Smarty Charlotte LOVES Discovery Place – especially because they are always keeping things fresh and new. Their latest exhibit, 101 Inventions That Changed the World, and their newest IMAX movie, Hubble, are absolute must-sees. A few of us on the Smarty team recently spent a Sunday afternoon with our older kids checking out the latest at Discovery Place – we were there almost three hours and could’ve stayed longer if it weren’t for that pesky little thing called “a school night.”
Discovery Place calls 101 Inventions a “multi-sensory learning experience.” They’ve captured the 101 inventions that have truly left a mark on us, whether it be our culture, art, history, and science – everything from stone tools to the birth of the Internet. Like everything else at Discovery Place, it’s really a hands-on exhibit. Fiddle around with an electric guitar, engineer a robotic car, type on a typewriter (two little ten-year-old Smarties, Isabel and Ava, spent a good half hour on that typewriter!), build with Legos. Use iPads to find out more about each inventions – its inventor, its place in history, the effects its had on us. The kids got a kick out of this part, and the history-loving parent will absolutely LOVE the “cause and effect” of all these inventions.
They’ve also got a breathtaking movie about the inventions. Here’s what Discovery Place says about it:
Using 40 high definition projectors, multi-channel motion graphics and cinema quality surround sound, take an extraordinary journey through turning points in humankind’s history in one of the most exciting multi-screen environments in the world.
Huge crystal clear images, so real you want to touch them, illuminate a vast array of screens and surfaces specially tailored to the exhibition space.
The experience – programmed to be dynamic, informative and visually spectacular – flows through the mass of projectors and merges with digital surround sound, saturating the space in a breathtaking immersive display.
It’s truly a fascinating exhibit. You could easily spend over an hour absorbed in everything. We’d recommend it for ages 6 or 7 and up. For more information on ticket prices and admission times, go to Discovery Place’s 101 Inventions that Changed the World.
After checking out the inventions exhibit, we headed over to their newest IMAX movie, Hubble, the seventh awe-inspiring film from the award-winning IMAX® Space Team.
WOW. That’s what we have to say about this. This movie is beautiful and humbling. It takes you through the Hubble telescope’s life and introduces you to the astronauts and scientists who keep it going. 
You will be mesmerized at the scenery and blown away by the bravery and intellect of NASA. You will travel to distant galaxies and learn more about what lies “in the great beyond.” Absolutely fascinating. It will DEFINITELY have you thinking by the end.
The kids we had in tow were ages 8 and up and all loved the movie. Check out Discovery Place’s web site for show time and ticket information.
This is a double win for Discovery Place and will be a perfect afternoon out for the family! Put these two on your list!
