Harry Potter Exhibition at the Museum of Science

By Meredith O’Brien

Faithful fans of the Boy Who Lived and who love all things Hogwarts, Quidditch and wizardry are going to feel the magic at the Boston Museum of Science’s (mos.org) new visiting collection, Harry Potter: The Exhibition.

The exhibit — which runs from Oct. 25 through February 21 — consists of 200+ items (clothing, props, etc.) from the Potter films. Favorites among my three kids (ages 11, 11 and 8) included: Harry’s wand, glasses and clothing from the movies (Daniel Radcliffe was so small in the first film), his Quidditch gear, his Hogwarts bed, Hermione Granger’s gown from the Yule Ball and her infamous Time-Turner, Hagrid’s hut, Buckbeak, sinister Professor Snape’s robes and potions containers, Dolores Umbridge’s pink nightmare of an office, Tom Riddle’s diary and the Sorcerer’s Stone.

My children loved walking through the mostly hands-off exhibit, though there was the opportunity for them to “uproot” screaming Mandrakes and toss odd-shaped Quaffles through Quidditch rings. They also liked the audio tour option where they could use earphones to obtain background information on items.

However if you’re contemplating bringing very young kids, you might want to consider these factors: Near the beginning of the exhibit, visitors are ushered into a darkened room with screens displaying scenes from the movies including some scary images of Lord Voldemort & Co., which caused my 8-year-old to bury his head into my side. A younger boy who was in attendance when we were there shrieked, “I’m scared! I want to get out of here!” Other potentially frightening sections included: The Forbidden Forest which had the giant spider Aragog, as well as the Dark Arts section which had Voldemort’s billowing costume and life-sized Death Eater costumes, complete with skull-like masks, however they were easy to walk by briskly, unlike the movie screens.