7 Spring Vacation Adventures

With 165 hands-on exhibits, a state-of-the-art 3D digital theater, four educational labs, plus daily programs and events, the Connecticut Science Center in Hartford offers endless exploration for children, teens and adults, from physics to forensics, geology to astronomy. Discover how robots are built, test pilot new helicopter designs, experience a hurricane simulator and step into a sports science lab.  You’ll end the day wanting to go back for more.

Get started at The New Children’s Museum in West Hartford, offering hands-on experiences in science and nature. Enjoy exhibits and demonstrations, education classes and activities, a live animal wildlife sanctuary, state-of-the art digital science dome movies and planetarium shows and more. Visit with the resident bobcat, nile crocodile, red-eyed tree frog, ball python, barred owl and many other fascinating creatures sure to excite the animal lovers in your family.

Dinosaurs roam the grounds while kids unearth and identify dinosaur skeletons inside at The Bone Zone. Mine for crystals and fool’s gold like a true geologist, create original works of art and view rare geodes and fossils.

The Exploration Wild exhibit at Mystic Aquarium & Institute for Exploration brings kids to exotic environments from all over the world. Try the state-of-the-art 4-D Motion Ride and go nose-to-nose with penguins and beluga whales.

Three floors of immersive science experiments at Discovery Museum and Planetarium in Bridgeport make for an innovative learning experience. Catch one of the daily planetarium shows and conduct a mission to the moon at Connecticut’s only Challenger Learning Center.

Critters also draw exuberant crowds to Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk. See otters, frogs, turtles, jellies, sharks and other amazing creatures from Long Island Sound. Help feed the seals, or take a creature cruise into Norwalk Harbor and Long Island Sound to spot wildlife.

Named one of the Top 50 Children’s Museums by Child Magazine, Stepping Stones Museum for Children in Norwalk features four main galleries, a toddlers-only gallery and more than 100 interactive activities for kids ages 10 and under, as well as brand-new hands-on exhibits, art studio, science lab and a technologically unique multimedia gallery.