Impression 5 Science Center is a dynamic, interactive space for families to play, create, and challenge their understanding of science. Our mission is to facilitate learners in scientific exploration through hands-on exhibits and participatory educational programming.
Explore Our Exhibits
Think Tank
Think Tank
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Think Tank
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Think Tank
Turn your ideas into reality inside this teen maker space with real tools, real challenges, and real outcomes! Think Tank is typically open from 1-5 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday, subject to special programming.
PLEASE NOTE: Think Tank will be closed to the public to host Summer Think Tank Maker campers June 10 - June 28 and July 8 - August 23. During those weeks, it will be open to the public only on Saturdays and Sundays between 1-5 p.m. For information on our Think Tank Maker Camps, click here.
Youth Action Council
The Youth Action Council is an active community of teen influencers who help shape the Think Tank--its activities and its future! Students meet regularly throughout the year and work on making projects and contribute to ongoing research following “making spaces” for youth.
Interested in joining the Youth Action Council? If your teen is between 9 and 14, please contact Micaela Balzer at balzer@impression5.org.
Embrace the universal urge to play and explore in a space created for young scientists ages birth to four years old. Here, you’re safe to roam, touch, crawl, climb, splash, read, create, and get to know science in a whole new way in a comfortable and supportive environment. Park your stroller, hang up your diaper bag, kick off those shoes, and enjoy a thoughtful environment for you and your little ones . . . complete with a family restroom, private nursing room, and snack area.
Amenities:
Family restroomNursing roomSnack areaStroller parking & diaper bag storage
Activities:
Water table (crocs and smocks available)Play structureClimbable steam engineSensory tablePuzzles, books, thoughtful toys, and more
Safety Procedures:
Shoe-free zone (crocs of all sizes are available for water table area!)Safe “smart” electrical outletsRigorous cleaning schedule with non-toxic cleanersDesignated snack tables/areas outside the room (to help with children with allergies)An adjoining nursing room and family restroom to change all diapers in a sanitary spaceDiaper changing in either the nursery room, or family restroom
Discover a world you can't see! In this exhibit, immerse yourself in nanoscale science by playing with magnetic materials, building a giant model of a carbon nanotube, comparing levels of static electricity, and more!
Explore the electromagnetic spectrum and compare different light sources, lenses, prisms and mirrors, and more! Step up to a life-size Light Mosaic to create your own colorful masterpiece then strike a pose with a Shadow Wall. See how plasma reacts to a conductor, experiment with primary colors, paint with light, and more!
Experience a day in the life of a naturalist! Explore natural environments found here in Michigan with a variety of tools and challenges to keep your problem-solving and inquiry skills sharp. Get a closer look at birds using our webcam or scoop up some pond water and magnify the amazing world within it!
Take engineering and building challenges to the next level with materials from blocks to magnetic tiles, panels to bridges, and more! What types of structures can you build? How will gravity, tension, and compression affect a structure?
Take a deeper look at the inner workings of the human mouth! Explore oral health with giant dental tools, get up close to real teeth under microscope, see MRI images to watch the mechanics of your mouth, visit the Smart Mart to discover how the food you eat affects your teeth in an interactive grocery checkout activity, and more!
Explore the wonder of kinetic and potential energy in this hands-on exhibit that allows you to perfect your pitching form and blast targets with an air cannon! Toss things around in the Play Space, then create the most aerodynamic airplane to launch before you hurl a tennis ball forty feet with a trebuchet!
Part outdoor education space, part art installation, part place to contemplate the universe, the Planet Walk Plaza brings us closer together and helps us create more meaningful connections to art and science within greater Lansing.
Our newest exhibit FLOW explores fluid dynamics with two stories of interactive components and activities! Build and test your own sailboat, explore the science of a vortex, power a giant flywheel that shoots a two-story geyser, play with water jets, and much more!
Experience the wonder of nuclear science in this new interactive exhibit that explores atoms and their journeys of acceleration, collision, separation, and detection in simulated environments that illustrate the research happening now at the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory (NSCL) and in the future at the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB) at Michigan State University.
Built entirely here at the Science Center, this exhibit also explores a variety of jobs and skillsets that make the research at FRIB possible. It also features Isotopolis, an exploratory game about the process of discovering rare isotopes. In the game, players accelerate particles and assemble new isotopes in the effort to complete the table of nuclides in a process inspired by what goes on at the nanoscopic level within a cyclotron. Learn more and download Isotopolis here!
SMASH: A Nuclear Adventure is generously sponsored by TechSmith; Michigan State University's National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory, which is funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation and the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams, which is funded by the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science; MSU Federal Credit Union; and the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs.
Experience something new each visit! Each year you can expect either a new permanent exhibit or a unique traveling exhibit to explore with your family.
SMASH: A Nuclear Adventure
Opening August 16!
Experience the world of nuclear science by building atoms, discovering ways to create new isotopes, using models to explore concepts you can't see, and imagining what the future of nuclear science holds.
Ice Age: Frozen Secrets
September 7 - January 5
Explore recreations of Ice Age animals like the sabertooth cat, arctic fox, giant sloth, and more! Construct a huge 3D mastodon puzzle, discover life as a human during the Ice Age, and touch real fossils more than a million years old!
Ice Age: Frozen Secrets is generously sponsored by Lake Trust Credit Union, Jackson National Life Insurance Company, and the Greater Lansing Convention & Visitors Bureau.
Experience something new each visit! Anticipate new permanent exhibits or a unique traveling exhibit to explore with your family.
HANDS-ON EXHIBITS
Explore a self-choice, learner-directed exhibit environment that's designed for your entire family.
FIRST IMPRESSION ROOM
Embrace the universal urge to play and explore in a space created for young scientists ages birth to four years old.
THINK TANK
Turn your ideas into reality inside this teen maker space with real tools, real challenges, and real outcomes!
FUTURE & TRAVELING
HANDS-ON EXHIBITS
FIRST IMPRESSION ROOM
THINK TANK
UPCOMING EVENTS
Capital City River Run
September 21 & 22, 2019
2019 marks the 26th anniversary of the Capital City River Run—a compilation of family-friendly races that celebrate, build awareness of, and financially support Greater Lansing organizations that promote education, the desire to learn, and healthy lifestyles. This run series provides a premier racing experience, highlighting both the eclectic urban corridor and natural beauty of Michigan’s capital city and adjoining rivers. Join 3,000+ of your closest friends in a great race in a great community! Races include half marathon, 5K, half marathon relay, and kids races with proceeds going to benefit your Science Center!
Inside SMASH: A Nuclear Adventure, experience the world of nuclear science by building atoms, discovering ways to create new isotopes, using models to explore concepts you can't see, and imagining what the future of nuclear science holds. You'll also hear firsthand from people who have found a variety of exciting careers in nuclear science!
Explore recreations of Ice Age animals like the sabertooth cat, arctic fox, giant sloth, and more! Construct a huge 3D mastodon puzzle, discover life as a human during the Ice Age, and touch real fossils more than a million years old!
September 21, 2019 Come explore the many ways energy is generated at this special annual event!
Bring your family for a memorable day creating edible windmills, exploring the power of water at an erosion table, turning poop to power, and heating things up with a solar cone! Sponsored by Consumers Energy, this special event day is free to all Consumers Energy employees and their families!
