Reviews of Discovery Center of Idaho (Tourist Attraction)

Charlie Brundage

Great place for the young and those young at heart

Greg Williams

My son has a lot of fun every time we go

Natalie Acheson

We were pleasantly surprised! The website for this place makes it look small with only a handful of exhibits, the building also looks fairly small. But, inside was amazing! Packed full of interesting and different exhibits, we easily spent over an hour here and you could probably spend another hour if you had the time and patience to read each experiment. As part of the ASTC Science museums our admission was free. Definitely worth a stop!

Epper Marshall

At first glance it seems small but there is a hallway around to at least twice as much stuff.

Chantell Gergen

We love the changing exhibits. This museum always has something new to look at and explore.

Michele Robinson

I love the Discovery Center of Idaho’s diversity in exhibits and activities it presents as a family friendly place to help grow children and adults mindsets.

Dezee Curtis

I love this place, but I feel like everytime we go here there are less and less things to do and see. The legi room was neat but an addition $6 per person is not worth it in my opinion.

lao ma

Fun for kids I guess, but not really worth the price for what you’re getting. Our two year old was priced the same as our 11 year old, and only the older one got our money’s worth. There’s also an extra $6 charge per person for the “LEGO exhibit”. I might consider going back...like say if there was an impending Martian invasion and the Discovery Center was the only FEMA approved air raid shelter equipped for extraterrestrial attacks. Otherwise, I’ll just build my own shelter out of my son’s LEGOs - and save the 6 dollars!

Naomi Burns

Was a little disappointed to see it's basically the same place it was when I was a kid. Was hoping they might have maybe.... added something. The kids did have fun though and it was new to them

Sydny Sherer

Overall great Adult Night event with a ton of activities going beyond the typical exhibits.

JEFF ANDERSON

One of my favorites.. Fun and the people that work there show that they like their job..

Gilbert Reyes

Priced way too high but my 5,4,3 year old loved it

Erin Frederikson

We love the Discovery Center of Idaho its a great way to get the kids out of the house and expel some energy

Alan Aubuchon

Decent exhibits. Adult night way too packed

Jorie Bodell

I just love taking the kids here!!! They learn so much and have so much fun at the same time! My 5yr old was so excited that we couldn't keep him in one place for very long. My 12yr old had just as much fun, she loves science! Great place to take the kids for fun and education. Love it!!!!!

Amanda Perkins

My daughter is 2 and was charged an outrageous amount for admission. There was not much there for a 2 year old to enjoy except the toddler play area. She enjoyed that part a lot, but the rest was for older kids. I don't feel like toddlers that young should be charged the same as a 12 year old.

Donna Garrett

this reminds me of the childrens museum from my childhood. grandkids love it

Bradd Kordenbrock

Always fun. Some exhibits need updating though. We have a membership and it's very worth the cost because it can be used at MANY other places. My son enjoys it every time we go.

Dan ODonnell

Love taking my kid here. Great exhibits and awesome learning environment that if sun and entertaining. Worth the trip every time!

Andrea Ketterling

An amazing place! I don't exactly like price of admission but I can only imagine the costs of the exhibits so it's worth it. My children love it here.

Annette Tierney

Grandkids and I love it.

Michael Patience

Brought my 6 year old here and spent most of our time in the Bricks section. Lots of fun there with several stations such as air power, water, race cars, music, and just building. There were so many other stations outside Bricks that we could check them all out before he got too tired. Well done! We'll be back.

Edward Thompson

The Adults in our group was more entertained with the Lego blocks than the kids. It halarious, I finally went to the car and took a nap, I went back an hour later and they are still playing.

Dan V

WOW!!! They had an amazing collection of very simple to use experiments which had an actual scientific purpose. I would definitely come again. It was little pricey but very fun and educational!

Joey Koser

You should go and have some fun with your kids

Matilda Tessa

I am not a big fan of such museums, BUT this one changed me and my opinion. I took my little to this place and we were surprised to have such a nice place in our area. Especially with chair pulley, airplane launch and running through the noodles. We will come again for sure when the smallest will grow a little more.

Gonzalo Perez

Very fun place for kids and adults

Erin Mackley

Love the 4 and under play area

Joseph Andrews

We all know this place rocks.

Curtis Conde

The most amazing experience to help your children's most wild imaginations!

Melissa Robin

INCREDIBLE!! I actually hadn't been here in such a long time I forgot how cool cool of a place that was to learn about science! Even though I wasn't a child I still love doing all the activities! We went when they had the exhibit bodies up and it was so incredible to see what the inside our bodies look like in the different systems we have! I highly recommend that everyone goes here at least once in their life!

Josh toyman

Always love taking the kids for some hands on fun here. The bodies were on display and were quite incredible!

Katie Baker

The Discovery Center of Idaho is a very special place. It is a wonderful interactive science museum right in downtown Boise. They have tons of stuff for kids to do, and they get rotating exhibits that are interesting for adults, too. Their …

Joseph

Was really cool having all of the stations to learn things. My son especially enjoyed how interactive everything is.

Whitney Morris

Love the place. So much fun things to do and great for people of all ages!

Donali Morris

Great time and great place for annual company party!!

Kristin Cole

Wonderful place to learn and spend time together. New exhibits throughout the year make for exciting visits. Membership grants you ASTC membership with free access to hundreds of museums around the country. It's a great value if you are traveling with kids.

Jazmina Tsutsui

Great fun family friendly place so much to touch and play with they even have a Lego room and lots of information about space the whole family even parents will find something fun to do !!!!!

Erick Brown

It was pretty fun for the most part. A few things were s little pricey but overall a great place to take our 12 and 5 year olds! They loved the activities and enjoyed learning about things.

Lisa Triolo

The Discovery Team helped make our event one to remember. Thanks for your help. :)

Jamie Lewellen

Lots of spaces to explore for adults and kids. Our kids had a blast here, creating, testing, and tinkering. Unfortunately, the floor staff seem unable to control what happens in the toddler/young child area, which creates some chaos in there when older children enter the space and cause injury to the small children for which the space was designed. More attention to that area would be nice. The overall offerings of this museum are fantastic!

Janice Jensen

This is always a fun place to take the kids! We were able to see the human anatomy exhibit. Some of my kids were not as interested, but others of them thought it was really cool! It's a great place for fun learning opportunities.

Josh Groen

It's a fun place for kids. It's very hands on science experiment like. I think it's a tad bit over priced though. I don't think it's worth it if you don't have a membership.

Daynah

I love the Discovery Center of Idaho. Fun activities that I did as a child are still there for my kids to enjoy. I also really appreciate the toddler toys for our younger friends to play with.

Walbert Schulpen

This is a great place to let your kids play and pick up some science at the same time. We had a blast building a Lego dam and funneling the water over turbines.

Brent Adkinson

The kids had a blast and and we all learned something.

Sean Ays

I was concerned two hours wouldn’t be enough to do the bodies exhibit (having done it in other cities) but we were done in 30. I don’t blame the museum. To me this is more of an indictment of the state. Sad that knowledge and discovery is not valued in the area. The tiny compound-like building is unfair to the employees and the visitors. I get the feeling that the site was an afterthought. Almost like reused school/jail design. We need something better than this. No beef with the hard-working staff. This is directed towards legislators not caring about progress and knowledge.

Angus Macdonell

Great place for knowledge for young and old

Schonie Lee

Hands on and super fun learning for the whole family. Always new displays that help keep things fresh and engaging. Check out the family passes, well worth the cost!

Keira

they were okay but the building is kind of chaotic. Maybe I would have been happier except my expectations were set too high by going to other discovery museums.

Bailey Wilkinson

I have been to 3 adult nights so far including Dinosaurs, Human Body and Murder on Myrtle St. Each one has been fun and a great learning experience. Would highly recommend.

Traci Rainwater

Very awesome place to take the kids. I almost had more fun then even them! Reasonable cost for kids and adults.

Lauren Schoeck

The toddler area is great! We spend at least an hour in that area every time we go. The current LEGO exhibit is really fun too.

Nate Black

The Discovery Center is fun for the whole family but especially for the kids.

Amber Croff

Great hands on activities for the whole family. My kids really enjoyed the chair pulley, airplane launch and running through the noodles in the toddler area. Lots of fun to be had. Compared to other cities, this is quite a small museum. Gave only 4 stars due to some of the exhibits being really old and worn, and don't seems to work well any longer.

Jonathon Buckler

I came here with my mom and we had so much dang fun, we couldn't stand it. We always come back here when we have some free time and are in the mood for something fun and a little mind-bending. They've got the massive bubble-maker and tons of other cool science-y stuff. Kids would definitely learn a lot from this place, but like I said, it is so much fun for the kid-at-heart adults out there as well!!

Randy Tracy

Our family had so much fun here. We never knew that it existed when we lived in Idaho and swung by on our way back from Canada and the northwest US. There are so many interactive exhibits. My family loved the virtual reality sand where you can terriform mountains and lakes. Thank you so much for a wonderful time and science experiments to learn more about the world around us!

Heather Brown

Always an excellent visit anytime we go!!

Justin Hieter

Good place to go to if you are interested in science and technology

Justen Colton

Awesome place to go for kids and adults. Lots of activities and learning experiences. It is a bit on the pricier side especially since you can do all the activities in under 30 minutes, but still worth the money.

Douglas Hoover

Went for the bodies in motion exhibit. Really neat. Always enjoy a visit to the Discovery center as well. Entertaining and engaging for my 7-year-old daughter as well as my wife and I.

Victoria Rebholz

Awesome staff! I absolutely loved the fact that they cater to all ages, the little sensory play area was a life saver for my little ones!

Tom Bartolome

Awesome day of fun for young adults and best suited for eager learners!

Aon

We attended the DCI After Dark event to see the Bodies exhibit. The exhibit was neat. There were several bodies in various states of dissection and several individual organs/body parts. The exhibit felt educational and respectful. In addition, St Luke's also had several displays that were interesting; we especially liked the UV light one to check your skin. Lastly, as exciting as the actual event was, it was absolutely awesome to everyone interacting with the Discovery Center's everyday exhibits. I've been to the DCI several times and there were a few new things to play with. Though the event was 21+, the DCI does have a <4 yrs section where younger kids can play if they're not too interested in the other exhibits. I think most people would enjoy a trip here. :)

Michael Thorne

Great interactive stuff for kids to play with for hours

Bryant Forrester

Great time for all 5 of us at Adult Night. The exhibit was seemingly only half of the previous Human Bodies presentation that we toured a few years ago there though. We were hoping to see certain features that were not there this time.

Tyler K Fisher

Adult night is so much fun

Deanna Horton

I am the Conference Chair for the Northwest Regional Floodplain Management Association. We held our Wed. Night Networking event at the Discovery Center and we had a blast. My people loved all of the hands on science, they played through out the place, especially in the water LEGO display, had great food from WhateverWorks Catering and awesome service from Jo's Traveling Bar. thank you everyone for a great place to hold a networking event. I would recommend it to any event planner.

Jackson Ferguson

Cool place with a baby area and fun activities. I come here alot! My favorite demonstration is the news camera that can not see green. You can dissapear behind the green curtains! Great staff and clean bathroom. Also a gift shop!

Kathleen Schmidt

Outstanding place for kids to learn and experiment; however, I think it’s expensive. I don’t mind paying the entry fee but to pay extra for the LEGO room is ridiculous. My husband and I took our grandson and had to pay because we couldn’t leave him alone so we paid an extra $18 for the LEGO room for a total of $50 for the three of us for three hours - and, that’s with a senior citizen discount. Luckily, we can afford it but many people cannot - especially those with multiple children.

Amanda Hamell

Great time. Loved the large little kids are. The forest if pool noodles was a big hit for my littles. My oldest is 3 and we still found enough things for him to do for over 2 hours. Membership is a great deal!

Tina Shinaver

it was a great place! my daughter spent herr bday there and had a blast! especially in the under 4yr old place

Leeann Jorgensen

Lots of variety for activities and age groups. Easy to stay several hour. Bring lunch, or across road is Whole Foods with great choices

Kim Glenn

Always alot of fun with the kids

Heather Collins

Came here with our infant and two 11 year-olds. We had a great time! Enjoyed the H2-whoa exhibit, especially the giant bubble maker and the interactive exhibit that allowed you to dig in sand and add "water"! It projected contour lines and we were able to explain that this feature is typically found on maps!

Maegan Mac

Sooooooooooooooo cool. You can see some pretty cool stoff. The things inside change every month. Enjoy on a boring day. You can even get a year round pass.

Beth Matthews

Great exhibit and all around fun time at the IDC After Dark! The sushi truck was also amazing!

Jennifer Fulling

Educational and fun for the kids. Very Hands-On

Daniel Woodruff

Great place to take kids for a nice mentally stimulating activity. We went for the annual membership so we could bring our 2 year old back whenever.

Bobbie Johnson

Walked in after four and they didn’t even mention that they close at five.. no signs on doors of hours posted. Spent $60 for 30min of entertainment won’t even offer partial refund... only saw the first room and it was the same as it was 20 years ago.. what a joke.

Aurora Daniels

Kids love it and it had pretty cool exhibits

Joseph Woodbridge

Awesome to have a place like this in Idaho. I like that they change things up in the front area, but the whole back area has been that same for over 25 years. Difficult for the younger generation to relate and use.

Bryndy Christensen

Super cool. Stuff for all ages. We were entertained for 4 hours without buying access to the Bricks part.

Carlie

The gadgets are fun to play with! Are school went to visit on Wednesday and it was very fun!

Micaela Shields

Incredible experience for the kids, and they do birthday parties! I never knew! The kids made slime and had so much fun!

Andrew Moore

There was allot for the kids to do and see. Our young family really enjoyed it. They had a number of interactive activities for kids and a good historical fire simulation video. We are considering becoming members.

jessy weeks

Fun place to learn if you don't mind working over the cover charge

Kristen Morton

We adore the discovery center. We get an annual pass every year. The kids always have a blast. Fun for all ages!

Mimi G

My oldest son is nonverbal and autistic, and he had a BLAST here. My youngest didn't want to leave their play area and both of my kids enjoyed all of the activities they have around the entire center. The staff was so polite and helpful and there's something for everyone there! We will definitely be returning.

Lily M

What a fun place to bring kids any season of the year since it’s indoors. Hours of entertainment for all kids any age. They have this great play area for babies and toddlers. The little kiddos can play and explore as well. The entire museum is so diverse and interesting, parents will enjoy diving in and trying everything out as well. Money well spent.

Herbert Schale

Your children will have great time, and adults will to

Jennifer Snow

The memberships are well worth it. Pay for themselves in just 2 visits, but you can go as much as you want! Also LOVED Adult Night- the best event I’ve ever been to in Boise!

Scott Hope

Great place, my kids love the day camp!

Charity Nicholson

So much fun! Not just for kids, but parents too!

michael quatrociocchi

Went to adult night and it was awesome. Tons of displays and presentations. Costume night as well. Even a bed of nails!

Rachel Cantrell

Love this place! So fun for kids and adults! Lego exhibit is amazing!

kmagmom

We went on a school holiday and it was packed and not so much fun because of way, WAY too many people. Most of the exhibits were pretty neat if we could get to them. The "Bodys in Motion" exhibit was neat and a little gross all at the …

Beth Dymen

Love it so does my son

Jacob Spencer

Great place to teach and entertain your children. Fun for adults too. If your looking for something different to do for a couple hours on a rainy day, try the discovery center it's pretty cool.

Ryan Despain

Fun areas for all ages. The fan-slowed chair drop is quite fun. There only negative would be that most of the electricity experiments are non-functioning. The biggest tragedy: they have an interactive heat pump where you crank the compressor, you can see the gas state change, and feel the heat/cooling off either side. Such a great display showing a very important piece of technology, and it's relegated to the back hallway near a vending machine and what looks like a freight entrance. Would love to see that thing have some love and put in a place where more kids (and adults) can experience the simplicity of the great heat pump.

Harrison Dougal

This place has been around forever and so have some of it's exhibits, but it is still fun to go. The rotating exhibits are interesting. My kids love the small play area and how hands on you can get with the exhibits here.

Stephanie Oliver

Engaging , clean environment . Geared more towards children that are 5 and over . Small play area available for smaller children . Located near Julia Davis , quick walk to picnic .

Joan Scofield

Always a great place to visit. We love the changing exhibits but look forward to seeing our favorite displays each time as well. It's fun that they move the regular displays around in the rooms so you discover something new each time. And they always seem to add something entirely new to the permanent collection, like the new light wall made from plastic bottles.

Jason Blain

Great place for kids to explore. I would say for ages 7+

Yeti

Had the best time at Adult Night- the silent disco was amazing, as well as the live fire performance. Seriously- the best thing to do in Boise every time it rolls around.

Angel Valentin

A fun place to explore! Good for a date or taking your kids to look at some cool science stuff! Great staff

Patti Harvey

Fun place. Kids of all ages had fun!

Jess Friedman

This place is a riot! I've taken large groups of kids there more than once, and they always have an absolute blast. Every exhibit is interactive and fun for kids and adults alike. The staff are friendly and welcoming, and let the kids just explore and have fun. The Discovery Center is definitely one of the best kid-friendly attractions in Boise.

Cristina Gilbert

Kids had a great time. They had a few of the centers that were brown or nearly broken. Most displays were well used. I think they could do with fixing some of them.

Chelsey Gafford

The discovery center is nothing near what it use to be. As a kid I use to go to the discover center regularly whether it be for school or just with friends and family. I took my son and paid an outrageous amount of money to maybe be there for less then an hour. Unfortunate.

Anca Trifan

Fabulous place for kids to play in a learning environment about all things STEM and particularly this season, all things Legos and Bricks. We spent hours there (with a lunch break) and could have easily spend the entire day.

Risha Russon

This place was really fun. We went as a couple with no children. My SO is an engineer with an interest in physics, and he really enjoyed the different exhibits. The exhibits are interactive, and they do a good job of explaining the science behind what is happening. The section for smaller children looked really fun, and I wanted to play there as an adult. That said, some of the exhibits were run down, and some didn't work. I've heard that they are working on getting that fixed. We went to the bodies exhibit as well, and it was neat. I have been to another exhibit that was substantially larger and more put together, so I didn't like this one as well and to me it wasn't worth the $6 extra. The whole space felt small for the amount of exhibits and the number of people there. The staff was friendly and helpful.

Christie Carroll

This is a great Boise spot to visit with the kids. We wandered in around noon on a Thursday and were greeted by smiling faces. We paid ($under $35, for one adult and child) and headed inside. We were immediately shocked to see all the cool hands-on activities. Shooting a water bottle rocket in the air, the biggest "light brite" ever, sand topography, a pullie chair, and so much more. Everything was fun and accessible for adults and kids. The weather area was so cool. Especially the huge bubble maker and the shadow picture box. The exhibit on sharks was cool but way more designed for middle/high school kids and adults. So why not 5 stars? Honestly we did everything in about an hour and the price seemed a bit high to me for admission. Secondly, kids running around with no adults and ruining activities for other kids. I normally wouldn't mind except these kids were out of control and actually became a safety concern as they ran and jumped and pushed theri ways around. Several staff members passed them and simply said nothing, but when I asked where the bathrooms were I was given a salty "where the sign that says restroom is". Oh well. Overall a great experience and I will more than likely buy an annual pass as it makes more sense financially with such high admission rates.

Katherine Parker

Silent Disco tonight was awesome!

Jessica Solis

Prices are outrageous for what you get to see/do there.

Amora Glover

Oops! Review posted too soon. This place is great! I didn’t have enough time to take my son on this trip but we will be back soon.

Karl Huebner

Great place for kiddos. Lots of fun activities.

Maverick Boldt

This place is amazing to come to with children or adult! Very informative exhibit that are tons of fun for all!

Silvia Peregrina

This place is AWESOME! My friend and I went to the human body exhibt, and it changed our lives!! They only had it there for a limited time, but they have so much more to discover aside from human bodies! Highly recommend for friends, or family ventures!!!

Deanna Weigel

Good place to take kiddos, but there are always big kids playing in the little kid area so the little kids have to wait to play with the toys and such until the big kids are done. Can be very frustrating for parents of littles.

J B

Fun exhibits...hands on learning. Staff was friendly and helpful. Our battery died in the parking lot and their maintenance guy came out with a booster box. Kids had a blast

Guy Hadwin

This is a hands-on science center for the young and old. There are plenty of science gadgets to keep the kids thrilled, and remind parents of the things they learned centuries ago. Ample parking. This science center abuts the Julia Davis Park and is about a block from the Boise City Zoo. The staff is helpful and friendly and constantly changing activities to keep people interested in the center. This is a very popular field trip location for local schools and clubs. If you are just visiting the city and need a break for your children, this is an excellent escape for a few hours. Give yourself 3-5 hours of exploratory time at this science center. It is well put together.

Kathy Cole

Fantastic place for kids. Challenges their imagination. The Bricks exhibit was great

Ken Armstrong

Grand kids had a great time

Michal Temkin Martinez

Had a wonderful time at Adult Night!! The displays were interactive and fun, the docents were knowledgeable and engaging, and it was just a great something fun to do on a Friday night!!

Victoria Vaughan

Had so much fun love the big bubbles!

Sydney Bell

SO FUN! It was the perfect date night. Perfect way to go out and enjoy the evening with someone and getting to learn cool stuff as well!

Nathan Watson

Very fun it's a great way to spend an afternoon. Plenty to keep you busy.

Shylah Eells

Lots of hands-on activities for all ages. Play area in the back for kids under 4. I used to come here when I was a kid and it is so cool to share that with my son. There's even more awesome stuff there now.

Elizabeth Kawaguchi

Some of the exhibits were out of order but otherwise had a great time and their was plenty of other exhibits to try.

Kelsea Skaggs

The kids love all the interactive stations here. The Lego room was a huge hit!

tecno gaming

We had a wonderful time & look forward to returning!

Jennifer Thatcher

I visited this place a few years ago and we loved it, but today it was just okay. We did not pay extra for the "Brick" event. My kids love legos so this might have made for a better experience, but we probably won't be back when we are in town next. It's just too small for my kids.

Stacy Adams

The Discovery Center has a nice variety of exhibits. The current exhibit, Bricks, is a really great one! My youngest child also enjoys the area designated for young children.

Danielle Ellstrom

I've been coming here since I was a kid. I recently went and saw the bodies exhibit. Very interesting. I was hoping it would be bigger but I still enjoyed it.

Cece C.

It's ok. Alot of stuff seemed to not be functional though.

Andy Vawser

I remember visiting this place 25 years ago when I was a kid and wanted to take my kids to it. In my distant memory, I could recall a few things there, but with a quarter century passed I was sure I would not recognize the place. I was wrong. In we walked and all the memories flooded back in. They were good memories, but I was thinking that in 25 years the place should have changed more. The same exhibits are still being used, and some of them are showing their age. A few were basically broken. The facility is also showing some age and probably could use a new coat of paint. Don't get me wrong, we all had a lot of fun together, but after about an hour or so we had pretty much blasted our way through everything and were ready to go. It was pretty busy that day too, so some exhibits were just hard to spend any time with. My kids are younger, so they don't really have the ability to read signs, and I don't think they grasped many of the concepts behind the experiments. A modern museum would probably have videos at each station (or at least a lot of them) explaining what was going on and what to look for in each one. And then comes the price. Our whole family cost $54 to get in and I really feel like it is overpriced for what you get. After we left, we went to the mall and probably had a lot more fun walking around and looking at things, and it didn't cost us a cent. Like I said, we had fun, but I doubt we'll come back again. My kids can come back in 25 years with their kids and probably have the same experience all over again, and the same worn out equipment will still be in use.

Cookie Monster

We purchase an annual family pass here. We love seeing our kids' minds and imaginations excel here. We love the ever changing exhibits and friendly staff.