Like universities, children's museums provide young people a place to study nature, an outlet to explore their creativity, and an excuse not to have a real job. Procrastinate constructively with today's Groupon: for $12, you get four admission tickets to the Virginia Discovery Museum in Charlottesville.

Virginia Discovery Museum brings families together for exploratory fun, using engaging hands-on exhibits and activities to stimulate growing gray matter. Mini-Michelangelos can create works of art in the Open Studio exhibit, and tiny tree huggers can swing across knowledge vines at The Treehouse exhibit, a getaway where kids hang out and read in a giant, hollow tree trunk. Families can glean new knowledge about nature’s honey peddlers at the observation beehive or orchestrate an elaborate long con at the Barnyard Theater with Dress-Up exhibit, and little Hortons find whos on tiny dust flecks using the wentzscope, a large viewing microscope. The museum also hosts rotating exhibits throughout the year, including its current display (through March 27), The Tibetan Way, which provides a periscope into the culture and traditions of the Tibetan people. Visit a nomad's tent, try a hand at blanket weaving, or dress in traditional garb for the Tibetan new year. Beginning in April and lasting through mid-September, the Up, Up, and Away exhibit features all sorts of airborne devices, from flying animals and air rockets to a full-scale replica of Urkel’s jet pack. Admission is good for the entire day and guests can leave and come back the same day with a receipt.

Weekly programs provide additional activities for toddling thinkers and are free with an admission ticket. During 10 a.m. Storytime Tuesdays, bibliophiles of all ages gather around the porch of The Showalter Cabin exhibit and listen to stories related to the current season, rotating exhibit, or pervading economic theory. The Poetry Club program awakens baby bards to the power of their own iambic pentameter, and the Magic School Bus science club unveils the mysteries of science through demonstrations, hands-on activities, and half-hour trips on shrunken vehicles. The museum is closed on Mondays, and children under one enter for free.

In addition to admission tickets, the value of this Groupon may be applied toward any membership.

Reviews

Frommer’s featured the Virginia Discovery Museum, and nearly 800 Facebookers like the museum:

• The Virginia Discovery Museum is a place of enchantment, offering numerous hands-on exhibits and programs for children ages 1 through 10. Here, they can ride a miniature carousel and dress up as firefighters, soldiers, police, and other grown-ups. The Showalter Cabin, an authentic structure that once stood on a site in Mt. Crawford, Virginia, is outfitted with the simple furnishings appropriate to an early-19th-century lifestyle. An arts-and-crafts studio, an active beehive, and a changing series of traveling and made-on-site exhibits round out the fun. – Frommer’s