Top Science museums in Salt Lake City, United States

We brought a small field trip here, and while the place is fun, they refuse to let us eat a quick sandwich lunch anywhere in the building.
They are making us take the kids, after our IMAX show, go out on the sidewalk to eat, and come back in.
Not a very friendly, welcoming business for the children, when you have spent a LOT of money here.

We had a marvelous time here. The on-hand learning kept my kids captivated as well as myself.

We went specifically to see the flight exhibit. Neither my friend nor myself had been to the museum before and didn't know what to expect. The flight exhibit is very well done. I learned a lot about flight history in Utah, hot air balloons, aerodynamics, and Black contributions to the field. There are also a lot of interactive activities throughout it. We also enjoyed the endangered species art exhibit a lot. The AI exhibit was interesting and had a bunch of interactive activities. The Black achievements exhibit was interesting, but it would have been better to have actual art, music, clothing items, etc. to show rather than pictures from the National African American Museum. It's a small museum and only took us about 2 hours to get through but we enjoyed it and would come back for other cool exhibits in the future.

Without question, this IS the place to learn about space, aircrafts, science, interactive play for children.

The facility is clean with good lighting. Families and children get to do hands-on electrical shocking neon tube experience. The affects of how Aurora - Borealis (Northern Lights work) air, moisture and atmosphere.

The IMAX T-Rex documentary was neat-cool to learn how dinosaurs lived 66 million years ago, their diet, how they hunt, the different types of dinosaurs, they had to be fierce to fight for food as much as plants-trees were part of their diets.

The sound system in the theater was amazing, crystal clear in audio throughout the theater. The screen is large, we wore 3D glasses and enjoyed the entire film.

We lost track how long were were there, but definitely for a few hours long. We visited Clarks' Planetarium when it was on State Street many years ago until they found a bigger retail space and moved near The Gateway Mall area.

We enjoyed our visit tremendously. Will return again and again. This place is perfect for families, children and school field trips.

We can safely say Leonard Museum is spectacular and one of a kind experience for business travelers and the locals who resides in Utah.

The facility is clean with good lighting. Ken Sanders Bookstore is in the same building as the museum on the first floor, right where you enter the museum entrance that you visit the front desk counter to purchase tickets.

Children 3-12 is $10. Seniors 65+ ticket is $12. Adults $16.

We checked out the bookstore. It's neat they have rarity of books and publications.

The main floor has unique blue background with a 2 engine aircraft. You can take pictures on the aircraft base. Being it is a display for photography, naturally, visitors and their children needs to respect, stay cautious and being careful of the aircraft model.

On the main floor, there is a neon blue FLIGHT sign, the short tunnel is cool, the wallpaper is so fun-neat for children and families. The neon lights made it interesting to walk through. Once you're at the end of the tunnel, there is a 1950-1960's living room model with two artificial children sat in front of the old boxy television set. The TV plays the old theme of yester-years of what's related to the astronauts and news. On the wall, there is a 8x10 wood framed John F. Kennedy picture displayed next to an old fashioned sundial clock. There are two bookshelves on each side of the room of old book displays.

By the neon blue FLIGHT tunnel sign, there is a LEGOs room in which your family and children build your Legos for the fun of it. When done assembling the Legos, families and children put the Legos back in each plastic bins based on color sorting for other visitors and their families to experience Lego building. There is a beautiful and professional Cathedral of Madeleine church Lego model. There is also a large black KSL Lego Triad Center model set. The Legos are put together by professional Legos sculpturists. Fun color paper lamps hung overhead.

You take the escalator to the 2nd floor. On the walls, it's dim so you can get the ultimate experience of the futuristic feel of different color lightings and robotic voices throughout the hall. For a second, we felt we were in another world of the future, it felt that way. And we all know robotic equipment is already here and it might not be launched and spread as quickly as hoped. But it is here and will unfold in near future.

There is a Science lab room that you can check out the different artificial bones to compare human bones, animal bones, etc.

There is an area for children to check through each cardboard organizer. Paper printed pages of animal drawing heads, bodies, feet or tails. Your children get to mix and match or creative their own fun by mismatching the animals they are cutting-gluing the pieces together. Very fun ! And well thought to aim to keep little people busy.

On the 2nd floor, there are a few PC stations that your children can get hands-on experience using the mouse, to play games for a short time or to draw using the mouse, you can see what your children is doodling.

Leonardo Museum is one of the coolest museums we have visited. We traveled often and lived in many different states; and have stepped foot to many historical museums and children museums in past years. Hands down --- Leonardo Museum in downtown Salt Lake City is one of the nicest museum you can visit, it is all here.

For someone, me, who has 4.4 million Google reviews, to write a high rating-impressive review, you know this museum is well worth your time and fun.

*** Side Note: The 30 something year old gals at the cash register needs training as to how to serve anyone that walks in for a visit. They were not friendly and had a negative attitude. This MUST BE correctly at once if I was the management head. Their presentation on behalf of The Leonardo is highly important how they interact and accept payments. They serve the public but fell short. An attitude does not belong if they're to be employed and stay employed working for The Leonardo Museum.

Super awesome place that is free to visit. Tons of interactive exhibits that demonstrate real life physics principles at work from bottle rocket propulsion to earth's rotation. The exhibits in the theatre do cost money but tons of different shows available. Really enjoyed the star gazing in the theatre and all the unique visualizations.

The museum and exhibits are free. My kids enjoyed the interactive, hands on activites. We watched a laser show in the Clarke planetarium, and it was about 40 dollars for 2 adults and 2 kids. The laser show was awesome, and both of my kids like it.

This was my first time going. The exhibits were pretty neat. I really enjoyed them a lot. The airplane was my favorite. If you haven't gone it is worth it.

I wanted to like this, but I didn’t. I was very interested in the “Into the Mind of AI” exhibit. I went there as soon as the museum opened. The exhibit itself was good, but the sound of screaming school children ruined it. As you can hear in my video, the kids drowned out the sound of the exhibit so I could barely hear it. I don’t even know where the kids were. They really should just include a door on the exhibit to help with the immersion.

Overall, it seems like a kids museum that has tried to add a few exhibits that cater to adults, but they aren’t very well thought out. They should probably just focus 100% on being a museum for kids and they won’t have disappointed adults leaving mediocre reviews.

If you’re looking for a good science museum in downtown SLC, save your money and head to the free Clark Planetarium instead.

Not worth the $64 for a family of 5. Only about half of the space is interactive and the majority of the "creativity and innovation" is digital. There's a LEGO space and an art room but outside the AI space, most exhibits are run down or non-functional. Even the grounds around the building have been allowed to degrade. Just because one uses a "re-wilding" concept doesn't mean the building needs to look abandoned.

The AI program is a AI-generated spoken word and light experience. It was unnerving for my children and we all came out with motion sickness (and none of us normally have those issues).

We managed to arrive between field trips so the flight sims kept this trip from being totally bunk.

It was such a fun free place. My kids were 3 yo and 1yo and loved it. I am not sure how much of the science we understood but there was a lot they were exposed to. They loved all the moving balls and smelling station and the glowing balls (which are cool so bring a quarter for each kid) we didn’t do any of the movies bc I wasn’t convinced mine would sit but loved everything else.

Somehow this is a free planetarium to visit. It's a fantastic three story intro to astronomy for all ages and one of the more interactive science museums I've visited. Most exhibits are hands on. You can play science games, interact with gravity wells, and save Earth from asteroids, and that's just on one floor. There us a dedicated kids area but all areas are family friendly. There's also an IMAX theater which I highly recommend visiting. That theater and refreshments you'll have to pay for, but you can simply walk into the museums and enjoy your time without a ticket or approaching the desk.

One of the best planetarium we visited so far with diverse topics to explore. Science nerd inside me enjoyed a lot along with my toddlers. Glad we added this in our places to visit in Utah. Experience is totally free.

Is an absolute blast pardon the pun. You can't be the price, has great shows, and the gift shop is just wonderful. We go here once every month and the kids always seem to have a great time. Super educational and you can tell a lot of love goes into this wonderful exhibit.

Really neat! I've wanted to visit for a long time and finally got a chance. The exhibits were Flight and Black Wings. We also visited the Human Rights art gallery. I really liked how inclusive the Leonardo is, there were a lot of flag pins at the ticket counter (like everything, I saw butch flag pin) and upstairs were some family bathrooms.

There is a lot for children to do, so if you're looking for something to entertain the kids this is probably a good pick. If you're going when school is out (weekends or holidays) then I would be prepared for kids and any interactive displays, like flight simulators, to have a wait because of interested children.

With everything for kids, a lot of the displays are geared more towards adults or older kids so don't feel like this is a museum aimed at small children. There's something for everyone (or at least there was this time).

Beautiful museum with lots of exhibits. Highly recommend! If you go during the warm seasons it's right next to the red butte gardens, which is also nice to do. Lots of the displays had interactive, hands on activities, fun for kids and adults it took me about an hour to go through the exhibits but one could easily spend a few hours here.

This is a very cool and fun space to come with all the family. They even have an underground library with rare books. It is a beautiful space that inspires curiosity and creativity. You can play in an airplane, build Legos, make crafts, or learn about mental health.

My favorite part was the Native American artifacts. A lot of the science exhibits are hands on / oriented for younger children. They also have an impressive array in of gems and minerals - many of which I had never heard of, but were very pleasing to the eye. It was quite expensive, and closes right at 5. I would have liked more time to explore the upper levels.

Wow!! This museum is AMAZING!! My husband & I, our 8 year old son & 15 year old daughter stayed a little over 6 hours!! Easily could have stayed longer. Soooo many dinosaur 🦕 bones!! Such a beautiful museum. Saw a couple animal presentations from the Wild Side with Alex. I loved all the gems! Hubby loved the Native American displays. Truly a place to check out!

Did you know that pterodactyls are not dinosaurs! This is a lovely museum nestled right up next to the mountains. The layout is designed masterfully. It is the perfect afternoon activity! Please do not smell the dinosaur meal…..ugh. You will also learn about the difference between mastodons and woolly mammoths! Well worth the price!

Very nice museum with tons of interesting things to look at. We were there on a weekday when some schools were there. Had it not been for all the kids I believe we would have been the only ones there. Rocks and minerals were very interesting as well as all the fossils and dino bones. We had a great time and would recommend this as a stop for any traveler.

An incredible museum, fun for both adults and children. They feature new specialized exhibits about every 6 months which is nice to see and learn about new subject matter. They have very knowledgeable guides and people who are part of the exhibits that can give wonderfully detailed explanations of what you are looking at. Highly recommend this as a place to spend 2-4 hours depending on the pace with which you walk and read and comprehend what you see! Also, if you have kids that love dinosaurs, they have one of the best Dino exhibits I’ve ever seen, definitely worth going!

What a great experience and well worth the visit. Not sure of cost as I went as veteran free this weekend. Located off Wakara way at University of utah. 5 floors to explore. Native American indigenous peoples on top, an observation deck looks out over the Salt Lake Valley. Dinosaur on a level some play and Interactive for the children. Wild life exhibits on one floor. A great walk through history. Everyone should visit if not once, many times. Gift shop and food court are here to.

Breath-taking place. You'll dive deep into the history of Utah. It'll surely give you a serotonin boost. The palaeontology section is mind blowing. Loved their collection. The dinosaur's bones are marvellous. Their mineral collections are also praise-worthy.

You'll need 3-4 hour min to visit the place. They have a cafe on the ground floor. The ticket fee is $20 for outsiders, free if you have a student pass (of the U)

Highly recommended place.