The New Children’s Musuem
On the rare occasion that it’s raining in San Diego, what do you do with the kids? We headed to the New Children’s Museum. The museum’s website posts that Mondays are a great time to visit. That may have been true on the Monday we arrived, had it not been raining AND a school holiday. This was a popular place to go, which can say a lot for the activities at the museum. But I have to admit, the crowds made it difficult to move around and we did not end up staying long.
That said, there were some great things that were memorable from our trip. The main floor of the three story building had an area where kids can drive these mini chariots. There was enough space to have five or six of these trikes zooming around. Our kids couldn’t wait to get behind the wheel. Unfortunately, there was no time limit for the drivers and no line to indicate who’s turn was next. If someone happened to leave his vehicle and another child was closer, we had to continue to wait. Finally I managed to encourage the boys to explore other parts of the museum with the hope it would be less crowded later.
Also on the first floor was a rainbow colored bouncing tunnel. This area was well-staffed and groups of about six or eight kids were given three minutes or so to bounce to their heart’s content. It was one of the highlights of the museum for our two bounceaholics. The other area of the bottom floor had houses made from a felt-like material. I truly didn’t think this would hold much interest for the boys, but my three-year old enjoyed crawling in and out of them. Nearby easels with attached trays of cranyons and a bench stood ready in case any budding artist was so inspired to sketch. (Many were, in the time we were there.)
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The second floor is where an artist can really get busy. There were several craft tables where projects were being assembled. On the day we visited, one table was dedicated to making birdhouses. It had a particular time-slot to be there and a limited amount of participants, so needless to say we missed that activity. Nearby was another craft table dedicated to allowing kids to come and go at will. This, too, was full, so we kept moving. Further along was a six-foot high wall of felt. Shapes were available to stick around the wall. There was also a rock-climbing wall which held more interest for my five-year old. Not to be missed was also the gigantic sized Trojan horse. You can enter the inside of it from the third floor. Another interesting feature in this museum was that throughout the entire place little tv screens showed different animals in their own habitat. For example one mini tv showed what you’d see from the end of a rabbit tunnel. The rabbit hopped around in its tunnel, sniffed the camera, twitched its nose a little, and hopped out of its tunnel. Owls, lizards, and other animals were recorded by a video camera, just hanging out or doing what they might normally do. I didn’t see any kids noticing these tv screens, but I thought it was interesting to watch.
All in all, this is a place that taps into creativity. Perhaps if I was more creative by nature or if it wasn’t so crowded on the day we visited, I might have enjoyed it more. I understand that artists are brought in to create centerpieces and play areas that inspire creativity in kids. The things we found to explore were interesting, but in the end did not hold the interest of our kids for a significant amount of time.
Note: We received complimentary tickets to this museum, but the above review was based solely on our family’s experience.
Ow.. That looks like a fun children museum. My kids will love to get a hand on that mini chariots! Too bad we didn’t have enough time to make a pit stop there on our journey out West last year.
I hate discovering a potentially cool spot for the kids on the totally worst day ever. The chariots do sound cool, as does the creativity center with the animals on screens. I’m a nature lover, so I would’ve loved to see the kids build a birdhouse. Thanks for the honest review.