Field Trip to (Your State Here) History Center

Last weekend our family enjoyed a field trip to the Minnesota History Center in St. Paul.  Each state in the Union boasts science, art and history museums located in urban counties.  Remote, rural communities have unique museums worth checking out too.  If you can visit a museum or history center similar to our weekend destination it is worth the drive.  We gained an appreciation for where we live and our chilly afternoon was entertaining without a click of the television remote.

The purpose of  history centers is to present the history of a specific state or community.  State level centers offer field trips for families, home schools, and public and private schools.  Education resources such as worksheets, research and videos are often provided.

Three of the Minnesota History Center exhibits our children walked (sometimes ran) through included Grainland, Weather Permitting 
and Then, Now, Wow.  Exhibits are interactive so our busy learners had plenty of cranks, handles, buttons, wagons, and carts to push and pull; and shoes, jackets and hats to try on.   The plethora of interactive "toys" causes this Type A mom to beg her active learners to slow down to read the educational signs. But my husband reminds me that they learn while they move.    

Then Now Wow is the largest exhibit at the Minnesota Historical Museum and is designed for elementary age children.  A streetcar has interactive windows children can "open" that provide snapshots of Minnesota's history.  A SOO line boxcar is popular for its 
panoramic music video of Charlie Parr's country song about small 
southern towns.  The drilling site was the children's favorite.  
Wearing  a hard hat they explore an authentic looking mine commonly found in north-central Minnesota.   Young visitors "drill" through the rock.  Placing pretend sticks of dynamite into a rock wall the children inform their friends that the mine is prepared for explosions.  Then the lucky young miner slams down on a T-bar to produce a noisy boom!  It was painful to be the child at the end of the "exploder line" but somehow we survived.  I can still hear the noise in the mine -      

            "Booooooom!"

            "My turn, my turn!"

            "Boooooom!"

            "My turn! My turn!"

                                                                          











Another fun exhibit we have visited before is an indoor playground that acts as a grain elevator called Grainland.  Minneapolis, fondly called Mill City has been known for its flour mills since they were built in the eighteen seventies along the banks of the Mississippi.    Today, children race up steps and crawl down grain shafts at Grainland.  The only downfall of Grainland is getting the little ones to move on to another exhibit.  

    

While the children explored the tornadoe site at Weather Permitting I was drawn into an old weather news reel about a snow storm that covered Minnesota a decade before I was born.  The familiar voice of the weatherman can still be heard on our popular news radio station today.  Snow storms bring a sense of comraderie to Minnesota as we shovel our way out of our homes, help one another across slippery sidewalks, and push one another's cars out of snowbanks.  It's an adventure.

During our visit we also went through a replica of an old house on Hopkins Street. (Our four year old could not get over the dial up telephone in the hallway.)  And we pretended to serve sundaes at an old-fashioned malt shop. We look forward to the Civil War exhibit coming in March for our older children.  If you live in the twin cities the History Center is a perfect place to spend your Saturday.  Can't relate to my snowy day nostalgia because you live in a warmer state?  Visit this Guide to Historical Museums to find a museum in your area.  You may not need to cure Cabin Fever, from being inside for the last three weeks, but a field trip to your
state's museum promises not to disappoint.

Disclaimer: I am not receiving compensation or free tickets for posting this article.  Sharing field trips benefits you, the reader.