Planetarium

The state museum of Hawaiian history and natural science, and the first thing to reach for when a beach day on Oahu gets rained out. Hawaiian Hall is three koa-wood galleries of chiefly regalia, feather capes and a whale hanging from the ceiling. The Science Adventure Center has a walk-through volcano with a lava-flow demonstration that erupts on a schedule and genuinely startles kids. There is a planetarium running Polynesian wayfinding shows about how navigators crossed the Pacific by stars. Plan three hours and check the daily schedule of hula and science demonstrations on arrival.

The anchor of the Fort Worth Cultural District and one of the best rainy-day plays in North Texas. The Childrens Museum wing is built for babies through about age eight with a water play area, a toddler-scale grocery store, and a dinosaur dig pit. Older kids get the DinoLabs fossil hall, a full Omni IMAX-style dome theater, and the Noble Planetarium for star shows. Energy and innovation exhibits tie into Texas oil and gas in a way that actually lands with school-age kids. Half a day here is easy and the dome theater is a good reset when everyone is fried.

One of the great natural history museums in the US and a full day if you let it be. The Morian Hall of Paleontology mounts its dinosaur skeletons mid-action rather than standing still, which changes how kids react to them. The Cockrell Butterfly Center is a three-story glass rainforest where butterflies land on you. Add the Burke Baker Planetarium, a giant-screen theater, a gems and minerals hall that genuinely dazzles, and an Egypt hall with real mummies. Several attractions are ticketed on top of general admission, so plan which ones you actually want.

Hilo gets more rain than almost anywhere in the United States, which makes this the most useful building on the east side of the Big Island. The center pairs Mauna Kea astronomy with Hawaiian voyaging traditions, so exhibits move between telescope science and how Polynesians navigated by stars and swells. A full-dome planetarium runs several shows a day including some presented in Hawaiian. Hands-on stations cover volcanoes, star formation and wayfinding. Three hours easily, and the planetarium alone justifies the trip.

Schenectadys hands-on science museum with an attached planetarium, built on the areas General Electric history. Kids push buttons on electricity and magnetism exhibits, mess with light and sound, and dig into a hall of early television and radio equipment that came out of GE labs down the road. The Suits-Bueche Planetarium runs star and laser shows several times a day and is worth timing your visit around. It is mid-sized, so two hours covers it without anyone flagging. A solid Capital Region rainy-day option that is less crowded than Albany.

Three floors of hands-on science plus the Strasenburgh Planetarium next door, which runs star shows and full-dome films on a big tilted dome. Exhibits cover electricity, motion, regional geology and the Seneca and Haudenosaunee history of the area. Younger kids get the How Things Work and Adventure Zone areas where nearly everything can be operated. The planetarium is a separate ticket but is the thing kids remember. A short drive from the Strong, so a Rochester weekend can be built entirely indoors in February.

A huge hands-on science museum with hundreds of exhibits, a planetarium and a high-wire bicycle you ride across a cable above the main hall. Tinkering Garage lets kids build with real tools and materials, and CurioCity is a whole floor of physics and body science stations. Live science demonstrations with explosions and liquid nitrogen run through the day. There is a dedicated area for the under-fives and a small aviation hall with real aircraft. This is a full day and the single best indoor destination in Oklahoma.