This waved around in the breeze when the doors opened, it would occasionally hit a string, and play a musical note.
This is the centerpiece of the museum. It's powered by vacuums. Kids can put handkerchiefs and soft rubber balls into ports near the base, and the items will meander wildly around the tubes until the get ejected near the top, for kids to try and catch. This is an absolutely wonderful display.
The first permanent exhibition area you walk into is called Discovery Hall. This is by all accounts a fairly standard science exhibit. You talk about forces, and motion, and simple machines, and magnets etc. The things that really struck me were A) How beautiful everything was (granted, it was pretty much new) and B) How engaging they were able to make even simple experiments.
Fancy wood floors!
Electromagnet wheel. Next to this was an extremely fun, yet challenging electromagnet wheel that you had to try to get spinning by timing your magnetic pulses. I think I spent 15 minutes playing with that one. I got so engaged, I forgot to take a picture of it.
Square wheels (an exhibit that should be familiar to my COSI Columbus friends)
I loved this one. What better way to show wavelengths than by plucking differently tuned guitar strings?
How many is 1 million? Turn the crank one million times, and the glass on the left breaks.
There was a lot more to this exhibit hall, I spent nearly an hour in just this one room.
Next up is their temporary exhibit hall. At this time (and for another month or so after I write this) there was an exhibit on newer discoveries surrounding dinosaurs. It's not a big room (this room more than any other looked like an old mall store front).
Video screens showing the muscle and bone structures of long-neck dinosaurs
Metal long-neck dinosaur sculpture
Next up is the kid's play area. I did not go in, as I suppose a random guy on his own taking pictures would be seen as kind of creepy. I really like the fairy tale theme to the entrance. Later, I walked by, and the door was closed. I suspect it's supposed to be that way all the time, and kids have to ring the doorbell to get in.
The final exhibit on the top floor of the museum is a fairly typical health exhibit. There were some suitably disgusting exhibits (smoker's lung, and one that let you see your tooth plaque up close) that churned my stomach a bit. I didn't find this area as engaging as the Discovery Hall, but to still has a lot to think about.
I guess video gaming isn't enough exercise *sigh*
I submit that every health exhibit needs a display like this to show how long your intestines are if you stretch them out.
Heading downstairs, we start out with a couple smaller exhibits, as well as the base to the great vacuum machine. That's worth playing with at any age.
Off to one side is a small area dedicated to the local public media, and a workshop "Tinkering" room. Sadly, that wasn't opening until later in the day, but it had a lot of neat stuff inside. I suspect for regulars, this is a great area to explore repeatedly.
Oh My God, they're all dead!! I blame Oscar the Grouch.
The tinkering workshop
The rest of the lower floor is basically an Arkansas natural history museum. It talks about the climate, the animals, plate tectonics in the area...even why Arkansas is so tornado prone. In a bit of irony, the night before I visited the museum, the town I was staying in had 8 tornadoes hit within a 10 mile radius.
I have seen these in dozens of museums...this is the first one that worked.
The outside of a dramatic theater area talking about a tornado that hit the area
Inside the theater
Dramatic lighting and sounds give you a sense of what it would be like to ride out a tornado in a shelter.
I greatly enjoyed visiting this little museum. If you happen to be in Little Rock, spending the morning at the Clinton Museum, and the afternoon in the Museum of Discovery would be a very nice day.
But that's not quite all. Just across the parking lot from the Clinton Museum is a little building called Heifer Village (next door to the Heifer International headquarters), and I would be remiss if I didn't spread a little love for this nifty little building.
Heifer International has a noble goal of trying to end hunger worldwide, but to do it in a sustainable manner. To teach skills, rather than to just give people food. The world headquarters building is absolutely gorgeous...and one of the most "Green" buildings around.
Heifer Village is a small museum of sorts where you can learn more about their mission, and the methods that they teach around the world. This is maybe a 45 minute stop at most, but one well worth taking. They also have a fully sustainable cafe inside that serves some yummy looking food.
This display shows how they use different areas of the village to raise animals, store manure, and maximize their farming areas
A place for groups to sit around and discuss things they've seen.
My favorite out of order sign ever.
School in a suitcase. For remote villages to help educate children.
Cool wall art
A board game that discusses ways to change the way we do things to make the world a better place.
An extremely clever device that allows people to roll gallons of water around instead of carrying them.
Brick walkway
View of the backside of the Clinton Museum
So, that wraps up my official look at Little Rock. Overall, I think downtown Little Rock is a pretty nice place. There were several museums I didn't get a chance to visit. Maybe another time.
As I get ready to wrap this up, a couple final pics of some of the other random sites in Little Rock.
The Chocktaw Building - houses the Bill Clinton School of Public Service
The State Capitol Building is in the middle. It's modeled after the Capitol in Washington DC, and is often used as a "stunt double" when the Capitol building needs to be blown up in movies.
Central High School. Home of the Little Rock Nine back in 1957.
Julia Sugarbaker's house from Designing Women
Formerly the Little Rock Arsenal, this is the building General Douglas MacArthur was born in. It is now the Arkansas Military Museum.
