"Curious George: Let's Get Curious!" is on at Imagine It! The Children's Museum of Atlanta through Jan. 24. AJC photos by Jamie Gumbrecht

I was in the lobby of Imagine It! The Children’s Museum of Atlanta yesterday when a mom and child about age 2 walked through the door. The little one was quiet…quiet…quiet…”Mommy, a MONKEY!”

Not just any monkey — Curious George. And every kid there wanted to see him.

Imagine International Academy of Smyrna kindergartner Timothy Lee checks out the simple machines.

I remember that monkey from my childhood, just like my parents remember him from their childhoods. He’s been around more than 65 years. He comes in a snazzy PBS cartoon now, and ideas about the word curious has changed from troublemaking to learning. And still, there’s George.

The exhibit, designed by Minnesota Children’s Museum, takes kids through places in the curious little monkey’s life to teach science concepts from measurement to power to simple machines. Starstruck though some kids were, there’s more curiosity than George.

In his apartment building, kids play with light and shadows. At the sidewalk produce stand, they’ll sort and weigh vegetables. Pass a construction site and they’ll help design and create a building. At the city park, they can play with mini golf sets that show how different angles affect how a ball moves through the course.

The exhibit was designed to appeal for younger kids, up to about 8 years old. (Really, leave your tweens at home. This is pure childish delight, and a 12-year-old will see right through it.) One parent-friendly section explains Curious George’s own history, showing how he went from an idea to a book character to a television show.

Like other Imagine It! exhibition, there’s also a short, original musical, “Get Curious!”  written, directed, choreographed and performed by the museum’s Imaginator acting troupe. Without a monkey in sight, they teach kids about math in Africa, chemistry in Paris and planets in space.

Imaginators DeWayne Morgan, left, and Michelle Boykin, in the colorful jacket, taught kids about solar system. Pluto, they explained, still orbits the Sun even if it's not a planet.

After seeing dozens of field trip students and families playing together in all the exhibit’s pieces, I’m positive that it can keep little ones busy for hours. If all the tinker toys and kiddie-sized golf clubs float away — and they do — the permanent exhibits are still there, too.

As one field trip parent explained, every kid there would sleep well that night — more likely, on the ride home.

When curiosity includes so much running, building, blowing, swinging and giggling, it is exhausting.

Isaac Wolf, 3, of Dunwoody, played with blocks and shadows in the Curious George exhibit.

Want to go? “Let’s Get Curious!” continues through Jan. 24. $12.50, free for members and children younger than 2. Imagine It! The Children’s Museum of Atlanta, 275 Centennial Olympic Park Drive N.W. in Atlanta. 404-659-5437, www.childrensmuseumatlanta.org.