If you are in the Boston area with kids you can’t miss a visit to the Boston Children’s Museum. My two year-old and I spent the afternoon noon there last week and it was even better than I remembered it. The location is easy to find and surrounded by other venues and great places to nosh. It was a 10 minute walk from our downtown Boston hotel.
Front of the Museum as you walk over Congress Ave Bridge
In front of the Children’s Museum there are lots of covered picnic table areas with views of the tall ships of the Boston Tea Party Museum.
Kids can view the Boston Tea Party Museum right across the water from the Childrens’ Museum
At $28 for admission for one adult and one child, I would highly recommend exploring discounts or coupons prior to visiting the Museum. At the cashier I saw that Massachusetts school teachers are free and participating libraries offer half price coupons.
We began our day at the PlaySpace area which is dedicated to kids 3 and under. My son was so excited that he could independently explore and touch EVERYTHING! This is big for a 2 year old and so liberating as a parent. Other than settling a couple of spars over toys, everything he wanted to do was a ‘yes.’
Little Conductors can crawl inside the table for even more train action
The train table was really big and could easily accommodate 15 kids. My favorite part was how the kids can actually crawl within the table to play with parts of the tracks that they can’t normally reach on bigger train tables.
My guy loves anything with a steering wheel. Pumping the gas was pretty cool too!
Lots of grown-up pretend play moments ranging from driving in a sporty two-seater coupe, pumping it with gas, ringing the doorbell to your own tyke-size house, and preparing food in a huge play kitchen.
Construction Area was our favorite. I want to build this crane in our living room. So cool.
The Construction Area on the third floor is a must see for any inspiring builders. Filled with every building material imaginable, this area is so creatively open ended that kids ages 2 to 32 can play alongside each other. Although the climbing construction features were for bigger and older kids, my two year old discovered a new found fascination with working a crane.
This photo alone was worth the price of admission. Hard hats and vests supplied.
As you enter the Construction Zone, kids can reach into huge wooden crates and find hard hats and fluorescent vests. These come in handy if you want a perfect photo opportunity in two of the full-size construction vehicles on site. These were relatively easy to play with on a quiet Monday afternoon, but I can see them being crowded on a busier weekend trip.
Amazing water play zone to experiment with boats, cups and funnels
Check out the Museum’s official website for more details on hours, directions and ticket prices www.BostonChildrensMuseum.org I would highly recommend the Museumhttp://www.myskyexhibit.org/ and look forward to returning with my older kids to take advantage of the older more scientific exhibits, such as the golf ball raceways and cultural areas, like the recreation of a street in Kyoto, Japan.
The Museum also recently launched a new astronomy exhibit called “My Sky.” A collaborative effort combining the expertise of the Boston Children’s Museum, NASA, and the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics to make astronomy fun and approachable for kids. The exhibit has its own website at www.myskyexhibit.org and runs until January 2015.
* Jill was not compensated for this post. Lead image courtesy of Boston Children’s Museum.
