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St. Louis Science Center
Rating Details »
Categories: Venues & Event Spaces, Tours [Edit]
Neighborhood: Kings Oak5050 Oakland Avenue
Saint Louis, MO 63110
(314) 289-4400
- Hours:
Mon-Thu. 9:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Fri. 9:30 a.m. - 9:30 p.m.
Sat. 9:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Sun. 11:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
20 reviews for St. Louis Science Center
One star for being great for kids, in fact, the whole place is really geared towards kids learning through fun!
One star for a challenging puzzle area that really stumped us on multiple puzzles... and I honestly feel like I'm a fairly intelligent guy...
One star for being free all the time! (As a Chicagoan, this really takes the cake!)
One star for the five senses exhibit which tests all five senses in many different ways (even fun for adults!)
One star for having Sue the dinosaur as an exhibit!
Negative one star for charging for the Sue the dinosaur exhibit. Bah.
Verdict: Fun place for kids with some mixed in fun for adults. Worth checking out solely because it's free, particularly if it's your first time there!
When it comes to a science center there's not many that can compare to the value of the St Louis Science Center. Being FREE is a huge draw and as mentioned by previous Yelpers, great for kids!
Came here for the the Omnimax Sharks movie and had a good time. The design for how you exit the theater however is a little poorly thought out. Everyone basically pours out the top and is funneled down the tiniest set of stairs.
Other than that there are plenty of activities for the kids. There wasn't much that I was totally excited about in the main building, but the flight/aeronautics section is pretty interesting.
Overall you really can't beat the value and if you have kids this place will have them occupied for quite some time. Especially with all the hands on activities at the various exhibits.
Next, we got on the train, got off near Barnes Hospital and walked about a mile to the St. Louis Science Center. It's a general science museum plus planetarium in one. Highly geared towards children, of course, but anyone would enjoy it, I think.
Admission is free, and we paid for a couple special attractions - the Omnimax presentation of "Sea Monsters," and plain old "Monsters," a special exhibit dedicated to animatronics. See it if it's in your city - it was a blast.
There's something interesting in every corner of the building - exhibits demonstrating Newton's laws, building mechanics, space flight, and so on... And yes, we built our own arch - twice, since the older kid couldn't wait to knock the first one down before we got a photo.
I really enjoyed our time in St. Louis and one of the reasons was the Science Center. Everything was easy here. Parking? Easy. Paying/entering? Easy. Exhibits? Easy and accessible. (A few were broken and that was a bummer, but for the most part, they were all good and informative.)
We saw the Dinosaurs Live movie on the Omnimax screen and my 5 year old kind of freaked, but she's always a scaredy cat. My 15 year-old son didn't really enjoy the dinosaur stuff but he LOVED the planetarium!
The planetarium in itself was really good. I loved how we had the option of laying on the floor versus sitting on a chair. The narration was informative but not too boring and the stars were just captivating!
The only downer I had was the price for food was atrocious (which is normal at places like this) and the gift shop was a big rip-off, but with cool things. I also suggest getting the membership if you plan on frequenting this place. It's worth it.
The St. Louis Science Center is an awesome place. If there were an award for being awesome, they would win. They would be one of the places that would win several years in a row, with other places being jealous of their awesomeness and sitting in its awesome shadow.
The St. Louis Science Center is so interesting because it is an actual learning museum. The place is gigantic classroom. Remember the teach that you had in school that made learning fun, well this would be that teacher, only multiply them by say a thousand.
Inside you have the planetarium with an exhibit dedicated to the recent X Prize (which the Science Center help fund), which is rather neat. Also a whole part on aviation since aviation is rather prominent St. Louis. Then once you cross the little bridge with the glass floors that is over the interstate you will find exhibits on the earth, you know, tornados, earthquakes, volcanoes, and all the natural disasters which is just tip of what all this place has to offer.
Among the other things that I really enjoy that they have is the Omnimax theater. The cool thing about this place is that not only do they the standard nature, science films, they also show the films shown in the theaters. Some of the films I enjoyed seeing there were the Harry Potter films and Superman. Awesome.
The St. Louis Science Center is a great place to spend a day with family and friends of any age.
The only reason I came here was to see the child mummy that was on the news last year. It's an okay place for adults, but great for kids. There is this cool looking contraption that looks like it's powered by 2 AA batteries. Each battery is placed in different places.
The Science Center: one more fun and free thing to do in St. Louis. Whenever I was a kid, I think I visited the Science Center almost every time I came to St. Louis. It's still fun as an adult, but it is pretty directed at children. The special exhibits and the Omnimax theater do have an admission price, but that makes sense.
I highly recommend the Science Center if you want to take kids on a fun and educational outing. Keep it mind for a rainy day adventure.
Yes! I love this place! The St. Louis Science Center is another great example of an awesome free activity in the StL.
We went here on several field trips as kids, and it always the place we got the most excited about. I'll never forget going to the Omnimax for the first time and almost feeling sick to my stomach when there was a simulated roller coaster or when we were "flying" through the air. Such a great experience. The Planetarium was always my favorite. It's so interesting to learn about space travel, and the star-covered ceiling at night is amazing
Basically, there is just a ton of stuff to do here...you can certainly fill up a day, if not more. It's changed a bit from the first times I went here, with renovations and whatnot. It one of the first places any St. Louis tourist should visit, especially if they are here with kids.
Very cool with lots of things to offer.
My favorite part of the experience was building a replica of the St. Louis arch with my friends with the big foam building blocks. Lots of activities are hands on and encourage you to experiment or create, which is a terrific way to engage in learning for all ages!
This place is so expansive that we didn't get an opportunity to visit it all, but what we did see was terrific and I will certainly be back on my next visit.
I still can't get over the fact that the Science Center is free and I've been going here since I was a small child. There's a few things I like to go see every time I go including the shrinking room. There's a room which uses optical illusions to give the feeling the room is the same size when in fact it is slanted! You feel like a giant in the tiny room. Sort of like that Geico commercial: Tiny House. I also like to go build the arch with the giant foam pieces. There are about 20 pieces of foam that fit together perfectly to form a 6ft tall arch replica (to the St. Louis Arch). In between my two favorites are hundreds of exhibits perfect for children of any age and those of us who refuse to give up our childhoods!
There is also an Omnimax Theater, which was one of the first of its types in the world. Although it is a few years old, it still blows me away whenever I see a show. I saw a coral reef documentary the last time I was there. The helicopter footage of the ocean on the large screen blew me away.
The Science Center also has a state of the art Planetarium. I've seen shows there and even attended a dance. The shows are neat because the entire ceiling and walls light up with constellations, giving a 360 view of the sky. It gives you the type of view you could never get in a city combined with a great explanation of the stars.
My boyfriend and I decided on the Science Center for something different to do, and thank goodness we didn't end up having to pay the parking fee! I think it was because we left after 5:30. Anyway, soooo much of the place was closed due to construction! AND my all-time favorite display was MIA. I loved that drinking fountain....remember the one where it looks like you're taking sips from a polluted aquarium? That was so disgusting and cool!
We also made the trek past the highway overpass in anticipation of the little space gift shop, ready to buy some freeze-dried ice-cream, and the entire shop had disappeared. Argh! But at least we had fun in the bathrooms where they have these new sinks that disperse soap, then water, then blow-dry your hands all in one fell swoop. I know it's pretty lame to get worked up over a a sink but I'd never seen anything like it.
Most of the displays were just as I had remembered them from 5+ years ago (they could use some serious updating here), but hopefully the construction means they're putting in something new. We didn't see the Monsters display or the Dinosaurs movie cause we didn't want to waste any more money.
I like the change they made to the location of the eating area. Now it's near a windowed wall overlooking the highway...although I hope they still have those dinosaur-shaped chicken nuggets. Those things were the best!
I'm giving this place three stars because there is still a lot to do here, especially if you've never been. Hopefully we just caught them on a bad day and they'll have new displays in no time....
A great place to come and explore the wonders of nature. I have enjoyed coming here since I was a kid. They have interesting exhibits (currently the Titanic), fun hands-on displays, the amazing Planetarium, and the ever popular OmniMax Theater (like an IMAX), showing movies & documentaries in giant 70mm prints!
Definitely check this out either before or after your trip to the St. Louis Zoo and the Art Museum.
And of course, afterwards take a drive and indulge in a little Ted Drews...there's always room for Ted Drews!!
Great place for kids but don't expect a Chicago-like Museum of Science and Industry which can hold the attention of adults. It's free, so it is worth checking out.
I'm an adult and I still have fun at the Science Center! There are always traveling exhibits that change every few months to check out, although you'll have to pay for them. The Omnimax theater is really cool! I've seen a few different movies here and the large curved screen is great! One of my favorite parts of the Center are the huge animatronic dinosaurs which are life size. There are a ton of little science experiments that guests can try throughout the center that test your sense of temperature, sight and more.
A good museum if you are used to a medium sized city like St. Louis. For a truly great experience at a science museum, I recommend heading about 5-6 hours to the north east and going to the museum of science and industry in Chicago. The St.L. Sci Ctr. is totally geared towards children. MSI is great for all ages.
Way fun. It's not a big city museum, but it's plenty for the midwest youngins. Typical kids learning science center type stuff. We always went on field trips here as a kid.
Since when was the planetarium part of the Science Center not free? That was always one of my favorite parts of the place. under the planetarium they have a big display of the race for the "X Prize" and have a life size replica of Space Ship One, (see my pictures). I've always liked their displays and all the interactive things to do here. I liked it as a kid and still like going back.
Diverse and high-quality exhibits, but very little "replay value" beyond the changing OmniMAX shows. No reason to visit more than once every few years, unless a specific show in the temporary space interests you.
Unlike the last reviewer I thought this place was great. I am slightly influenced by my children. There a wide variety of exhibits. Lots of options for the whole family. There was a large group of us and we all found stuff we enjoyed. There are certain exhibits that you have to purchase separate tickets for. It was kind of silly. They have this room call the Discovery Room. It is really targeted for the 2-6 age group. You have 45 minutes to spend in the room. And anyone who has children in this age group know it is damn near impossible to get a little kid out of a fun room in 45 minutes. They also have a water play table in this room, but you have to be an adult to be able to reach in. When I suggested to the attendant that a bench would be helpful, she snapped at me that it is meant for older kids. WTF! Why is it in that room then!?!?! I could go back many times, because I could see the whole place in one day.
One tip: if you are a local parent get the membership, so worth the money. We have a membership to our local Science Museum in Portland Oregon and it got me and my entire extended family of 8 in for free.
Good way to spend a day. Tip: Check out http://bigthankyou.org before you go. They often have coupons.
