Spring/Summer 2011

Fail to plan your visit to this mammoth Chicago museum — the largest science center in the Western Hemisphere — and you may end up wandering aimlessly through the 400,000-plus square feet of exhibit space, trying to decide what to see first.

A 40-foot-high tornado — a spectacular swirling column of water vapor partially enclosed by a pair of clear curved walls  — lures visitors into “Science Storms,” one of the Museum of Science and Industry’s newest permanent exhibits. Nearby, children repeatedly launch two colorful hot-air balloons into the cavernous space above to observe the effects of heating and cooling air, while an 8-ton “avalanche disk” filled with garnet sand and glass beads, slowly rotates like a giant undulating compact of loose-powder bronzer, illustrating how granular materials shift and move.

Next, climb the stairs to the mezzanine level and prepare to be amazed by “YOU! The Experience.” The 15,000-square-foot exhibit combines human specimens — including 18 “plastinated” counterparts prepared by creators of the blockbuster “Body Worlds” exhibit — and interactive exhibits to explore the body’s inner workings and how personal choices affect them. Kids can take a turn on the “human hamster wheel” and make a 13-foot-high heart beat in time with their own, just by placing hands on a T-shaped bar.

Equally engaging are low-tech attractions such as the baby chick hatchery and a 3,500-square-foot model-train exhibit that illustrates the transport of people and goods from Chicago to Seattle. Another favorite is a nearly 9-foot-tall “fairy castle” dollhouse commissioned by silent-film star Colleen Moore during the late 1920s. The 11-room structure contains a stunning array of tiny treasures ranging from a gold chandelier hung with real diamonds, emeralds and pearls to a silver bathtub with working dolphin-shaped spigots, to murals painted by Walt Disney himself.

- State - Illinois

- Type - Family Vacations

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