works exhibit.  This exhibit was another that is appropriately geared for kids (and adults) of maybe 4th grade and up.  But, even though we didn't stay long, there were a couple of items worth noting.  The first was a 6-foot-tall lifelike representation of the human heart....it even beats and contracts as it sits in its display.  This disembodied heart was somewhat gross, but it was also very neat to watch.  The other thing that kids will love is the "body sounds" display on the wall.  It has a child-sized silhouette on the wall, with buttons to push, each producing the labeled noise from the corresponding body part.  You can push buttons labeled pee, sneeze, cough, burp, and even fart, to name a few. In the inner section of the exhibit, I saw activities allowing children to perform virtual open-heart surgery and other medical procedures.

Because we were visiting the museum with an 18-month-old, by far the best exhibit we visited today was the Wharf Of Wonder!  This is a SECURED play area, which means that no kids get in or out without their parent, and the entire area is monitored continually by museum staff.  It is labeled as a play area for kids aged "0 to 5," and I'd say that is probably accurate.  I don't think it would be so much fur for school-aged kids, but the little ones love it.  Most of the space is dominated by a HUGE ball pit full of balls colored in shades of blues and aqua and green, meant to look water-ish.  A "dock" marks the perimeter of the ball pit, and "floating" beside the dock is a tugboat for the kids to pilot (it does not move).  On the boat are some air pipes that sill suspend one of the balls in mid air, a captain's wheel to steer, and a ship's horn.  Also alongside the dick is a pretend fish market, stocked with every kids of realistic rubber fish a kid could want!  Kaleb had lots of fun running around with the other kids and exploring all the things to play with.

Overall, our trip to the Exploreum was worth the trip!  I hope we'll be able to go back again, as Kaleb gets older and is able to enjoy and experience more and more of the exhibits.

It should be noted, for any readers with small children: strollers are not allowed into the exhibits.  The museum DOES have an area designated as a "stroller garage" where you can park your stroller while you tour the museum.  We did this, and our stroller wasn't bothered as it sat among the couple dozen other strollers parked there.  Because you'll have to use public parking (the museum is in downtown Mobile, but only a block away from a public parking garage), it is a good idea to take the stroller anyway if you have little ones.  It's MUCH safer to cross streets with the kids securely strapped into a stroller on some sturdy wheels, rather than worry about them crossing the roads too slowly or falling down in a crosswalk and getting hurt.

After the Exploreum, we made a stop in the Build-A-Bear Workshop at the Eastern Shore Centre in Spanish Fort, and had lunch at Ryan's just across the street from the shopping center before coming home.  All in all, we had a great, fun day!

[This review expresses only the thoughts and opinions of the blog author.  It was not paid for nor solicited by the company/product/entity being reviewed, nor do they offer any endorsement of the opinions contained herein.]