Last Chance to See Body Worlds at The Leonardo

This weekend is your last chance to see the Body Worlds exhibit at The Leonardo in Salt Lake City. I took my family earlier this year and it was fascinating. Body Worlds & The Cycle of Life left me with a greater appreciation for how the human body works.

This latest exhibition from physician and pioneering anatomist Dr. Gunther von Hagens showcases the body in all stages of life.  Seeing all of the different organs, vessels, and muscles and how they intricately work together was incredible.  This exhibit and others like it are currently showing in America, Africa, Asia, and Europe.

“I hope for the exhibitions to be places of enlightenment and contemplation, even of philosophical and religious self recognition, and open to interpretation regardless of the background and philosophy of the life of the viewer,” said Gunther von Hagens of the exhibit.

After careful consideration, I decided to take my children to the exhibit.  My son and I had gone to the Animals Inside Out exhibit at The Leonardo and it had been a great learning experience for us both. Before our visit, we talked about the things we would see and the appropriate museum behavior.  Here are a few of the other things we did to prepare.

Start by checking out child-friendly web-sites (like Kids Health) about how the body works. This will give you an idea of your child’s interest and readiness for an exhibit like Body Worlds. KidsHealth.org has animated films that talk about how different systems in our body work – like this one about bones. Their site has a variety of quizzes, activities, movies, articles, and word finds about how the body works – from our heart to our brain.

You can also download and print off the educator’s guide for grades 5-8. This includes worksheets, activities, and frequently asked questions that were adaptable for my young  children.

We arrived early to the museum and parked at the Salt Lake Library to give the children a chance to get their wiggles out on the walk over.

At the exhibit itself, we went through at our children’s pace. We stopped at the exhibits that interested them most and read some of the facts for them. Some exhibits they wanted to linger at and others they didn’t stop at which was perfectly fine. They had a lot of questions and it was a great way for us all to learn about how our bodies work.

After the Body World’s exhibit, we had a blast checking out the rest of the exhibits in The Leonardo. The art area on the first floor is always a favorite. The variety of materials could easily amuse my children for hours.

Lily’s favorite exhibit was learning about aerodynamics on the second floor. After about an hour of trial and error, she made some great discoveries!

Her first experiment:

I love what she discovered about this origami bird and nest. I was fascinated that the bird always ended up in the next as well! Her last experiment:

Kyler spent almost an hour tinkering with all the gadgets in the building area.

Make it a family date this weekend at The Leonardo before the exhibit closes. There’s something there for all ages. It has become one of our families favorite places to visit. You can get tickets for Body Worlds for $9.95 with the code ARCHES here. Be sure to check out when Body Worlds will be in your corner of the world at their web-site.