A friend tipped me off on this great free exhibit at ETH University in Zürich called FocusTerra. From their website, the museum aims to:
- to promote the understanding, discovery, and enjoyment of Earth and Planetary Sciences
- to share our knowledge of the origin, history, and dynamics of planets
- to inform our visitors about the role and relevance of Earth’s natural resources in daily life
We loved it! It’s free, so that makes it an easy choice. The kids were interested in all the colorful, interactive displays with lots of buttons to push. There is a permanent collection and rotating exhibits, so that keeps it fresh. It’s definitely worth checking out.
| Location: | Zurich city |
| Address: | Sonneggstrasse 5, Zürich |
| Car: | in Zurich city, limited parking |
| Train: | 11 mins from Zurich HB, trams 6, 9, 10 |
| Open: | Mon–Fri: 9–17 h, Sun: 10–16 h, closed Sat |
| Price: | free |
| Services: | no café or picnic area, stroller accessible |
| More info: | www.focusterra.ethz.ch |
The “museum” is in a big atrium in the middle of the building (shown below), with four floors of displays. There are stairs between the levels, but I’m pretty sure the building has elevators and all the levels are connected to the main building. Since it’s in an open space, it was rather loud with our rowdy kids running around and yelling. But over the hour or so we were there, no one asked us to be quiet or anything, even with studying students scattered around.
The displays are eye-catching and interactive, with buttons to push and videos to watch. Most of the displays are in both German and English, making it easier to explain the science to your kids.
One of my favorites was this giant globe above that changed its display when you selected various options on the computer screen. For example, you could choose different planets and the globe would change to look like that planet. Another option was to simulate the movement of the tectonic plates over 600 million years. Another option showed earthquakes and tsunamis.
There was a lot of pushing and shoving to get access to this microscope.
They had so many interesting crystals, all shapes and sizes.
They advertised an earthquake simulator, but they only do it on Sundays as part of an one hour guided tour at specific times. See here for details. Only for kids 5 and up.
