Garden of Science at Weizmann Institute – Visitor Guide

Garden of Science (Clore Garden of Science) is a science museum inside Weizmann Institute in Rehovot.

The Clore Garden of Science is under renovation.

Notes:

• If you are interested in similar attractions, check out my overview of Science Museums in Israel.
• Family science museum Rehovot and Gan Hamada Rehovot are other common names of the Garden of Science.

Map

The Davidson Institute of Science Education is located inside the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot.

Directions for drivers: Link to Waze and Link to Google Maps
Directions for public transport: Link to Moovit

Interactive map of the area:

Here is a photo of the map:

Directions

You can arrive at the Weizmann Institute by public transport or car. Many buses pass through this area, and the Rechovot train station is nearby. Here is a preset link to Moovit. Just enter your starting point, and you will get the updated directions.

If you are arriving by car, enter “Science Garden” into the navigation app.

Opening Hours

Sunday – Thursday: 9:00 – 16:00.
Friday and Saturday: closed.

Usually, during the holidays, they are also open during the weekends. And we visited on a Saturday during the 2019 school summer vacation. Thus I would suggest rechecking the opening hours before visiting.

Also, according to the official site, you can join guided tours in small groups (free on Saturdays and holidays) where instructors explain and demonstrate how the exhibits of the garden work.

Entrance Fee

Adult – 40 NIS and child (5 – 18 years old) – 35 NIS. And children under five years old enter for free.

Notes:

• The prices mentioned are not including holidays and exhibitions.
• Prices and opening hours were updated in January 2020. In any case, recheck the official site before visiting.

Coupons

You can find coupons online. For example, a coupon at Groo offered entry tickets for 35 NIS instead of 45 NIS. For our visit, I purchased tickets through cuponofesh.co.il And there are other offers as well. Usually, coupons will be available for holidays and vacations. And they also create exhibitions for those months. Thus, if you can, visit during one of the longer holidays like Passover, Hannukah, or summer school vacation.

About Clore Garden of Science

In most museums you are requested “not to touch the exhibits” – we ask you to do exactly the ‎opposite

The Clore Garden of Science museum is the first open-air science museum in the world and visitors are requested to touch, experiment and play with over ninety exhibits spanning over one hectare of green lawns.

All exhibits of the museum demonstrate the scientific principles behind many natural phenomena, such as rainbows, gravity, solar energy, etc. From time to time, demonstrations and workshops on a variety of topics are held in the auditorium and exhibition rooms. These activities invite visitors to learn and deepen their knowledge on a specific topic, such as light and color, optical illusions and 3D, the brain and many more.

Visitors can spend many hours at the Garden of Science, independently investigating and discovering the exhibits. Visitors also have the option of joining guided tours in small groups (free on Saturdays and holidays), in which our instructors accompany, explain, and demonstrate how the exhibits of the garden work. You are even welcome to bring food and beverages from home, grab a park bench or a nice patch of grass, and have a picnic. From little to big, from student to teacher – a visit to the Garden of Science is an experience anyone can enjoy, and of course, learn and expand their horizons. So next time you want to take the family for a day out, or take students on class activity, know that we are here for you. Looking forward to seeing you!

Source: official website

Biomimicry Exhibition

Our latest visit was during the summer vacation of 2019. And for the school vacation, they prepared the Biomimicry Exhibition.

After entering the Garden of Science, we participated in a short workshop (that told us about the life of ants) and then headed to the exhibition.

Note: special exhibitions are usually available only during school vacations.

Biomimicry Exhibition told us what biomimicry is and showed exciting examples.

The exhibition was not a vast one. There were several rooms like the one in the following photographs.

We spent about 20 minutes at the exhibition. And after visiting it, we headed to the EcoSphere in the gardens.

The Gardens

The Clore Garden of Science is a unique, entirely outdoor science museum, the only one of its kind worldwide.

Its eight hundred square meters of green lawns are home to nearly 80 hands-on exhibits large and small. The carefully built displays demonstrate the laws of physics, solar energy, water power, and other natural phenomena that we take for granted every day. Natural elements such as sunlight, wind, and water play an important role in many of the Garden’s displays. These hands-on exhibits come to life only in the encounter with a curious visitor who twists, pushes, bounces, and pieces them together.

Among the fascinating exhibits at the Clore Garden of Science are a solar furnace that can instantly set the wood on fire, water sprinklers that surround you with a full-circle rainbow, an exhibit that simulates walking on the moon and a water channel that shows the physics of wave action. The EcoSphere is a unique new educational facility, inviting visitors to explore environmental phenomena and interrelationships within the ecosystem.

The Garden gained international fame when it was awarded the 1999 Award for Innovation by the Association of Science-Technology Centers (ASTC) in partnership with BBH Exhibits, Inc.

Source: weizmann.ac.il

EcoSphere

At the EcoSphere, we saw live examples of things from the Biomimicry Exhibition. For example, to mimic the Lotus effect (the lack of dust on leaves), you can cover materials with a coating with bumps made of water-repelling materials. And there were several lotus leaves where you could see the effect.

When we finished exploring the EcoSphere, we headed to the science garden. Here is a photo of the garden when standing near the Archimedes screw.

There are many hands-on exhibits I will not show all of them. Instead, I will show two additional photos and reach the summary.

Summary

We spent more than 2.5 hours at the Garden of Science, and our daughter enjoyed the visit. And overall, if you love science and your kids love exploring, this is a good option for a sunny day.

One downside of this place, similar to other science museums, is the amount of innovation. Many of the exhibits have been in the same place for decades. Thus, we will not be frequent visitors.

Have you ever been to the Garden of Science in Rehovot? Tell us about your experience in the comments below.

That’s all for today, and I’ll see you in future travels!

Stay Tuned!

Additional Resources

Here are several resources that I created to help travelers:

• Trip Planner with Attractions and Itineraries is the page that will help you create your perfect travel route.
• What is the Best Time to visit Israel? To answer this question, we will consider the weather, prices, holidays, festivals, and more.
• Information and Tips for Tourists to Israel will answer the most common questions tourists have about Israel (including safety, passports, weather, currency, tipping, electricity, and much more).
• Israel National Parks and Nature Reserves include a complete list, top ten, map, tickets (Israel Pass, Matmon, combo), and campsites.
• If you are looking for things to do, here are the pages for Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Haifa, Sea Of Galilee, Akko (Acre), Eilat, Nazareth, Safed (Tzfat), and Makhtesh Ramon.