Titanic Museum Attraction a Fun and Interactive Learning Experience

By Dave Woods • Official Kids Mag

A lot of kids love the tale of the ill-fated R.M.S. Titanic, her passengers and crew. Shane Leftwich is one of those kids.
“It’s cool and sad learning about this stuff,” he said, standing at the bottom of a replica of the leviathan’s grand staircase. “I liked coming here and reading the stuff. It takes some time to read it all, but I am. There’s a lot.”
Every year, thousands of kids from around the country walk the steps of the grand staircase at Titanic Museum Attraction in Branson. They reach out and touch an actual iceberg. They marvel at the 2,208 Titanic artifacts salvaged from the floor of the Atlantic Ocean and, along the way, they learn a lot about engineering, life at the turn of the Twentieth Century and the passengers – many of which were kids – who set sail on Titanic’s maiden voyage. More than 1,500 souls were lost when she struck the iceberg that sealed her fate in the early morning hours on April 15, 1912.
That’s why Titanic Museum Attraction is an Official Kids Mag Kids Pick.
“I learned tons,” Shane, an 11-year-old kid from Burns Flat, Okla., said. “Like how small the rooms were. I saw the clothes they had on and there were the cool dishes they had.”
Along Shane’s Titanic tour, he grabbed a coal shovel weighted to simulate the shovels crewmembers would have used to stoke the boilers that powered the nearly 883-foot long ship.
“I like the mechanical stuff,” he explained. “I learned how the engines worked and they had models.”

As kids and their adults walk through Titanic Museum Attraction, it becomes clear that Branson’s Titanic is much more than a museum. It is truly an attraction and an interactive experience. Kids who otherwise might frown at the idea of going to a museum are captivated by the sights, sounds and experiences of Titanic.
At one education station, kids are challenged to see how long they can keep their hand submerged in bone-chilling water the same temperature as the ocean the night the ship sank and her passengers and crew fled to lifeboats, or any object that could float.
“I like the way the exhibits are all set up,” Shane offered. “I really liked the ice water and the Captain’s Bridge. It’s pretty cool.”
When kids begin their Titanic experience they are handed a boarding pass with the name and history of one of the kids onboard the ship. Near the end of the tour they learn the fate of the young passenger. It’s always a surprise.
“It’s really fun,” he said. “I think kids would like to come here and see all of the awesome stuff.”