Children’s Science Center

I have three kids, aged 7, 5 and 3. We are members and plan to renew. I think its a great dollar value– since you get to come back as many times as you want throughout the year, plus members get discounts on special events and other cool member stuff.
I think some of these Unilocalers need to put their experience of the science center in correct context, and perhaps not be so quick to judge.
First off, it’s a non-​profit. They are also in their first year of operation.
This is an extension of their museum without walls program (VOLUNTEERS) and part of the larger goal of seeing a world-​class museum in the DC area.
It’s not meant to be a drop-​my-​kids-​off-​and-​play-​on my-phone-experience…Parents are supposed to read, interact, and assist in the teaching and learning process.
Try it for yourself, take an hour to ENGAGE with your kid. Go during the non-​peak hours and let your kids explore and build and have a great time!
Here’s a quote from my 7 year-​old daughter:
«I like all the cool crafts there, especially the blocks so I can build lots of cool things like racetracks for the balls. (Keva planks)»

We have a membership but don’t plan to renew.
The staff are flighty and don’t seem capable of handling a crowd. In particular, they do not demonstrate sensitivity for developmental differences of children.
The staff take far too long to process people in the door. On our most recent visit, the sole staff member at the desk was giving a long-​winded sales pitch to a passer-​by while a line of people (with children) several deep waited in vain to get in. No other staff came to assist. Finally, I just walked in with my kids and told the young woman at the desk that my wife would check us in whenever the young woman got around to us. Overall, they need to work on their processes and ability to handle the crowd, especially on weekends.
On the plus side, the children seem to enjoy the different activities, though there is an upper-​limit on engagement time.

I would have to honestly say that this place was a BIG bummer. After reading some bummer reviews, we thought we would try it and make our own opinion. We got there on Sunday when it opened and the staff were all milling about not sure what to do. About 5 high school and adult volunteers (aka non-​kids) were at the «bar» getting a tutorial on the experiments, I guess to teach the other kids with two «instructors» manning behind the bar. One of the instructors was super busy giving the volunteers tutorials. While one volunteer was mildly interested in doing the experiments with the other kids sitting around the table. My daughter was patiently waiting for someone to notice her to give her the experiment «stuff». The one person manning the experiment bar gave her a half hearted discussion and instruction about what to do, but then went back to the 5 volunteers to give them more instruction. There was absolutely NO «learning» about the chemical reactions and why things turned out the way they did. Luckily my hubby read the kindle himself to figure out what to do, and why things turned out the way they did. BIG BUMMER! There were 3 experiments (making «snow», some sort of «snow goop», and invisible ink).
We tried doing the fan thing, but that hardly moved and nobody seemed to pay attention to us to teach us why things did what they did.
We were outta there in about 20 minutes. BIGGGGG waste of $$$$. I can’t believe we spent $ 36 for our family on this place. This place had potential (sorta), but fell wayyyy flat. Save your $ and do the same experiments on pinterest. For the same price other science museums are way better. This was pathetic and very disappointing.

Unfortunately, I fail to see what all the hype is about. Took my 9 yo son at the end of SnowZilla week. $ 12 ea (parents required to pay too).
We first visited the counter where the staff provides you with one of 3 experiments: invisible writing, make snow, and. .. something else to do with snow (ya know, because every human in the area hadn’t seen enough of it by now). Lady puts paper cups, crayon liquids, q-​tips, a dropper, popsicle sticks, paper, etc in front of us. Instructs us on what to do. (Dip q tip in here and write on paper; use the dropper to add water to this; pour this into here and stir.)
Ok, great! Now what? And we waited. .. meanwhile I hear the group next to us getting a «presentation» about organic matter. I see our gal helping some folks down the counter get started, & think she’ll come back and explain the science part (and provide the ultraviolet light needed for the invisible ink). .. nope. She sweeps by us to pick up the pieces we used, but no explanation. So I wait a few and then try to prompt her for the explanations. «So what’s the science behind all of this?» She babbles off something about adding carbon to vinegar. .. & leaves. Alrighty then.
I then make eye contact with someone else & ask for the science explanation (the kiddo has by far lost interest now) and she recaps each experiment. Realizing my son just wants to see what else this place is about by now, I thank her and we head to the next area.
Turbines and airflow. Essentially, the kids pick what type of (3 or 4?) fan blades they want onto a fan (mix and match) to see what makes the fan go fastest. A computer screen shows the speed. That took all of 60 seconds.
Moving along — there’s this huge magnetic board that you place tracks and turnabouts on and try to direct wooden balls into a hole. Pretty cool! But there’s zero guidance. So when a 4 yo plops themselves into the bin area where the balls drop, it prevents the other kids from engaging with the experiment because the wee one is pulling the carefully placed tracks off. Eventually the kids get slammed in the head with a ball (youch!) and the «creativity» continues. .. only each of the now preset 5 kids has their own thought about how to make things happen. Realizing this would be a hard collaboration for my 9 yo (and the 5 – 8 yo’s that remain) I anticipate the meltdown and encourage we move along.
Next we do the turning gears table. Larg’ish table with a magnetic top. Gears stick to the table. You line the (10+) gears up so they interlock and when you turn one gear, the others also turn. Time spent: 2 minutes.
Next stop is the «trinket room.» There’s a super cool 16″‘ish tube of air, and a bunch of domed slurpie lids laying around with pipe cleaners, paper hot dog trays, coffee filters, paper clips and such. You pop one of the creations into the tube and see which one goes the highest or does the best trick. Eventually we saw the supply of items that go with this «experiment» behind us, but at this point all creations have been made and left by others, so what’s the point (in my kids eyes at least)?
There’s a counter in the room with some circuits and a laptop. COMPUTER?! My kid’s ALLLL about it! Laptop is tuned into a website that shows you how to make an (elementary) computer program. Hmmm. .. no instruction in sight. Looks like you could fiddle with it and figure it out, but. .. yah, my son loses interest and moves on. With half an eye on him, I stay and fiddle to see how the program works. A minute later, as I’m walking away, im approached by an employee who asks if I’m interested in help. «Yes!» «Oh, well let me get you one of the instruction cards.» She walks to a drawer on the other side of the room and brings back a d-​ring with several laminated cards on it with tasks to try. I understand kids likely chew on the things or walk off with them, but seriously? This would have been helpful like 5 minutes ago. I take the booklet and hope to re-​engage my son.
He’s over at a MANNED table where fishing line is attached to poles and you’re supposed to balance things, attached with binder clips, on the line. There are 2 kids sitting with their parents and my kid is standing and trying his hand at the experiment. Employee looks none too thrilled. I finally realize that my son had stuck his nose into the experiment midway (believing HE is THE master of balance?). The employee doesn’t know how (isn’t allowed?) to tell kids that butt in to wait their turn, or how to coach along with ideas. (Or, maybe her means of telling him to wait his turn is to unenthusiastically watch him fail? Not a horrible idea I suppose.) I realize the (wrong) way of my son and redirect him to. .. (the heavenly gates opened and showed their light!
A table with 3 bins of LEGOS! YEA! (Um, because we don’t have those at home?)
I can definitely see the potential the place has, but until it’s staffed properly or provides better direction for parents, it’s a bust.

I walked away disappointed.
I brought my 8 year old, and we both felt that it wasn’t worth another visit.
We arrived at 1PM on Monday, and paid $ 24 for general admission ($ 12 each). This will be important later in my review.
Experimental bar
Was the best part of the center, and offered 3 projects, Slime Snow, DIY Snow, and Invisible Ink. With a tablet at each section, so you can learn more about your project. We did all 3 only once.
Discovery zone
Was just a lot of interlocking foam pieces, and seemed for younger kids (all the kids there were under 5)
Tinker shop
Had a Lego/K’Nex table with 8 chairs surrounding a tiny table that could only fit 2 adults and 2 kids or 6 kids at maximum. The bins were missing pieces that were important in the project (like small belts that look like rubber bands). This area was a mess, and looked like a child’s dirty bedroom with parts misplaced, incomplete box sets of of various projects.
Inspiration Hub
We spent the least amount of time here. There was a set of wind turbines where the only item that you could interact with were the turbine blades.
Garage (this room only had wooden rectangular building blocks)
They had long tables and lots of seating with enough building blocks for everyone, but only had the rectangular variant. There were only 3 of the building catalogs to build cool structures, but were on a 1^st come 1^st serve basis (why not just print more is beyond me). This might not seem like a big issue to most, but the catalogs had some pretty cool structures that we could have built.
We were done for the day and my daughter wanted to make more slime snow. The staff was hit or miss at the bar in terms of helpfulness/​bad attitude. We were told by a (nice) staff member that we cannot do any project twice due to the large crowds, except for the invisible ink. I paid $ 12, but was not allowed to use my turn, I asked why and the response was «we need the reserve the material for the next group». This is Elmers glue, glitter, and Borax we are talking about here, not expensive materials any way you slice it.
This is an glorified arts and crafts center, and not a true S.T.E.M Lab.
The business pictures uploaded to Unilocal are misleading.

Children’s Science Center hosted our son’s 7^th birthday party and it was a BLAST. The staff was great, kept a tight ship to ensure our huge group (17 kids!) was always in their eyesight. Kids have plenty of time to explore the Lab, participate in the experiment and enjoy their pizza and cake.
Also, I read reviews below saying how tiny the place is. This place is huge. The garage was able to fit our 17 kids and several of their parents. There were plenty of activities for kids to do, from tinker shop to the experiments’ table.
Finally, our birthday party coordinator, Anna, was amazing. She had everything all set up, her crew members were fully engaged with the children.
You got yourselves return customers!

Even though it is January, I am beginning to think about camps for this upcoming summer. Talking with my sons they both want to do camp at the Children’s Science Center. Last summer my 10 year old (rising 5^th grader) did a «build it better» camp. They had to design, build, and present a Science Museum. As part of the project they had to think about location, pricing, features to attract every age, and various strategies for creating a business. The class size was small enough that he was able to work in a small group of three campers, and they received individual attention from the fantastic instructors. At the end of the week the students presented their Science Centers. It was a wonderful opportunity for the students to practice presenting and it gave me, the parent, an opportunity to see what they had learned. Also, while at camp, they got to explore the Science Center. My son loved all of the hands-​on activities and looks forward to doing more this summer.

My wife is always looking for new ways to entertain our 3 little ones 9,7, 2, and she is a tough critic when it comes to kids entertainment places. When she took the kids to the science center at fair oaks, she couldn’t stop raving about how much fun the kids had! The place was very clean, the staff was friendly and best of all our kids had a great time and learned a lot. This is the go to place for fun learning! I would definitely recommend the children’s science center to anyone with kids.

My son had his ninth birthday party at the science center. Of all of the birthday parties we’ve had over the years, it was by far the worst. A bad experience. Their schedule is to only allow the kids 35 minutes in the science center and almost an hour for the super boring experiment and food in the smallish party room. We had 15 but they allow up to 22, I can’t imagine that. It was packed with 15 kids. The party helpers were not at all helpful and complained almost constantly at the kids for their behavior — too loud, not paying attention, not sitting in their seats, etc. I set everything up myself, served almost all of the food myself and had to specifically ask them to do any small thing they pitched in with. They did help clean-​up, but probably just to get us out. It’s a shame. I thought this was a great idea for a kid’s party and it was awful.

It was okay. We have been to many science/​discovery centers across the country, and this was a solid C+. I liked the informative and wonderful staff, signage, and concepts. What is is seriously lacking is the entire sensory-​art based portion of science learning. Disappointed. I hope that they figure that out because this place has potential. There are so many wonderfully-​done, volunteer-​based nature centers in the area that are offer a far-​greater science education, in the immediate area, and this was not as good as them, in my opinion (my son is almost 5 and loves science… also, I am a scientist).

I felt this place was ok. My daughter is 5 and I think her favorite part was the experiment bar where the kids can do different projects on their own.
And she also liked the tinker shop. Other than that she got bored.
The staff here are very friendly and helpful.