Flint Hills Discovery Center

Super awesome. Kids loved it, 4D theatre was worth the price of admission alone. Cool thing to do on a game day when in Manhattan

This place entertains both the child and man-​child in us all! The exhibits are well laid out and constantly rotating. Toddlers to teens to those of us just excited with learning should all buy a year pass. You’ll be visiting often enough to make it worth its weight in gold!

Being new to the area we wanted to go check out the discovery center. Learned a lot about the history of Manhattan and the flint hills area. There were a lot of high quality interactive exhibits. There were a lot exhibits in a small area, but did not seem to have a clear flow. It would be good for upper elementary or middle school kid, but at $ 9 an adult it was a little over priced.

We were driving from St. Louis to Colorado and thought this looked like a great place to stop and stretch our legs. We were so glad that we did. The building is beautiful and the 15 minute interactive movie offered welcomed surprises and delighted our two children (ages 1 and 4), honestly my husband and I were delighted by it as well. We did not have much time to look at the exhibits on the main floor since the museum would be closing within the hour, but we did see the exhibit showing the root systems of prairie grasses. It was actually very interesting. It was more important to us to let our kids burn off some energy from being in the car for several hours, so we headed to the second floor which had a lovely play area, probably best for kids 8 and under. My favorite part was the designated area for toddlers, specifically for kids 30 lbs and under. It was the perfect place for our daughter to play. The admission may be a little steep, but we used our membership from the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, which is reciprocal and granted us free admission. And, after we left we headed across the way to a lovely plaza with a splash fountain. Our kids loved it. So if the weather is warm make sure to have towels packed along with a swim suit or change of clothes. We are so glad we made the stop at the Flint Hills Discovery Museum. It made our continued travels through Kansas much more meaningful.

First off, it expensive for what you get ($ 26 for 2 kids and 2 adults). Cost wise, I’d rather take my kids to the K-​State Insect Zoo again and get a guided tour for less.
The building is clean and modern with close parking but that only goes so far.
The material and the presentation/​exhibits leave a lot to be desired and certainly are not for kids under 10. Things seem very tight so if there are a lot of people, it feels crowded.
I didn’t get much out of exhibits but I’m from the area. I’ve had several classes in HS and at K-​State on the various subject matters and such topics difficult to spark interest in; sadly the center didn’t make it «come alive» as I had hoped.
There is a lot of reading in the exhibits, but nothing I felt you couldn’t get from Wikipedia or a good book on the Flint Hills or KS plains. If you more interested in KS history, I’d recommend Kansas Museum of History instead.
I think if you are going to have a museum about the Tallgrass prairie, you should also have living grass to touch/​feel. The exposed dry roots were interesting but really if you want to experience the beauty, head out of the Konza Prairie. You just cannot get the same feel for what it looks like at this center.
I didn’t like a lot of the «interactive» exhibits, partially the room which was mostly video opinion/​editorial spots that really I felt were over edited, scripted, and sometimes too preachy. That room really felt out of place in the whole center.
There is a nice kids’ indoor playground area, but I could go to a playground or Chuck E. Cheese just as easily. The Kansas Children’s Discovery Center in Topeka is a much better deal and does a lot better job for kids under 10 and even has KS related interactive exhibits.
I liked the art area, but it is pretty small. You can go to the Beach Museum of Art at K-​State for a bigger and better selection.
If you have done everything else in the Manhattan area and have nothing better to do on a rainy day, then may be. But I would not recommend it to any new visitors or family coming into town. I feel there are better experiences to spend your time and money on.

The building is a work of art and I found the exhibits to be pretty interesting. There were history exhibits that I found enlightening, but the «Voices of the Flint Hills» video in one of the viewing rooms wasn’t all that informative. The Center was a great place to take friends that were visiting from out of town, but I’m not sure that I’ll need to go again.

I have been a student for 4 years here, so I was excited when they built a new museum/​discovery center last year. I didn’t exactly know what exhibits they would have but I heard from previous visitors that it was a lot about grasses and they were disappointed.
You will walk into the lobby and walk straight ahead to the welcome desk. Pay your fee. $ 7 for students/​military/​seniors and $ 9 for regular adult. The very small gift shop is to the left of the desk and the entrance to the exhibits is to the right.
Walk to the right and start walking through the exhibits. The first tier of exhibits is all about the different types of grasses in the Flint Hills, kind of boring. There was alot of reading and not alot of actual things to look at. Go behind that first tier to the right and you will enter the «cave exhibit». It has readings about the different types of soils and wildlife in the Flint Hills, probably the best exhibit since it gives you something to look at. Walk out of the cave and go to the right and you will see several exhibits about Native American life. Not really exciting, there are a few pieces of pottery, pelts, etc. Nothing extensive. After that there is an exhibit about cowboys. To your left will be more exhibits about people that settled the Flint Hills, alot of reading once again.
Right behind the welcome desk is the movie area. I guess they call it the immersion experience. It’s about a 10 – 15 minute movie on a semi-​circle screen with wind/​dry ice effects about the history of the Flint Hills. Probably the only worth really seeing in this place. So make sure you see a showing (every hour).
Went upstairs which was a little bit about research at K-​State and the children’s section with a small play area and dress up station. Walk past that and you will walk into a photography gallery. It’s a little random I would say but all the photography is about Native American lifestyle today. Walk out the gallery and up the stairs and there are a couple meeting rooms and the outside patio area. I went and walked around outside to see if there were any good views. Which there really weren’t. You see Sears really well though lol. You can see the KS hill and the train station but nothing spectacular.
I was overall very disappointed in my experience. I paid $ 7 for less than 1 hour of exploring this place. There was alot of reading and not many actual things/​artifacts/​art to look at. Would categorize it as more of a natural history/​nature museum but don’t expect dinosaur bones or something really cool like that. Having been to museums in LA, San Fran and New York with the same admission price or even free, I expected alot more. I don’t see myself coming back again for another visit. But I guess I am glad I went just to say that I have been there.