Whales, Giants of the Deep at Fernbank Museum is great fun for the family

We went to “Whales: Giants of the Deep” exhibit, because our 4-year-old son is so engaged with animals. I grew up in Atlanta, so I have childhood memories of Fernbank Museum, but experiencing it with my son gave me a whole new perspective.

This exhibit was fascinating, from the interactivity of the exhibit to the wide variety of information available. I particularly noticed that, even though there was a tremendous amount of information, it was organized into very understandable “stations,” accompanied by a feature and corresponding interesting facts. This method of learning was much easier for my 4-year-old to grasp, due to their limited attention spans. Our son particularly enjoyed the large skeleton of the sperm whale.  It really gave perspective on how large the creatures actually are.

Giants of the Deep also had two small areas where they showed movies.  One was about the history of whales while the other was about how scientists track them in the ocean.  Our youngest was drawn to both of them because of the way each mini-theater was designed.  Of course he wasn’t patient enough to sit down for the entire 7-10 minute film, but he enjoyed the dark area and the movie seemed very educational and well done.

Naturequest is the children’s area on the third floor of Fernbank Museum and was a huge hit with both children. There is an entire half of the floor dedicated to different sensory experiences, but we spent most of our time in the Fantasy Forest, for children 3-5 years old. There are all kinds of activities including a boat, pretend ‘bricks’ to build a wall, all within a huge fort structure to climb on.

If you are interested in attending, go ahead and download the Fernbank Museum app to your smart Phone. It will help you with everything from what the exhibit is about to where the restrooms are in the building. This exhibit was a success for our family and we would definitely come back. The two words I would use for this experience were educational and fun. The kids were also exhausted at the end which makes it more than worth the drive.