Information
Landmark: Da Vinci Science CenterCity: Allentown
Country: USA Pennsylvania
Continent: North America
Da Vinci Science Center, Allentown, USA Pennsylvania, North America
Overview
In Allentown, Pennsylvania, the Da Vinci Science Center draws visitors into the Lehigh Valley’s lively hub for hands-on science, technology, engineering, art, and math, where you might build a tiny robot or peer through a microscope.The center, founded in 1992 and settled at Cedar Crest College in 2005, draws about 150,000 visitors each year with hands-on exhibits, lively demonstrations, and award‑winning programs that buzz with curiosity.Step into a towering two‑story “Ever Bright” light wall that glows under your touch, fire off air rockets, and feel the rush of Bernoulli’s principle in action at the Wind Tunnel.Invention Project - a hands-on workshop where kids sketch ideas, fire up the 3‑D printer, and build clever gadgets straight out of Leonardo da Vinci’s notebooks.At the PPL Electric Utilities Energy Lab, crank a dynamo to make your own power, thread circuits together, and watch a Tesla coil spark lightning that hums like music.Curiosity Hall features rotating exhibits that range from robotics and augmented reality to the physics behind a hockey puck skimming across the ice.Step into the Reptile and Aquatics Zone to see turtles basking on a log, snakes gliding through their enclosures, and fish from Pennsylvania’s wetlands-all while discovering how their world survives and thrives.Science, right here-live!safePrograms and Outreach • School field trips meet state standards and come with lesson plans for before and after the visit-picture worksheets ready for the bus ride home.• Summer camps in coding, drone piloting, paleontology, and more.• Girls in STEM mentoring, after-school “Science Clubs,” and traveling assemblies that bring portable planetariums and mobile labs to regional classrooms.• Annual Da Vinci Science Festival, a week-long celebration capped by a community Maker Faire.Summer camps offer hands-on fun in coding, drone flying, paleontology, and plenty of other adventures-imagine dusting off fossils under the hot sun.Girls in STEM mentoring, after-school science clubs, and traveling assemblies that roll in with a pop-up planetarium and mobile lab to light up regional classrooms.The Annual Da Vinci Science Festival packs a week of hands-on discovery, ending with a lively community Maker Faire buzzing with whirring gadgets and bright displays.Construction is in full swing on the new Downtown Allentown Campus, set to open in 2025-a $67 million, 67,000‑square‑foot building rising at 18 North, where the scent of fresh lumber hangs in the air.Sixth Street bustles with life, the air thick with the scent of grilled tacos and guitar riffs spilling from open doors.The new center will offer three times more exhibit space, plus a full-dome digital planetarium, a hands-on maker workshop, a rooftop garden with city views, and a permanent gallery honoring Leonardo da Vinci’s fusion of art and science.The Cedar Crest location will stay open right up until moving day, with its doors still swinging for customers till then.Through 2024, you can find Visitor Essentials at 3145 Hamilton Boulevard Bypass in Allentown, PA 18103-look for the brick building near the bend in the road.They’re open Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sundays from noon to 5 p.m., but closed on major holidays.Tickets are $19.95 for adults and kids age three and up, $17.95 for seniors, and free for toddlers two and under, with memberships also offered.
