I really enjoy the SMUD Museum of Science and Curiosity. It’s a nice gem in the Sacramento community. I’ve been here for a rock and roll lights show in their planetarium, and more recently attended a private event for ISACA Sacramento. Both experiences were a great time.
They have a lot of cool, interactive science exhibits, and I especially enjoyed the private planetarium show at our event. I will say it seems more geared toward kids, which is understandable, but we still had fun as adults exploring everything.
I love this place for the 10&under crowd. Rotating exhibits keep it fresh so we go two or three times a year. Although they offer some nominal refreshments including pizza in the small cafe we always pack a lunch. Warmed my heart to see the lengthy engagement of a 5 year old on creating an estimation exercise with volunteer. (Thank you, Melvin!) Friendly knowledgeable staff and volunteers. Note: Pay parking.
This place was great! The whole family had a blast, I have 2 6 year olds, a 12 year old, and an 18 year old, and they all enjoyed themselves. The planetarium was a blast. They had areas about micro organisms, nature, space, saving electricity, water infrastructure. Some of those may sound boring but they all had games and puzzles and things to play with. They had a toddler area and bigger kid area all with fun toys, activities and science experiment. I know it sounds cliche but learning was never so fun fun. Even I had a blast at 40! I really recommend this place to anyone, we spent the entire day there and had lunch in the reasonably priced cafeteria.
changing exhibits keeps this place fresh and doesn't feel like the same thing again
I do have to say with so many school children attending in large groups, not to open the doors at 9 is not giving consideration to these early risers.
also, if you're a home schooler and purchased an educator ticket, have your psa confirmation, email... as proof otherwise you won't get in.
during the show, even when it's relatively quiet, the host can barely be heard. better or louder speakers are definitely needed to carry the voice across to all attendees.
Finally went to the Smud Museum. Parking was a flat rate of six bucks for 24 hours. that's a great price for all day parking. The museum was huge. There were all kinds of little things to do like games definitely made for kids 0-12 years old. Lots of exhibits about water conservation, water use in farming, space. Fish and all kinds of little interactive exibits. They have a science lab where your kids can take a science class for $17 which I thought was the best thing there, how fun is that for your littles. There's a theater which I think they said was $7 or $11 I think, I'm not sure if it was like a little iMax but it was a dome shaped theater upstairs. There are elevators and handicap access. There was a small gift shop I didn't go in and one small snack/coffee place I also didn't check out. You can use the EBT card to get free admission for up to four tickets, just hand the admission people your EBT card and photo ID and you're in quickly (sorry don't know entry fee to the museum). The place isn't really made for adults but for the joy of watching your kids have the best time ever. Lots of kid germs but hand sanitizer at every exhibit. After we went in we walked the river walk since we had all those hours of parking. The city cleaned out the homeless camps along the bike trail so we could actually walk down by the water without disturbing anyone or being disturbed. It was beautiful. Water is fast there and also the shore can be slippery, it's not really safe to get too close if you do go down by the water but you can view from the bike trail levy right by the cars.
What a fun place to visit!!! I'm a teacher who accompanied my class to their field trip for the day. It's a kid friendly interactive science museum that is still fun for the whole family! They were super accommodating for wheelchair/walker accessibility and had an amazing planetarium show. I'm use a medical alert service dog and they knew the two questions to ask and were very helpful with anything I needed during my time here.
The SMUD Museum of Science and Curiosity is a great learning experience for kids and even grown ups. This place offers multiple exhibits and even has a planetarium dome theater. The 1st level offers exhibits about the human body, nature, water conservation, and energy conservation. The 2nd level offers a space exhibit, hands on building experience, and the dome theater. You should be able to explore everything in 3 hours. There's a gift shop and a small cafe. Overall I recommend this museum especially to kids.
I visited here with my family on a Saturday morning and we had a great time. The facility is pretty big, very clean and a lot of fun. Lots of interactive stuff for all ages, shows, food and very informative.
The staff were all extremely kind, helpful and knowledgeable.
I am excited to come back with my family as they grow and see what they have ti offer.