This is a cute little museum featuring exhibits, shows, and interactive stations related to…read morescience, history, technology, and more. There is a very nice little planetarium (the Scidome), and viewing a show is included in the price of admission. We saw "From Earth to the Universe," which provided a crash course on astronomy throughout history and a look at our galaxy and the universe. The first floor of the space features a lot of interactive and hands-on activities, such as building a circuit, learning about your body, building and racing cars from objects like Legos, plus a 6-and-under play area. The hot shop is also located in this area, and it was very interesting to watch them work with the hot glass (and a very pleasant space to be in on such a cold day!) Upstairs is a wealth of local and regional historical information for Newark and Licking County and its citizens and discoveries. A giant mastadon skull greets you as you come up the stairs, as the Burning Tree Mastadon was found in the county. The Jerrie Mock exhibit, complete with a flight simulator and a replica of her airplane, the Spirit of Columbus, was extremely popular with the kids. (Jerrie Mock, a Newark native, was the first woman to fly solo around the world). A little historic village, complete with cash registers, scales, and games is also available to walk through on this level. Given the weather, we didn't spend as much time out in the courtyard as we probably would have otherwise, but we definitely made it over to the building housing the interurban railway car, the back end of which you can walk in and look around the interior of. There's also a really well done mural on the topic out by the parking lot. Staff was friendly and welcoming, and the museum was clean and comfortable. There is plentiful parking outside. A small gift shop, including items made in the hot shop, is available near the entrance.

My niece loves to go to another children's museum in a nearby city. Unfortunately, it's a little…read morepricey for what it has to offer beyond your 1st visit & there is very little for adults to interact with & engage. We recently went to Cosi 1 weekend instead. The Works is hands down a better experience than the other children's museum. This is now her favorite of the 3 places we've been. Unfortunately, the glass blowing was closed for routine maintenance & we have plans to return when open again. The bottom floor houses the small planetarium & hands on exhibits & play areas for kids & upstairs is more informative displays of the local area, the Works history & a brief technology over view. I've heard there's a café associated with the museum across the outdoor area but we didn't look into that the day we were there. 10/10 recommend a visit if you're in the area & looking for something new, fun & educational for kids to do.

Beautiful location, excellent choice in art displays, very nice gift shop. I miss the Sunday open…read morehouses that the Beaux Arts club used to host.

Stopped in to see the museum and listen to one of their special concert series. This is a great…read moremuseum with some special artwork. Great place to visit and stop.

We didn't know what this is and asked people in line. They were very enthusiastic and convinced us…read moreto go it. As the name implies, there's many worlds inside. I love the creativity artists put in to create these many worlds. Amazing. I'm glad we went. Bought our tickets online and it was a breeze going in. Just have to check in and get a bracelet.

My husband picked this place for our Saturdate and I was happily surprised! We arrived at our 11am…read moretime slot and I was immediately excited for the puzzle aspect we heard about at the counter. All of the rooms were so cool and fun to check out. We ended up solving 2/3 of the puzzles and they were quite challenging! I will say it may have been even more enjoyable with less people around. It was a bit crowded and many times we were trying to solve puzzles and children would come between us and the interactive piece. We understand that it's an interactive experience for all so we didn't mind waiting. But it did slow down a bit of our excitement to solve a puzzle. All in all I think the entire experience was exciting and fun. A great place for a date where you can take pictures, see cool rooms, and maybe solve a puzzle or two!

Home of the Licking County Historical Society, this well preserved historic home has their offices,…read moreplus artifacts from various eras. Downstairs there's a large event space, with a kitchen, for meetings, weddings, and more. Staff are super friendly and knowledgeable. Open quite a bit for a museum, though call ahead to check. Well worth a visit for anyone interested in local history, and history in general.

I can't believe we've been wasting our time at Cosi lol, this is so much more spacious and my 2…read moreyear old can literally touch every thing. Everyone was so nice as well, both patrons and staff. I'm also glad they make you keep your shoes on unlike momiland which smells like feet. I love how clean everything was as well. We drove 40 minutes and we will be back! I wonder if they have memberships?? I have never seen her so upset to leave somewhere before. I love that the water table was her height level too, at cosi the kids her age have to stand on stools which isn't very safe for the kids or relaxing for mom.

COSI too far? Too expensive? Just need a safe place for your kiddo to play indoors and stretch…read moretheir legs and imaginations? This is for you! This place is essentially like the kids space at COSI. Different areas for them to play and get creative. Dress up, read, sing on the little stage, climb on the construction equipment, pretend to grocery shop, play on the splash table and build a pipe line for the water to travel through, and much more. My sister and I took our little ones here on a rainy day, and they definitely enjoyed themselves. We (unfortunately) went on a day when a HUGE daycare or playgroup was also visiting, so about 15 mins after arriving, this swarm of over 50 adults and kids came in and it just got insane. I overheard another mom say that she's never seen so many people in there, so it reassured me that it's not always like this. This place isn't super fancy, and I did wonder about their sanitation procedures because I didn't see any buckets or bins for toys to go in if a kid had put it in their mouth. My LO being under a year, and my nephew being 18 months, you know everything goes in the mouth. They had a little "plop zone" which is the sacred safe space for babies under 2 to not get trampled. My daughter liked it, and liked chewing every toy, which takes me back to the germs... Butbi tried to let it go. The one thing I truly disliked about this place is that you have to pay to get in, even as an adult. $8 for me to supervise my own kid? Okay... Luckily my daughter was free because she was under 1, but I thought it was kind of ridiculous that adults have to pay for their child and themselves. It would make me think twice about coming here regularly once she's over 12 months because I don't think $16 is worth it. As of right now, all she can do is sit in the little baby plop zone. So if you really need something to do on a rainy day, definitely come here. It's safe and the kids for sure have fun. But if it's not a rainy day or you have a lot of kiddos, weigh out all your options, lol.

This is another "hidden gem" of an attraction. We went to Newark specifically to visti the…read moreNational Heisey Glass Museum but it was much much more than we expected. This is an amazing look at the history of glass and the incredible run of the Heisey Glass Company. The collections are organized into various eras - clearly labled - that show the development of Heisey Glass over the years. Other collections are based on the type of glass - i.e. the introduction of different colors and styles. There are also exhibits illustrating Heisey's "animal glass". The staff is not only VERY KNOWLEDGEABLE but also EXTREMELY PRSONALBE and VERY WILLING (EAGER) to talk about the collections. There is a very informative (approximatley 20 minute) video that you shouldn't miss. Having spent 4 summers working in a glass plant while working my work through college, seeing and hearing the stories behind the Heisey glass was especailly fasicnating. The gift shop is loaded with pieces of "original Heisey glass" for sale at very resonable prices.

An amazing museum. I'm not into glass, but can appreciate the art and craft, well displayed here…read more Lots of different types of glass, from various eras, perfectly preserved and shown in well lit cases. Some knockoffs and more recent production, especially in the basement under the historic house. Another basement room is for meetings but also has artifacts from the factory and explains the glassmaking process. Staff are friendly and helpful. There's a gift shop with actual Heisey glass for sale, plus souvenirs and books. Parking out front, with this in the middle of the museum complex and park. Well worth a visit for anyone interested in local history, industry, art, and decor.

Lots of things for kids to do. Large play ground area, mini golf, cave tour, petting farm, maze,…read morepre purchased bag for gem panning. We paid $145 for our family of 5 to do all the activities

Went on a Saturday around 12, started to get pretty busy around 12:45-1:30. Which makes the…read morecave/cavers very tight to walk through. While your down there your using a provided map to guide yourself around and match the corresponding areas ( Ex; A to A or 1-1 ) We went after it had just rained the night before, so everything was VERY wet. Wear waterproof/walking shoes if you plan on exploring. Be prepared to get dripped on by very cold water coming off nearby rocks, and the "ceiling". Coming down the initial very steep stairs is a beautiful view of different levels of rocks decending into a tunnel/cave where the rest of the cavers are. Tons of puddles all over the ground from collected rain water and the "droplets". Most the areas are about big enough for one person to walk through the tunnel areas at one time, and if your a larger person i DO NOT recommend going down there. Some areas are extremely tight and really only accessible to someone under 4'5 and around 100 pounds or less. (Im 5'4, 140 and some areas i almost got stuck cause it was too tight going through the rocks. It is neat to see though, i dont think id want to do it again as it is just wet rocks and the furthest tunnel was closed from the previous year that occurred from some heavy rain water. (The water collected, over time causing a collapse). So that was kind of a bummer but i get it for safety reasons. The gem mining was fun, definitely loaded with a lot of "gravel" type rocks so that was new for me, Ive only ever had ones with dirt/sand that yield rocks/gems/shark teeth. We found some really interesting gemstones in each tray. The petting zoo was great. I thought it wad Going to be boring and smelly, and i was happily wrong. The goats were adorable, when we came in a baby jumped through the fence and was following our group. And when we came inside the "pen" to pet them he ran back in it was very cute! The deer were a little skittish but very sweet and gentle. The treasure hunt/maze was VERY fun we enjoyed getting different prizes snd trading them within the group.

Genuinely one of the coolest natural history experiences I've ever had was visiting this site,…read morealong with the other earthworks to the south. The museum at Fort Ancient was really cool to see before heading up to the big eartworks in Newark.

Impressive park that preserves "the Great Circle" which received a UNESCO World Heritage site…read moredesignation in 2023. I came here for a quick stop while driving to Columbus, OH in mid-June 2025 for a conference. Lot of pluses in visiting this park. First, it's an important ceremonial site built between 100BC and 400AD by the Hopewell Indians with a link to astronomical patterns. It was later used as a county fairground (which allowed it to be preserved). Second, parking is free and plentiful. Third, you can walk freely around the outdoor complex and read some of the signs and displays (the scale of the Great Circle is massive). Be sure to stay off the mounds. The only downside was that the museum was closed on a Monday. I did not see a restroom facility available when the museum was closed.

Nice museum. Staff may need a refresher-training in common courtesy and basic customer service…read more Not happy to answer questions. Actually received an eye-roll. Cleanliness was a little sub-par. Maybe it's the economy. Maybe it was just a bad day. Overall 4 stars.

Whenever I travel (personal or business) I always make an effort to visit the local art.museum(s)…read more Always worth a stop when I'm in town, The Columbus Museum of Art never disappoints. The permanent collect ranges from antiquity to pr sent (the museum was founded in 1878), and the CMA is host to several exhibits each year. My most recent visit treated me to Wild Earth: JB Blunk and Toshiko Takaezu. Things to know: * The CMA is part of the North American Reciprocal Museum (NARM) Association, a network of 1,470 art museums and galleries that offer reciprocal free entry to members of the museums in the network. Become a member/support your local art museum, especially if they are part of NARM. * The museum has a cafe, so feel free to make a day of your visit. * There are transportation options available to get to the museum, but it is also just a 20 minute walk from downtown. * There is a good deal of well done street art between downtown and the art center.