Kentucky Science Center

This museum needs a makeover. I have been to many major cities and our museum does not compare. It is a clean museum but it is lacking in new ideas. I really wish they would do a complete overhaul of this museum but I know that funding is tight.

If you are visiting Louisville with your young family, or you’re a local needing a stay-​cation spot, it is worth your time and money to visit the Kentucky Science Center. There is something interesting for all ages — several hands-​on activities, topics to read on, periodic presentations by staff and a decent gift shop.
You can also get a ticket for an IMAX show. We love doing this! The screen is large but isn’t a bubble screen. Plenty of seating and they welcome snacks in the theater. I will warn you that because of the cup holders, those with larger hips or thighs will find themselves wiggling more to sit down in the seat.
Several times throughout the year, they offer $ 5 after 5p. This a great price per ticket and you can see plenty in the time the facility is still open.
Parking can be found on the street, but you’ll then be hostage to the meters. If you stay at a meter, I highly recommend using an app to pay by credit card, which will get you warnings to reload the parking meter. There is also a pay lot around the corner for a few dollars, no time limit and they take credit cards.
There are vending machines in the Science Center but other than a Subway, nothing good to eat at the facility. If you have smaller kids, I’d recommend packing your own.
This facility does offer rentals as well for large parties and receptions. And if you’re local and visit periodically, definitely get an annual family pass.

The Science Center, what a blast!
The Science Center has a lot of pro’s in its column: the science center is close to other family friendly activities, is reasonably priced, has loads of exhibits and hands-​on activities, a cool IMAX experience, and marquee exhibits that change with reasonable frequency. Like most science centers that I’ve encountered, the Louisville one offers membership programs to make the experience more affordable.
There are certainly «cons» to the Science Center — I don’t hold them against the Science Center but they’re good to know for others. It is downtown so sometimes the traffic can be the traffic you’d expect downtown and with the traffic you can also look forward to parking being reasonably unpleasant. I know when I go downtown it’s going to be like that and it doesn’t bother me. I’m sure if I had a van full of munchkins it would be a little more frustrating.
If I had kids this would be a rainy day staple, when people come to visit with kids this is a part of a downtown day with the Louisville Slugger Museum and 21C. I am looking forward to the ‘right crown’ that could mix this with Frasier History or Muhammad Ali Museums. A boy can dream.
I was there last for a beer related event and can now add the Science Center to inappropriate places where I’ve had too much to drink.

I went here for a specific event, The Louisville Film Festival a few months ago for a the first event of the festival, an anniversary screening of the film Tremors.
As the foyer for an event space, it was a little cramped. The theater where we viewed the film felt cramped as well with small seats, but the large screen and sound system was great. The area we went to after the film, I believe on another floor than the theater was much larger and better suited for a gathering of this nature.
I hope to go back sometime and explore the museum itself and be able to update my review with actual info onthe museum.

We have an annual membership, so I brought my daughter for an afternoon outing. Today there’s a bus load of elementary students here on a field trip. I’ve never seen such an excited/​animated group of children, happily and actively engaging in exploration/​learning. Pictures don’t do it justice — just take my word for it.
My shy, sometimes timid 3 yr old is having the time of her life, running around and playing with these gracious, older elementary school children — interweaving various track pieces to build the fastest/​most interesting roller coasters.
Yes, it’s really really really loud, and I wish I had brought earplugs, but observing these children in active, hands-​on play — joyfully learning how to build things and how things work in the world/​nature = PRICELESS.

I was visiting Louisville for about a week and I was looking for something to bring my 16 month old to do and let her run off some (ok a ton) of energy. The Kentucky Science Center was suggested by my brother in law — he has done some volunteering here and knew it would be a perfect place to spend an afternoon with kids.
So we headed to downtown and tried to find parking. It was fairly easy to find and there were signs for the parking lot so we found it fast. Parking was $ 5 per vehicle and it backed up to the rear entrance of the building. FYI, the elevator seems old and scary but a necessity if you are handicapped or have a stroller since the entrance is on the second floor.
There are 4 floors but we only visited two floors of the building. I think the other two floors are for administrative offices and the other is classrooms and the cafeteria.
From the get go my daughter was in awe of this place. There are many rooms with things to discover, tinker with, and run around in. I think her favorite was the water play room. There are rain coats but she still got plenty wet. Thankfully there were hand dryers to help get a little dry.
Overall this was a hit with my toddler! I think it suits kids best from ages 1−8ish. But the whole family would enjoy walking around and playing with everything.
If you have kids and need an afternoon of free play, this is it!

This is an easy one — my son loves this place more than any spot in town! At 21 months, he talks about it constantly. They just underwent a major renovation, and there is more for kiddos of all ages than ever. Julian’s favorite are is a spot where kids can «shop» for shapes, complete with registers, shopping lists and shopping carts. It’s a great blend of learning and fun.

Excellent for younger kids! My one year old was easily occupied for two hours exploring the first floor. Many interactive exhibits for him to climb, touch, explore. It felt more curated than other children’s museums and with friendly attentive staff. The baby/​toddler section had some unique features I haven’t seen before. It’s actually not the best section for crawlers – there’s more to do on the rest of the floor.
We took a quick look at the second floor, which is for older kids. It seemed less interactive.

The Science center was an excellent choice since the weather was suppose to be stormy. My son and I really enjoyed learning the interesting facts and hands in building. We did not get to the Science center in time to watch one of the IMAX movies and didn’t want to wait for the next one, which was about 2hrs away (+/​-​mins)
Overall, had a great time and the weather did not storm, so we could have gone to my sons first choice. the zoo. Oh well, next time.

The science is making real strides to construct hands on exhibits down stairs. My kids (3 under 5) all enjoy the downstairs portion. I appreciate the downstairs portion. I like the theme of reusepoolza but it seems a little cheesy and sparse to me. Also, be sure to use the provided jackets when playing in the water section of the downstairs.

My kids love the science center and the «play» exhibit for younger kids is great! I think it’s a little pricey, but no more than any other children’s museum I guess. Looking forward to the early childhood exhibit/​section that they are working on!
They also have great birthday parties that are affordable

You guys, the science center is so much fun! Of course it’s great for kids, and if you have a kid in your life I highly recommend you take them here for a day, they’ll have a blast! But, it’s also fun for adults. I went here on Smithsonian magazine’s The Museum Day Live! (which if you haven’t checked out you totally should, free tickets!) with three other adults and we had an awesome time. There are so many cool things to see and lots of interactive exhibits to play with. It really is fun for all ages!

Great for kids! We decided to check it out since we are visiting from out of town. Definitely more geared towards kids but we still had fun exploring. If you go after 5pm it is only $ 5 for admission.

4 stars for the event i attended here, 4 for the IMAX theater, 3 for the actual museum.
Me and the lady attended the «Be a Kid Again» museum here with childhood memory inspired cocktails, a buzzed roaming amongst the museum after closing hours, and watching Indiana Jones and the raiders of the lost ark on the IMAX screen.
We had an a incredible time, it was a perfect date night.
Having said this i thought the museum was over all run down. I would not say most, but every now and then we would come across an exhibit that did not work properly.
(i promise it wasn’t our lack of knowledge in ‘working it’)
If someone were thinking on taking their kids here i would not advise against it, as some of the interactional exhibits were still very cool, but i would warn them that it is kind of «warn out’.
As for the theater i would be back anytime to watch a movie up close on that huge screen!

I remember going to the Science Center as a kid on field trips… it was always my favorite place to go because the exhibits were so interactive and interesting and the gift shop had everyone’s favorite: astronaut ice cream. As an adult, I still enjoy coming here. I do think the exhibits are of mixed quality. Some are great, and others don’t work, have missing pieces, or are aged. My favorite part about the Science Center now is the theater. I enjoy the documentaries as well as the 3-​D movies. I really like how they are playing 80’s movies this summer! Can’t wait for «The Princess Bride» to be shown in August!

This is one of our go-​to places when we have family in town. Our nieces and nephews love it. We attended the Unilocal event last night that was just for adults and had a really great time. It was kinda fun being there without kids for once!

First time there and had a really good time, even if it was with a bunch of Pre-​K kiddos. Thought the interactive stuff they had even for the little kids was great!!!
Will be back for sure, this time to take in the entire building!!!
Very nice staff as well, everyone I came in contact with that had a «Lab Coat» was super friendly and very helpful!

Normally when I go I have my niece and nephew with me and we stick to the bottom floor for an hour or two. There are a lot of kids oriented «toys» on the first floor. The top levels have some cool stuff too, but a lot of it seems to be broken a lot of the time. Also the place kind of smells of sweat. 4 stars is probably slightly generous
I would say it is good for kids and pretty meh for adults overall.

I remember going to the Science Center when I was a kid but I do not remember it being so interactive and fun! I have an almost one year old and he has a great time here. They have a little kids area for those under 5 and it’s fantastic. There’s a slide, a big water table, places to crawl through, etc. They also have a nice, quiet nursing room with a comfortable rocking chair.
The Science Center is very family friendly and is a great place to take kids. There are tons of different things to do for all ages. We received a membership as a gift and it has been invaluable this winter when we couldn’t get outside as much.

Went yesterday. Parking in street was good but only for two hours max. The kids, 4 and 3 had fun. As Grandparents we were shocked and dismayed. We paid 56.00 to get in and used a 5.00 coupon. We were shocked at the number of displays that were broken! Minor things like broken gauges, computers that kept rebooting. All minor repairs that they could probably get volunteers to fix. I have been to other museums where everything is fixed and if broken repaired immediately. I think this know even gets state money???

Not bad. As science museums go it leaves a lot to be desired: the displays are getting long in the tooth and many do not work. But the KidZone exhibit on the ground floor has a wonderful water-​play feature that is a hit with the under-​twelve crowd — just make sure you bring a change of clothes, as they WILL get soaked.
The $ 5 after 5pm deal covers a multitude of evils and makes it worthwhile; meter parking is cheap, as the are free after 6. A cheap evening out for children, and that is worth the extra star.

I surprised my sister with a half day trip to Lousville to celebrate the completion of her first semester of nursing school. Knowing me, she thought we were en route to a beer festival or some other sort of cultural shenanigan — so, when I looked at her and said, «wanna go look at some dead bodies?» her face morphed into a mixture of reactions «no beer?» and «dead bodies?» It was the final week of the Bodies exhibit at Kentucky Science Center and in my opinion, what better gift for a nursing student? …if only she could have toured with a beer in hand.
The exterior of the museum is beautiful with bright colors and an interactive mirror art installation located on an active and charming street downtown. Once inside, the entrance leans on the underwhelming side — it might just be outdated? We especially enjoyed the «Be inside a bubble» exhibit — for the record, I made it to my hips (this will make sense when you give it a try for yourself). If you’re into dinosaur poo, give the children’s exhibit bathroom a visit — they have a box containing what I believe might be the oldest shit I’ve encountered to date.
As for the Bodies exhibit, I won’t say too much as it is temporary and doesn’t speak for the 24÷7÷365 museum. I especially enjoyed the exhibit featuring hearts and arteries for personal reasons and seeing a slice of an obese leg is always a good nudge to get off one’s ass and exercise more. I was disappointed not to see the fetus exhibit that I had heard so much about.

I wanted to be a bigger fan. I really did.
I have fond memories of coming to the Science Center as a kid for field trips, and if you had asked me to review the facilities as a child, this place would have gotten fifteen stars, a rainbow, and four kittens.
So I obviously was so excited to return recently with my boyfriend for the Body Worlds exhibit and a quick tour around the whole place.
The museum earned the three stars above because of the knowledgeable and helpful staff, as well as the beautiful and well-​designed Body Worlds exhibit.
However, I was disappointed in what the rest of the center had to offer. It doesn’t seem like they have updated anything since I went as a child. This may be due to lack of funds, but I find that hard to believe since admission is so high. Surely there can be more rotating exhibits? Or at least a little maintenance of the ones that are currently available?
Sigh. I will keep my memories safe and hope for a better trip again soon.

We came for the bodies exhibit and stayed for the stand-​inside-​a-​giant-​bubble experience.
If science museums are your thing, this one is well maintained, and well-​designed. (Well, except for a few pieces missing or not working in some of the exhibits…)
Side note about the bubble thing — I was standing in the circle, showing off my mad bubble-​making skills, when this tiny stranger steps into the ring with me. A toddler with no parents in sight wanted in on my bubble action. Awkward, but adorable. Parents claimed her shortly after we finished.