Imax

Three floors telling the story of Texas, anchored by the recovered wreck of La Belle, a French ship from 1686 displayed as an actual excavated hull. Kids respond to the shipwreck, the Goddess of Liberty statue in the atrium, and the full-size artifacts far more than to the wall text. An IMAX theater on site runs both documentaries and current releases, which is a useful rainy-afternoon backup. Right across from the Capitol so you can combine both in one downtown trip. Free family days and hands-on carts run on select weekends.

Syracuses hands-on science museum in the Armory Square district, with four floors of exhibits and a domed IMAX theater. Kids build and race things in the engineering hall, crawl through a simulated cave system, and set off reactions in the science demo areas. The Bristol Omnitheater is one of the few true domed IMAX screens in the region and the nature films land well with kids who need a sit-down break. A dedicated early-childhood area covers toddlers. Central New York winters make this a genuinely useful place to know about.