The Family Discovery Center remains closed at this time. Please check this page and our social media channels for updates as they become available. We appreciate your patience.
Through hands-on learning, children and families fall in love with science in the Family Discovery Center. Everything in this lively room is there to touch and explore! Whether the topic is geology, world cultures, microscopic creatures, dinosaurs, outer space, or any of the many other options available for exploration, the Discovery Center is the space within Cranbrook Institute of Science to dive in and explore. Activities guide you through experiences using multiple senses. Traditional dress awaits being tried on, and microscopes are at the ready for seeing the world’s most minute details. Sift for fossils; wrap a mummy; see and compare skulls and skeletons; try on King Tut’s headdress, use binoculars to see birds outside the window; create with fibers; participate in the Activity of the Day, play a mind-stretching game, and immerse yourself in any number of spectacular worlds available to you in the Family Discovery Center!
The Family Discovery Center is free with museum admission every Sunday from 12:30 to 3:30pm. Please visit the Admissions Desk to reserve a time.
Our visitors have said….“Our kids loved it and we did too…” “Hidden treasure,” “We learned so much…” “The Discovery Center is amazing.”
Cranbrook Institute of Science is currently looking for docents to help staff the Family Discovery Center. Join us as we tap into the vast Institute resources and ignite a passion for learning – whether working directly with our guests or building content behind the scenes – we need your skills! The Family Discovery Center team creates a comfortable space where families explore real objects and scientific methods. Please be willing to dedicate 4 hours per month to the Family Discovery Center. If you think you'd enjoy this opportunity, call Julie McGinley at 248 645.3216 or