Located about an hour east of Raleigh, Imagination Station is both a science and history museum located in the heart of downtown Wilson. The museum contains four floors to explore, each with a different theme, which we have outlined below.
3rd Floor – History of Wilson
The top floor of the museum is the history section. Here you will find a timeline of how the city of Wilson was incorporated and dive deep into how slavery impacted the area in the 1800s. You will read specific stories of the enslaved people of Wilson county and learn more about this dark time in our nation’s history.
This part of the museum was somber, and very much over the heads of my 6, 4, and 3 year old. However, similar to our time spent at the NC History Museum, it did open up some good conversation about our nation’s dark history. While it’s a difficult topic, I was able to share a bit about it in an age-appropriate way. But due to the age of my children we didn’t spend much time in this part of the museum.
2nd Floor Exhibits
Herpetarium
The herpetarium was our families favorite part of the museum. If you’re like me and don’t know what a herpetarium is, it’s basically a mini zoo of reptiles and amphibians. They had everything from bearded dragons to alligators to Burmese pythons, and the best part is that the staff will bring out any of the animals and let you pet them! The only exception is the python because it takes 3 staff members to lift him up out of the cage. 😱
We spent most of our time here, and the staff was great at answering questions. We ended up petting over 6 different animals and the kids loved the hands-on experience.
Curiosity Corner
Also on the 2nd floor is a separate toddler play area with hands-on toys and a small play house. Toddlers and preschoolers can test their motor skills and explore how the world works through play.
Don’t worry! The picture below doesn’t accurately show the toddler play area. It’s currently closed due to the pandemic so they are using it for storage, but I snapped this picture so you could get an idea of the space. Hopefully they will be able to open it again soon, because this would have been a great spot for my three kids ages 3-6!
1st Floor Exhibits
Body-ology Fitness
The Body-ology exhibit was another of our family favorites. This area was all about fitness and was designed to get you up and moving. You can try a snowboard machine, see how far you can stretch or jump, climb the rock wall, race the wind, and even partake in a little trivia and calorie counting. You’ll want to wear tennis shoes here and you may work up a sweat before you leave!
Observation Beehive
Also on the ground floor is an observation bee hive like that found at the Museum of Life and Science. You can get an up close look at bees as they work in the hive.
Science on a Sphere
Similar to the NC Museum of Natural Sciences, Imagination Station also has a large animated globe that let’s you view planetary data from around the world, like weather and ocean current patterns. Science on a Sphere® (SOS) has a Control Center kiosk that allows you to pick from hundreds of topics to display. My 6 year old enjoyed pushing the buttons and changing the view, but didn’t fully understand what she was looking at most of the time. I enjoyed the educational videos, but my kids didn’t let anything play for longer than a few minutes before they were changing the view!
Recycling Exhibit
There’s also a large exhibit dedicated to recycling and reducing our carbon footprint. You can create sculptures from the recycled materials left behind, and the museum will display your work of art. I thought my kids would enjoy this section, but they weren’t feeling very creative that day. There weren’t a lot of materials to work with so they gave up pretty easily.
Overall Impression
Before visiting Imagination Station, I thought it was going to be similar to Marbles Kids Museum with lots of hands-on exhibits for all ages. It’s much smaller and didn’t have as many hands-on exhibits as I hoped. We stretched our time in the herpetarium and fitness exhibits, but it only took us about an hour and a half to see everything. I think if the toddler play area would have been open we would have stayed a lot longer, but there just isn’t a lot for younger kids right now. I’d say children over the age of 8 will get the most out of this museum since they will understand more of the history and global concepts. If you only have preschoolers you might want to postpone your visit.
Admission
You can get all up-to-date visitor information here. Currently admission is $6 per person and children age 2 and under are free. You also get reciprocity if you have an ASTC membership, and you can see a complete list of partners available here. Since we were members at Marbles Kids Museum, we were able to get in free! Military and AAA discounts are also available with proper ID.
The museum is closed on Mondays. The rest of the week they are open 9am – 4pm, except on Sundays when they open 1 – 4pm. They host a variety of events throughout the week, including preschool science days and homeschool days. Preschool science days include a story and craft on the second Tuesday of the month.
Pandemic Policies
You can see the museum’s full COVID-19 response here. They are requiring face masks for those age 5 and up, and are increasing the frequency of cleaning. When we visited there was only a couple other families there so we had no trouble staying socially distant.
If you decide to make a visit, check out the Noah’s Arc Playground nearby for some outdoor fun!