Our Favorite Place to Be

Every family has something they like to do together, whether sports or board games or movies or whatever; our family's favorite things to do together are going thrifting or flea marketing together or spending the day at the McWane Science Center in Birmingham, AL.

McWane Science Center is by far my children's favorite place in the world; just the mention of it makes their eyes light up and their feet start jumping for joy...literally. They ask to go about once a month on average, but with school activities, etc. we're only able to go about once every 2-3 months--but it never grows old. Like any good museum, they have their standard exhibits that don't change a great deal and their new exhibits that change with the seasons. They also have something to interest every age, from their dinosaur exhibits with life-size plaster models of Alabama dinosaurs and an archaeology pit where kids can pretend to dig up dinosaur bones on the 2nd floor to the aquariums of fish from around the world and a shark and ray touch tank in the basement to great movies shown in their IMAX theater. Whatever you're into, chances are, there will be something you'll like at McWane.

The kids' favorite thing to do at McWane is Itty Bitty Magic City, a playspace for toddlers and preschool/kindergartners that is part giant playground, part scientific discovery center and mostly giant role-playing centers. There's a mock firetruck that kids can climb in and pretend to drive, a diner and a grocery store for pretend grocery shopping and cooking, a pet hospital where kids can take care of stuffed animals, and even a garage for them to pretend to work on cars! The girls love pretending to cook for Jimmy and me and Tater loves driving the firetruck and playing at the giant water table. They could easily spend the entire day there if we let them, but we try to keep it to an hour because there're so many other things to do at the museum as well.

On the first floor, there are all the standard science exploration exhibits that you can find at just about any science museum, everything from perpetual motion to rocket and racecar science to magnets, pulleys and bubbles.

One of the best times of year at McWane is around Christmas when they have their yearly model train show on the 3rd floor. The train clubs in Birmingham build giant train models the public can come in and see, and the last two years they've even had a small train that kids can ride in. As you can see from the picture below, this is a big hit with our kids! 😊

My favorite thing to do at McWane is watching the IMAX movies. The theater is so big, you are literally surrounded by the movie larger than life! Over the years, we've watched movies about the ocean, baby elephants, lemur families, panda babies (I'm noticing a trend here 😆), the Himalayas, tornadoes, engineering marvels, and most recently, the superpowers of dogs and all the original footage from the Apollo 11 mission. I've learned about all kinds of amazing things in our world, not least of which is if you don't like roller coasters (as I don't) and easily get motion-sick (as I do), you should NOT watch The Polar Express (which they show every Christmas) on the IMAX screen! Let's just say I had to cover my eyes for a good third of that film!

You may be wondering how affordable it is for a family of five to go to a science museum so frequently throughout the year. Well, every year for my birthday, I ask for one thing from Jimmy--a family membership to McWane--and somehow, every year he comes through. Having a family membership means we can visit as much as we like throughout the year, we have free parking and discounts in the onsite cafe and gift shop, and we can even bring the kids' friends or our nieces and nephews for free if we want. Honestly, the membership pays for itself within 2 or 3 visits, so if a science museum is something you think your family would be interested in, I would definitely recommend getting a membership--it's cheaper in the long run!

There is an added benefit to having a membership to McWane Science Center, probably my favorite perk of all. McWane is a member of the Association of Science-Technology Centers, which means that a membership in McWane gives one free or discounted admission to science and technology museums all over the United States and the world. Literally, anywhere we go, we can find a science museum to go to where we will either get in for free or for a very small fee. This was especially useful a few years ago when the kids were smaller and we decided to go to a family reunion in Michigan. Driving nonstop would have been murder with two toddlers (Curlytop wasn't born yet), so we decided to take the trip north in stages, a few hours of driving a day, and stop at different museums or tourist sites on the way north. We visited the Nashville Science Museum, took a tour of Mammoth Cave and spent an afternoon at a children's museum in central Illinois, all while paying a fraction of the normal cost. Being members of one science museum allows us to experience others we wouldn't normally be able to on a budget!

I keep coming across studies that show that the best gifts we can give our children are our time and shared experiences, memories that they can keep for their entire lives, and I don't think it really matters what those shared experiences are as long as they pull us closer together as a family in a positive way. What's your favorite family-friendly, budget-friendly outing? Or maybe just your favorite activity to do together? I'd love to hear about it! Whatever it is, make time to spend with your loved ones and invest in their lives; it's something you'll never regret doing!