I was very excited last month to hear that the Magic School Bus was at the Impression 5 Museum in Lansing. Yesterday my daughter and I visited the museum with a friend.
Admission to Impression 5 is $5/person from age 1-65. Seniors are $4.50. Ann Arbor Hands On Museum members are admitted free of charge as part of the Association of Science and Technology Centers and the Association of Children’s Museums reciprocal admission programs.
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| Magic School Bus Weather Station |
The Magic School Bus exhibit has been at Impression 5 since December and leaves on April 7. My daughter had fun, but her friend’s mom and I were definitely underwhelmed by the museum and the Magic School Bus exhibit. It was obvious that it was near the end of its run. Some of the video monitors had visible burn-in and there were a few broken displays. Some of the exhibit designs also left a little to be desired. There was a wind sock that could be lifted into fans to determine wind direction. The pole was quite heavy for the kids to lift (and fell quickly when they let go). At 5’2″, I could barely reach the string to turn the windsock when it was raised, my kindergartener could barely move it before raising the pole. It was really cool to see the Magic School Bus in person, but I felt they could have done more with the exhibit and had a few better design elements.
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| Sitting on Magic School Bus |
We are Hands on Museum members. The Hands on Museum is larger, has better planned exhibits, and their exhibits are in better condition. Both museums feature a platform in a bubble tank so kids can make a bubble surround them. At the Hands on Museum, the bubble ring is suspended from about 6 strings making individual bubbles. At Impression 5, there was only two strings from the top making a continuous bubble. It sounds cool in theory to have one continuous bubble, but the hoop did not stay centered on the platform and the bubble would often pop before it reached the floor of the platform. There was a padded chair as part of one exhibit and it was ripped.
Impression 5 did have a nice store that included some Magic School Bus items. I appreciated that they had Magic School Bus books there (and bought my daughter a book). When we visited the now closed Detroit Science Center for the Dinosaur exhibit last spring, they did not have a single dinosaur book or item in their store.
I would not make a special trip from Ann Arbor just to visit Impression 5, however if you are visiting Lansing and have a couple of extra hours, Impression 5 would be a good way to spend them. Instead, I would stay locally and visit the Hands on Museum. The family we went with has a membership to Imagination Station in Toledo. They also thought that Imagination Station was a better museum, and a shorter drive from Ann Arbor.
