A few weeks ago, my friend and I packed up the kids and drove to Cartersville to visit the Tellus Science Museum. What? You’ve never heard of it? I hadn’t either. But what a treasure!

Tellus has several large exhibits. I’ll give you my take on each, ok?

1. Fossil Dig & Gem Mining. Basically, when you are toting a 1 year old, two 4 year olds and a 6 year old, this is going to be the best thing ever. Tellus has a huge room full of dinosaur fossils, you can use your paintbrush to dust away the (rubber) rock to see the skeletons. Or sift through the sand until you find your own fossil to bring home!

2. Gem Mining. Oh, did I say fossils were the fave? I’m sorry, it was actually Gem Mining because the kids got to stick their hands in water and get soaking wet! It was all set up like an old sluice–the kids grabbed a pan and actually panned through the sand for gems. We collected quite a stash of very pretty stones!

3. Mineral Gallery. Tellus has the largest collection of amazing rocks I’ve ever seen. Things you’d expect like quartz and copper and birthstones. Many of them were from Georgia (which made me want to start digging in my backyard!) But there were also weird rocks that looked fuzzy, rocks that fluoresced brighter than spray paint and strange outer-space looking rocks, too. I didn’t know rocks could be creepy.

4. Science in Motion. I have to admit the kids weren’t too into this. It was transportation through the ages–models of early cars, spaceships and more. I wanted to read every sign and think about the people who rode in these things. They just wanted to touch the astronaut suit.

5. Fossil Gallery. Remember the T-rex in Night at The Museum? Well, I think he actually lives at Tellus. His body filled the entire lobby. I know because my 4 year old daughter covered her eyes the entire way through the lobby. So, I didn’t get to see the rest of the Fossil Gallery, but I’m guessing it was pretty cool.

6. My Big Backyard. Now this is where the kids really got to play. It’s a giant hands-on back yard complete with toolshed, greenhouse and giant tree. The kids got to play with lights, rainbows, wind, magnets, magnifying glasses, make weather and more. Not to mention run around like wild crazy people.

There is also a planetarium and a solar house. I honestly cannot wait to go back and check these out. Tickets are $12 for adults and $8 for kids. But my friend is a member and can get two guests in free with every visit–so I didn’t pay a dime!

I just found out SciTrek has been closed since like 2005 (where have I been?), so if your little scientists want some hands on fun, why not hit up Tellus? It was sciencerrific! Er, tellus-icious! Oops. I mean, it was…really fun.

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