Hands On Museum

When you think of a museum, what do you picture? Abstract art? Expensive vases? Glass cases? Generally, the museum has a reputation for being a little bit, shall we say, clinical. Yes, there are great works of art and history located within their walls, but they are presented in such a cold and systematic way that the museum as a whole can sometimes hide the magic lurking within the individual exhibits.

For example, when you walk into most museums, the most important rule always seems to be "Don't touch". But what about if you were able to not only touch, but interact with the displays? That would change things. You might even forget that you are in a museum.

This trick of making the visitor believe that they are not in a museum, but in an interactive event, is what sets the Perot Museum of Nature and Science in Dallas apart. From the moment you set eyes on the building from the outside, you know that this is not a traditional museum. You walk in, and you are greeted by a boat with recycled bottles built into its frame, and a lobby that has moving sculptures.

There is a lot to do in the museum, with 3 floors dedicated to general admission exhibits, and a floor below the ground floor dedicated to seasonal exhibits. They are even connected with stairs that play notes when you step on them.

The exhibits vary from space based, to animal based, to engineering based, but something that they all have in common is that you can interact with the majority of the things in the exhibit. Would you like to create your own dinosaur, experience a high intensity earthquake, or fly like a bird? You can do all of that and more. You can even see the world's third largest gold nugget. Now you unfortunately really can't touch that one, but with so many things to explore, you might just need to stop by the excellent cafeteria for some fuel in order to be energized to do everything this place has to offer. Who ever said museums were boring?