In her Worth the Drive series, arts writer Meredith Moss takes you to museums, exhibitions, and theatrical productions in our region that are worth your time and money.
HOW TO GO
What: COSI, the Center of Science and Industry
Where: 333 West Broad Street, Columbus
Hours: Open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday. There are extended hours for spring break.
Tickets: General admission is $19 for adults ages 19 and up; $14 for youth ages 2-12; members free. You’ll pay an additional $5 to add a planetarium show, giant movie, Adventure, or special exhibit. “Top Secret: License to Spy” is $5 with general admission, $4 with COSI membership. Members of Dayton’s Boonshoft Museum of Discovery receive 50 percent off general admission at COSI.
The “Teen Tech Studio” is open to the public from noon to 3 p.m. on Wednesdays. Ages 12-19 are invited to come from 3-7 p.m. on Wednesdays and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays. Tickets to the adult evenings “COSI After Dark” are “$14 in advance, $16 at the door.
Parking: $5 with COSI ticket.
For information: www.cosi.org or call (614) 228-COSI
There are at least two good reasons that the Center of Science and Industry in Columbus is an ideal choice for a family outing.
For starters, whether the kids are toddlers or teens, there are a wide variety of creative exhibits designed to educate and to entertain them. And that’s true for adults as well. Second, almost everything you’ll encounter in COSI’s 320,000 square feet of exhibit space is hands-on and interactive.
In addition to Ohio’s largest Planetarium that opened in November, the 51-year-old museum has a National Geographic Giant Screen Theater and also offers live stage shows ranging from the always-popular Rat Basketball to chemistry. In its upcoming seasonal show, entitled the “Science of Fireworks” (May 18 through July 19), you’ll learn how fireworks get in the air, why they blow up and why they’re so colorful. As you might guess, the grand finale involves some colorful explosions.
Two popular permanent attractions are the High Wire Unicycle that offers visitors the chance to ride a unicycle across an 84-foot cable 17 feet above the ground and The Electrostatic Generator, powered by 300,000 volts of electrostatic energy, that will have your hair standing up if you're the willing volunteer.
Traveling exhibitions
COSI regularly offers touring exhibits — at the moment, the temporary exhibit is entitled “Top Secret: License to Spy.” The fascinating show, which runs through Sept. 7, is ideal for James Bond fans. It teaches the tools and tricks of espionage by turning visitors into secret agents who must gather and record intelligence in order to solve a mystery.
Created in Australia, the new exhibit is making its North American debut at COSI with some added attractions: 35 cool artifacts from the International Spy Museum, the Cold War Museum, and from the personal collection of Francis Gary Powers, Jr, the son of the American pilot whose CIA U-2 spy plane was shot down in 1960 during a reconnaissance mission over Soviet Union airspace.
We can’t detail all of COSI’s permanent exhibits, but here’s a sampling:
For the little ones
One of the most colorful and creative themed spaces at COSI (there are 10 altogether) is the Little Kidspace. The 10,000 square foot area is designed for children from birth through first grade, and filled with all sorts of play equipment designed for climbing and crawling and sparking a toddler's imagination. As an added security measure, you'll be given a ticket when you enter indicating the number of adults and children which must be returned when you leave.
Kids can don a raincoat for water play; if they get wet there are dryers available. They can climb a tree, visit the barnyard, enter the hospital and become a doctor or nurse. Art projects change regularly; on the day we visited materials included corks, egg cartons, and pine cones.
In the nearby Big Kid Lab, older siblings can enjoy supervised activities while their younger brothers and sisters spend time with parents, grandparents or caregivers.
About Life
One of the focus areas at COSI centers around “mind, body and spirit.” Visitors can test their strength and flexibility, see how they’re likely to age over the years or watch Ohio State University researchers at work.
Kids love what's gross and they'll love the Body Noise Organ: press a key to hear everything from belches to vomiting.
How life has changed
A dramatic exhibit focusing on progress allows families to walk down a street in 1898, then turn the corner and walk the same exact street in 1962! We see how many examples of technological change we can discover — brick and wood become pavement and stainless steel, parking meters replace hitching posts, a gas station stands where a livery stable once was.
Visitors can send a telegram in the Telegraph Office, check out 19th-century toys and games, and pose for a picture in a carriage. On the 1962 street, they serve diner fare, squeeze into a phone booth and broadcast the evening news in the WNWS television studio.
Oceans
When we asked some visitors about their COSI favorites, a number of them picked "Oceans" where kids can climb into a submarine, control a Wave Tank, and direct streams of water hit targets and drive an underwater vehicle. Others loved "Gadgets" where they control robots and take objects such as computers apart in the Gadget Cafe.
Energy Explorers
How does energy power the world around us? You’ll pick a card to become a specific character, then answer questions to see how your character uses energy in everyday life.
You can slice a chair in half to see just how much energy has been involved in creating that piece of furniture, turn a wheel to find out how much energy is required to light various kinds of light bulbs or arrange little trees to see how they protect our homes.
A COSI Adventure
“Adventure: In The Valley of the Unknown” is a self-contained exhibit that involves unlocking a secret on a remote island. Timed tickets are required for the special hunt.
Nostalgic COSI, Shopping, teens, etc.
Visitors who remember the former COSI will get a kick out of revisiting the Cracker Jack Collection of old-fashioned toys and the Coal Mine, temporarily located in the adjoining Columbus Historical Society.
The extensive Science to Go shop stocks everything from books and science kits to astronaut food, geology and excavation kits. In the health section, you'll see plush toys that aren't the typical teddy bears and cats, rather but pimples and cold germs. There are butterfly book bags and paintable ocean creatures, dinosaurs and dancing water speakers, Albert Einstein dolls and Newton's cradles.
For teens, COSI hosts a free "Teen Tech Studio," where visitors can make a movie, record a song or print a 3D design. For adults, COSI hosts "COSI After Dark," a chance for grown-ups to socialize, explore the museum, see a Planetarium show. The events are held on the first Thursday of each month and there's always a cash bar. Upcoming themes include "Top Secret Spycraft" on April 2; "Chemistry of Cooking" on May 7, and "Deception on June 4.
Leaving COSI, we stopped to ask Mandy Jones of Dublin what she and her kids like about coming to the museum and why they return often.
“I have a nine-year-old and a four-year old, and there’s so much here for each of them,” she responded. “The Kidspace is perfect for toddlers and pre-schoolers; my nine-year-old loves the Ocean room and Space and the Life room that focuses on anatomy and biology. We love it here!
About the Author
