We set out on a road trip today to make our first visit to the Grand Rapids Public Museum in Grand Rapids, MI

We were drawn to  the museum primarily to see the King Tut exhibit that will end February 14.  So while I might infuse some of those photos in this post… it’s not a long term exhibit at this museum.

We were ALL enthralled with the museum.  The layout was fantastic and there were SO MANY THINGS that kids could touch that it was EASY for them to not touch the things they shouldn’t.

Make sure you look in every direction.  There are lots of great objects viewable from all 3 floors.

The “Old Grand Rapids” street view was very cool.  It felt like you were walking along real shops, and in fact you could walk into nearly every one of them and see the items that might be sold in those types of shops in the early days.  The photo below… was completely INSIDE the museum.  The layout was impressive.

A favorite of my kids:

The main reason we ventured on our road trip today to see this museum was the King Tut exhibit on display.

This exhibit was so well done.  You started with the timeline/ history of that time period.  You wound your way through learning how the archaologist (Carter) came to find the location, get funding etc and learned about what they found around and in his tomb.  There was a room full or replica artifacts which were based on everything found in the shrine area.  They had replicas of all 4 shrines and the caskets his body was buried in.

It sounds like a lot for kids to take in… but honestly my kids LOVED it.  They are 6 and 11 and let me tell you- they followed the audio walking trail, punched in all their own numbers, and didn’t run/ touch ANYTHING.  They left telling us it was the “funnest museum they’ve ever been to”.

The chair below is the throne and footstool belonging to King Tut (well… a replica).  If you can’t tell… this is a child’s size chair.  This is because he became king at 9 years old.  He lived till he was 19.

This museum is WORTH the trip if you’re in the area… It is very kid friendly and I can’t wait to see what exhibits are coming in the future!.

Links you might be interested in:

Grand Rapids Public Museum

King Tut Travelling Exhibit locations