During my visits to Pittsburgh, I’ve checked out many great things to do with kids. However, until recently, I hadn’t check out the Carnegie Science Center.
The Carnegie Science Center is Pittsburgh’s most visited museum and can be found on the North Shore, just west of PNC Park and Acrisure Stadium. The museum, which will soon be renamed The Daniel G. and Carole L. Kamin Science Center, opened to the public in 1991.
It was a new museum created by the Carnegie Institute and the Buhl Planetarium (which had originally opened in 1939 as the country’s fifth major planetarium). Other institute museums include the Andy Warhol Museum, the Carnegie Museum of Art, and the Carnegie Museum of Natural History.
Today, the Carnegie Science Center features five floors of exhibits, as well as the planetarium, a giant movie theater, a decommissioned submarine, a robot hall of fame, and much more.
With so much to see, you’ll definitely want to save the better part of the day to check out the space. You can even leave and come back on the same day, which is what my family did, taking a break to get some lunch and check out the nearby Moonshot Museum, before heading back to finish our time at the Carnegie Science Center.
What impressed me the most about the displays at the Carnegie Science Center was how high quality they all work. Every display here seemed very well designed and most were usable by kids of various ages, so both older and younger kids can enjoy and learn things from them.
Displays here covered topics a nice variety of topics including space, the body, natural forces, nutrition, and more ensuring that every visitor will find some topics they enjoy learning about.
My kids and I found the BodyWorks exhibit to be especially interesting as it not only showed how the body worked in quite a lot of detail, but some of the interactive displays here were very inventive and a lot of fun.
In many ways, the displays in the museum reminded me a lot of what I saw at the nearby Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh. However, the displays at the Carnegie Science Center are definitely more science-specific and seem better designed to accommodate a range of ages and knowledge levels within the displays.
In addition to the normal type of hands-on science experiences that you typically find at these sort of places, the center also has some unique spaces that you won’t want to miss during your visit.
On the second floor of the Carnegie Science Center, you’ll find a giant miniature railroad that has to be one of the largest in the state.
While it’s not done to scale, it’s fun to walk around and see not only the fun and whimsical displays, but also the many scenes from around western Pennsylvania that can be found here. These including miniature versions of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater, Forbes Field, the Westinghouse Atom Smasher, and much more.
I loved checking out this display and finding spots I’ve visited in the past throughout the area.
The Buhl Planetarium, which sits on the museum’s third floor is also a lot of fun.
There are regular shows throughout the day that rotate between a neat variety of shows including traditional planetarium experiences and even some unique story times. And, unlike some other science museums I’ve visited, planetarium shows are included in your ticket.
Also included in your ticket are tours of the USS Requiem, a World War 2 submarine that has been docked next to the museum since 1990. Unfortunately, due to weather and maintenance, there are some days that the submarine is closed for tours, and the day that I visited happened to be one of them.
Talking to others that have toured it, I’m quite sad that I missed it, but that gives me a chance to come back another time to the Carnegie Science Center.
Another included space is the Highmark SportsWorks exhibit, which occupies its own building adjacent to the main museum.
In this space, you’ll find over 30 sports-related exhibits that are a ton of fun to experience. These cover a wide variety of sports and athletic activities, and there’s even a large rock wall you can climb.
This was definitely my personal favorite space in the Carnegie Science Center because it was fun to not only try some of the sports activities, but also enjoy some of the personalized data that some of them provide.
Plus, the free-throw shooting robot was a ton of fun to watch.
Overall, the Carnegie Science Center is a really great spot to visit. This museum is definitely designed more for kids than it is for adults, but parents are sure to have a great time as well. If you don’t have kids, you can also consider visiting during their regular 21+ nights, which give you the chance to experience the space at your own pace.
Ultimately, if you love science, this is a spot you won’t want to miss!
Looking for more things to do in the area? Check out Bicycle Heaven, the Heinz History Center, and the National Aviary.
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