See Our Special Exhibits
At McWane Science Center, we’re always exploring the frontiers of science and creating new and exciting ways to learn about the world around us. Browse the new adventures we have in store for you here, and check back frequently for updates and more information!
You Build It
Now Open - November 2, 2025
Get ready to imagine, design, and create! You Build It is McWane Science Center’s interactive construction zone, designed to spark innovation and hands-on fun for builders of all ages. This fan-favorite exhibit invites guests to explore the power of creativity, collaboration, and problem-solving through open-ended play and engineering challenges. Whether you’re stacking, snapping, or strategizing, there’s no wrong way to build your love of science! Come explore You Build It, open all summer long—and see what you can create!
Exhibit Features:
- Lego Brick Zone – Build towers, vehicles, and more using colorful LEGO bricks.
- Rigamajigs – Create large-scale contraptions with bolts, beams, and imagination.
- KEVA Planks – Test your architectural skills with precision-cut wooden planks.
- Free-Build Areas – Let your creativity run wild with open-ended building supplies.
- Design Challenges – Take on engineering missions that test your critical thinking.
- Workshops & Activities – Drop in for guided builds and special STEM experiences.
The Magic of Model Trains
Open November 23, 2024 to January 5, 2025!
All aboard once again for McWane Science Center’s 19th season of the Magic of Model Trains exhibit. The Magic of Model Trains is a holiday tradition, and McWane Science Center is excited to invite you to ride along with us this Winter. Discover trains of every shape and size inside this awe-inspiring exhibit of locomotive displays. No detail is too small for our miniature landscapes.
Join us and be your own conductor, play “I Spy” throughout the exhibit, take a ride on the McWane Train, and fly through the air on the McWane Zipline. You will find the Magic of Model Trains exhibit on the 3rd floor of our Adventure Halls. We can’t wait to see you there!
<li>Discover trains of every shape and size inside this awe-inspiring exhibit of locomotive displays</li>
<li>No detail is too small for this miniature landscape</li>
<li>From covered bridges and crowded downtown storefronts to multiple train stations and a drive-in movie theater, the Magic of Model Trains will keep you and your curious little elves entertained for hours!</li>
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Wallace & Gromit™ and Shaun the Sheep™: Shear Genius!
Opens September 17, 2022
Visit McWane Science Center this fall and step into the worlds of Wallace & Gromit and Shaun the Sheep – 62 West Wallaby Street and Mossy Bottom Farm – as you explore the contraptions, antics, and escapades of your favorite Aardman characters. Blast off in Wallace’s rocket, test out some wild contraptions with Gromit, climb around the barn with Shaun, and more! It’s a cracking celebration of problem-solving ewe don’t want to miss!
McWane Science Center is one of the first museums to host this brand-new exhibit that builds on problem-solving themes while encouraging children to playfully solve STEM-based and social-emotional problems in fun and engaging ways.
<strong>This exhibit was developed by Minnesota Children’s Museum in partnership with Aardman and will remain at McWane until January 2023.</strong>
Earth Matters
Now Open!
In nature, everything is connected: air, land, water. As you explore Earth Matters, look out for those connections along the way. Solve complex challenges and push your own ideas to new heights. Then, rethink a more sustainable future, starting in your own backyard. See the inner workings of a tree, listen and learn about endangered species and experience large-scale visualizations of changes taking place in our natural world. Learn more about the big issues, like biodiversity, rising global temperatures, and how to manage carbon emissions. Created by the renowned Scitech in Perth, Australia and produced by Imagine Exhibitions, Earth Matters features thought-provoking and fully interactive exhibits for the entire family!
The Questioneers
Now Open!
The inquisitive characters Ada Twist, Rosie Revere, Iggy Peck, Sofia Valdez, and Aaron Slater celebrate diversity, creativity, curiosity, bravery, and resilience in the STEAM-based exhibit now open at McWane Science Center!
In the best-selling Questioneers book series written by Andrea Beaty and illustrated by David Robers, each story highlights problem-solving, communication, perseverance, risk-taking, and the role of caring adults in children’s lives. The Questioneers exhibit demonstrates a commitment to inclusion while delivering exceptional Arts and STEM experiences.
<strong>Be a Questioneer!</strong>
<li>Engineer rockets, test your flying (or falling) contraptions, and pilot a life-size cheese-copter!</li>
<li>Tell your own stories using story blocks.</li>
<li>Build whimsical bridges, design buildings, and figure out how to construct a gigantic version of that famous pancake arch.</li>
<li>Explore how one person’s bravery can change the world, and declare to others how you intend to make a difference in your community.</li>
<li>Investigate cause and effect and why a clock goes “tick-tock” at hands-on investigation stations.</li>
<li>Ask why? how? what? when? and then why? again and again.</li>
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Curious George Let's Get Curious!
Now Open!
<strong>Get Ready To Embrace Your Curiosity!</strong>
Come celebrate McWane’s newest exhibit, <strong>Curious George: Let’s Get Curious!</strong> Explore the gallery that introduces young children into the world of Curious George, leading visitors on a fun, meaningful interactive math, science, and engineering-based adventure while emphasizing the central role that parents and caregivers play.
Based on the familiar characters in H.A. and Margret Rey’s classic stories and inspired by the animated television series on PBS KIDS, visitors can operate wheels to help George climb a building, sort and weigh fruits and vegetables at the produce stand, use science skills to putt a hole of mini golf, have their picture taken with the rocket from George’s space adventure, build a whirligig in the country, and visit the Museum within the Museum!
You Build It!
Now Open!
You Build It! McWane Science Center’s 2024 summer experience is back! This exciting exhibit is an original exhibit created by McWane Science Center. Located on the 3rd floor, this immersive exhibit experience will spark imagination, creativity, innovation, collaboration, and problem-solving.
<p data-pm-slice=”1 1 []”><strong>Themed like a construction Zone, <em>You Build It!</em> will be designed to spark imagination, creativity, innovation, collaboration, and problem-solving. Key exhibit features will include:</strong></p>
<li>Workshops</li>
<li>Build Tables</li>
<li>Design Challenges</li>
<li>Free-build Areas</li>
<li>And So Much More!</li>
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<p data-pm-slice=”1 1 []”>This summer experience is presented by our friends at Protective Life Foundation and supported by Craneworks/Rentalworks and the Thompson Foundation.</p>
Plan Your Visit
Purchase your tickets, get parking information, and learn more about how to plan your visit to McWane Science Center today!