A Historic City: Philadelphia

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Each nook and cranny has a different theme – from the fantastic to the practical. Enjoy visiting Alice in Wonderland, take the wheel of a real bus or sail a boat on a mini-Delaware River. Launch your own rocket, or shop in your neighborhood Shop Rite. At The Please Touch Museum children get to try grown-up activities in a safe and friendly environment. The Please Touch Playhouse features daily performances which are both original and interactive.

Also housed in this unusual museum is a 1908 Woodside Park Dentzel Carousel, originally built in Philadelphia. After more than 40 years in storage, it was restored and returned to its hometown and now has a place of honor in the Please Touch Museum.

 
The Franklin Institute Science Museum

The Franklin Institute is one of the oldest centers of science education and development in the country. The museum was founded in honor of America’s first scientist, Benjamin Franklin, and offers new and exciting access to scientific knowledge and technology for adults and children alike.

The museum is spread out on four floors with each section focusing on a different scientific area. Innovative interactive technology used throughout the museum makes visitors an integral part of the scientific experience.

The museum showcases Franklin’s discovery of electricity and its use in the modern world. The Changing Earth Exhibit focuses on the powerful forces of air, water, and land and their effect upon the earth, as well as how humans respond to and interact with these forces. The Giant Heart has been an extremely popular attraction and Philadelphia icon since its opening in 1954. The Sports Challenge is an interactive exhibit that demonstrates the science behind sports with many hands-on activities to try. The Space Command features real space suits and allows visitors to track their houses, in real time, via satellite. The Franklyn Institute also houses the Tuttleman IMAX Theater with an interesting array of shows screened daily.

Visitors can spend hours experimenting with the various exhibits. You can learn about current research in brain science and how it could affect your life. Explore a city street filled with illusions and discover how your brain uses a variety of inputs to interpret the world around you. Trying to make sense of it all might just turn your world upside down! Climb through a web-like structure that resembles your brain, send a signal and fire a neuron to see how information passes from one neuron to another, or use the slide scanner to move through MRI images of a human brain and see just where the brain is located in relation to other physical features that surround it.

A visit to the Franklin Institute Science Museum makes for a fun-filled day where learning happens through science and the world around us.