Exploreum Adds Festival of Trees to STEM Wonderland Holiday Exhibit, Opening Nov. 3

MOBILE, Ala. — The Exploreum Science Center is adding a Festival of Trees to STEM Wonderland, its yearly holiday exhibit, this season. A collection of curated, sponsored holiday trees will be displayed throughout the downtown Mobile museum’s winter-themed gallery. STEM Wonderland and the new trees will be open Nov. 3 through Jan. 30.

The museum is also booking birthday parties in STEM Wonderland, so families can hold a celebration inside the holiday exhibit.

What STEM Wonderland offers

STEM Wonderland, named for science, technology, engineering and mathematics, turns the Exploreum’s traveling exhibit gallery into a winter scene full of hands-on activities. The museum says the experience encourages guests of all ages to play, experiment and discover, and to see the season from a STEM point of view.

Highlights include:

• A sock skating rink, where visitors can glide around in their socks and feel friction and motion for themselves
• A model train display, a longtime family favorite at the Exploreum during the holidays
• An arctic dress-up area for imaginative play
• An ice village that young builders can help create

The science behind the fun

Each STEM Wonderland activity has real science behind the play:

• Sock skating shows how friction works. Socks on a smooth surface create much less friction than rubber-soled shoes, so skaters glide farther with each push. It also shows Newton’s laws of motion: once you’re moving, you keep going until friction or a wall stops you.
• Model trains are a hands-on lesson in electricity and engineering. Many model railroads run on low-voltage current carried through the rails, and track layouts involve planning for curves, grades and switches, just as real railroads do.
• The ice village invites young builders to think like engineers, testing which shapes stand up, how to spread out weight and how to make a structure stable.
• Arctic dress-up can start conversations about how people and animals adapt to cold climates, from insulating layers to fur and fat.

New this year: the Festival of Trees

The Festival of Trees puts a collection of curated holiday trees into the Exploreum’s winter landscape. Sponsors are backing the trees, which will debut with STEM Wonderland on Nov. 3 and stay up through the end of the exhibit’s run.

Festivals of trees are popular holiday fundraisers and community events across the country. Businesses, organizations and families sponsor or decorate trees, which are then displayed together for the public. At the Exploreum, the trees will sit among the exhibit’s science activities, adding a traditional holiday display to the hands-on experiments.

Birthday parties in a winter wonderland

The Exploreum is taking reservations for birthday parties in STEM Wonderland during the exhibit’s run. A party inside the holiday gallery gives children and their guests access to the skating rink, trains and building activities. Families interested in booking should contact the Exploreum directly for dates, packages and prices.

A holiday tradition with a science twist

STEM Wonderland has been a regular part of the Exploreum’s holiday season for years. In 2019, the museum turned its traveling exhibit gallery into what it called a holiday STEM land, with the annual model train installation, holiday decorations, STEM activities, an Imagination Playground where visitors could build an ice village, and science demonstrations by museum staff. The exhibit has kept growing since then, and the Festival of Trees is its newest addition.

The exhibit’s run from early November to late January also overlaps with winter break for local schools, which makes it a handy indoor option for families during the holidays.

About the Exploreum

The Exploreum Science Center, earlier known as the Gulf Coast Exploreum Science Center, opened on Sept. 25, 1983. Its roots go back to the early 1970s, when the Junior League of Mobile formed a committee to study a hands-on children’s museum for the city. In 1979 the Junior League gave $100,000 in seed money to the newly incorporated nonprofit Explore Center, which raised more than $1.3 million over the next few years.

The museum first operated in a 10,000-square-foot space near the Bragg-Mitchell Mansion on Spring Hill Avenue. By 1987 it had outgrown that space and proposed moving downtown. It now sits at 65 Government St., at the corner of Government and Water streets, on a site once occupied by the historic Matt Sloan Fire Station and an old police building.

Milestones since then include:

• 1998: An expansion of exhibit space and the opening of the J.L. Bedsole IMAX Dome Theatre
• 2012: A 5,000-square-foot gallery added for special exhibits
• 2019: A partnership with the Poarch Creek Indians to convert the IMAX theater to digital, now the Poarch Creek Indian Digital Dome Theater, which supports interactive presentations

The Exploreum’s permanent exhibits include Hands On Hall, a gallery of science and technology mini-exhibits; Wharf of Wonder, a nautical-themed play area for children 5 and younger; My BodyWorks, with interactive displays about the human body; and the AM/NS Calvert Curiosity Factory, a hands-on engineering space. Over the years it has hosted traveling exhibitions on ancient Egypt, Pompeii, Genghis Khan and the International Space Station, among others.

Beyond exhibits, the museum runs Exploreum Academy day camps, school field trips, outreach programs, overnight stays and birthday parties.

Tips for visiting

• Bring socks. The sock skating rink is a highlight, and clean socks make it easy to join in.
• Check hours before you go. Holiday schedules can change, so confirm hours on the Exploreum’s website before heading downtown.
• Combine attractions. A Digital Dome film and the permanent exhibits can turn a STEM Wonderland visit into a full day.
• Book parties early. Weekend birthday slots during the holiday season tend to fill quickly.

If you go

• What: STEM Wonderland with the new Festival of Trees
• When: Nov. 3 through Jan. 30
• Where: Exploreum Science Center, 65 Government St., downtown Mobile
• Highlights: Sock skating rink, model train display, arctic dress-up area, ice village and sponsored holiday trees
• Parties: Birthday parties in STEM Wonderland can be booked through the Exploreum