The Kalamazoo Valley Museum has been in Kalamazoo since 1881. The museum includes the subjects of technology, science and history from over fifty years ago.  They also have a wide collection of very old antiques of over fifty thousand items, which you can see, feel, touch, hear and discover.
This museum goes up three stories. On the first story there is an exhibit about women’s clothing from years ago called Decades of Dazzling Dresses which showcases actual dresses worn by women who lived in and around Kalamazoo, the second floor is on the history of technology and the science of motion such as electricity and the human body, the third floor has a mummy and seasonal exhibit with sounds of different animals and species like birds and fish.
It’s a great experience. A lot of families take their children here because it teaches lots of history and the museum makes it fun by adding different activities you can participate in like the race track, body movement exhibit, the newscast, wild music exhibit and more. It’s guaranteed that you’ll learn more than you thought you would. Did I mention it’s free?

There also is a science experiment of how the tornado works making it a fun, educational, experience for everyone. According to Ned Khan at the Kalamazoo museum website, this exhibit shows an up close vision of the creation of a tornado “twist.” Using a fog machine and fans, it creates a rotating cloud. Water is vibrated into tiny drops that form a mist that is then caught in the updraft created by the fan located on the inner top. The other air currents, coming from the four posts that each contains an amount of four holes, causes the mist to spiral, creating the funnel-shaped cloud or tornado form.
In the second floor of the museum there are fun activities that kids and parents enjoy. The racetrack known as the Slot Car Race Track and part of the Science in Motion exhibit is where you take the experience as your own and use your techniques to build a race car with the rubber pieces set in the plastic bends. They also have instructions for you on the front table on how to put these pieces directly together in case you need some help. Next you use the battery that you attach to the car to show how the electricity works for the car to makes its way around the track.

Next is the human body section on organs were inner organs are exposed for closer examination. There’s a giant interactive heart model form of the human body that promote hands-on investigations, which develops a better understanding of how fast or slow your heart beats from the amount of energy that is being consumed into your body. Inside the heart model, there’s a speaker that loudly plays your heart beat for you to hear the past of your heart.

There are also other activities were you learn how the body works and where the organs inside your body are located. This exhibit tests you by having you put those organs in the right place using rubber gloves as if you are in the middle of doing surgery.
There is more to see, feel, touch and hear as you make your way around the museum.
If you want more information, visit kalamazoomuseum.org
Location: 230 N Rose St, Kalamazoo MI, Contact: (269) 373-7990