The Franklin Institute

The Franklin Institute is at 222 N. 20th St. and Benjamin Franklin Pkwy. Three floors of interactive exhibits focus on science and technology. SportsZone offers a 40-foot long race challenge, a pitching cage and other interactive displays; Your Brain explores developments in neuroscience; a giant heart is the centerpiece in an expansive exhibit on the human body; and the Franklin Air Show includes an aircraft hangar, a midway, and a pilot training area where visitors can try various maneuvers in the Max Flight Simulator and the Blue Angels Adventure Flight Simulator. The two-story Hamilton Collections Gallery is home to a Baldwin 60,000 Locomotive along with artifacts curated from the institute's collections, while visitors can design a Rover, touch a real meteorite or search for other planets in Wondrous Space.

Other exhibits relate to astronomy, aviation, electricity, math and physics. The Benjamin Franklin National Memorial, in the museum's rotunda, features a 20-foot-tall statue of Franklin. Fels Planetarium and Tuttleman Dome IMAX Theater offers changing shows, while The Hold & Miller Observatory houses a 10-foot Carl Zeiss Refracting Telescope. An escape room experience also is available.

Food is available. Time: Allow 4 hours minimum.