If you caught my previous blog post about our trip to Cincinnati this summer (Part 1), this is part two.

Our second stop was the Creation Museum. I have been hearing about the Creation Museum for a few years and really wanted to take the girls but wanted to wait until they were a little older so they could understand it better. This year it worked out to go with my friend and her kids so we all went and really enjoyed it.

Before diving into the details of the museum, I want to share a little background about myself and the reason for my interest in the Creation Museum. I am a Christian and a young earth creationist. Basically that means I believe the Biblical account of creation—that God formed everything in a literal six days. It is important for me to teach this belief to my children. They learn about creation at home and at church in Sunday School and Awana, but in some books (mostly those that involve dinosaurs) and in school they are starting to hear the theory that the earth is millions of years old. We send our daughters to public school and as they get older they will likely start being taught that the earth was created by a “big bang”, dinosaurs lived 65 million years ago, man evolved from apes and etc. When that happens, I want them to have a solid basis for the theory of creation. A few years ago I decided I should brush up on the Bible-based scientific aspect of answers to questions like: how old is the earth? what happened to the dinosaurs? when was the ice age? (and many more) so that when my girls learn about these things in school I can have an educated response about what we believe and why. I grew up going to church regularly and learning/studying the Bible but didn’t dig deeper into these particular questions until recently, as I had never really felt the need. So I found and read the book The New Answers: Book 1 by Ken Ham. It was very educational and informative. I definitely recommend it if you are interested in this topic. Ken Ham also happens to be the President and CEO of the Creation Museum.

So without further ado, here is a recap of our visit:
The Creation Museum is located near Cincinnati, but on the Kentucky side in Petersburg. Our gang included 2 moms and 7 kids ranging in ages from 18 months to 8 years old. The main exhibit is the “Walk Through Biblical History” which is where we spent the majority of our time. Most things were interesting and appropriate for all the kids, but obviously the older ones understood more. There were some parts (i.e. when sin enters the world) that were a little bothersome to my 8-year old but the younger ones didn’t really seem to notice. In my opinion, the best age for this exhibit would be 10 and up but all of the kids enjoyed the tour, never got bored and wanted to stay the entire time.

In addition to the “Walk Through Biblical History” exhibit, we saw a show in the Special Effects Theater called The Men in White, explored the Dino Den featuring several full-sized sculptures of various dinosaurs and then ate supper at Noah’s Cafe. A good day was had by all!

If time and weather had permitted we would’ve also visited the museum’s botanical gardens and petting zoo and would have done some camel rides as well. (Camel rides are additional and cost $5 per rider.)

Another fun attraction at the museum is its planetarium offering two different shows: Created Cosmos and Worlds of Creation. Coming soon is a new show called Aliens: Fact or Fiction? and during the Christmas season they have a show called The Christmas Star. All planetarium shows require separate tickets for additional cost. Unfortunately we didn’t have time to catch a planetarium show either.

For adventurous families with older kids there is also free fall and zip lining available at the museum! Kids must be eight years old and/or 80 pounds. Costs for this are additional as well and can be found on the website. Click here to find out more: zip line info

The museum is open Monday through Friday 10-6, Saturdays 9-6 and Sundays 12-6. The petting zoo opens thirty minutes after museum opening. Zip line hours and availability varies throughout the year. General admission tickets are $29.95 for adults 13+, $15.95 for kids 5-12 and FREE for kids under 5. Also, during 2015 when you buy two tickets, you get two free. Another thing to note is that tickets are valid for two consecutive days making it easier to experience all that the museum has to offer. We only attended for one day but if it would’ve worked out we could’ve gone back the following day for the petting zoo and camel rides.

As I mentioned in my first post (Part 1), Cincinnati is a fairly easy day trip, being about an 8-hour drive from Green Bay. There are also many other great attractions in the area to take in when you visit including a Cincinnati Reds game, The Serpentine Wall along the Ohio Riverfront, The Cincinnati Zoo, quaint parks/neighborhoods to explore in the city (Eden Park, Mount Adams), Newport on the Levee, Newport Aquarium and Kings Island Amusement Park. Also, coming in the summer of 2016 is Ark Encounter, a related but separate entity from the Creation Museum. It is currently under construction and located about 45 minutes from the museum and will require a separate admission ticket. It will be a life size replica of Noah’s Ark—find out more here.

So if you believe in creation and want to reinforce this with your kids and teach them more about it—or if you aren’t quite sure what you believe—the Creation Museum is a great place to visit and learn!