Boston Children's Museum
"Zoom out. What’s this place all about?You’ll know you’ve almost reached Boston Children’s Museum when you see a 40-foot-tall Hood milk bottle in the Seaport. A gift to the museum, it serves as a quirky hello to families making the trek to the second-oldest, and one of the biggest, children’s museums in the world. Housed in a former wool warehouse along Fort Point Channel, the museum opens onto a glass lobby with a three-story climbing sculpture and three floors of experiential learning areas for kids and kids at heart. There’s also a special section, PlaySpace, for visitors three-year-olds and under, which reopened in winter 2020 after a complete redo. (General admission tickets should be booked in advance for the three-hour morning or afternoon time slots; one-hours slots within your ticketed time can then be booked specifically for the PlaySpace.) What will we find in the collection here?It’s rare for a children’s museum to boast a permanent collection, but Boston Children’s Museum has been growing theirs since 1913. With 25,000 items that range from ancient artifacts to natural history specimens, historic objects, and rare dolls, this vast collection serves as the museum’s treasure trove. Most of the exhibits, though, favor immersive learning instead of showing off objects. Don’t be surprised when you walk into a bubble room; the “Dinos in Space” area featuring two favorite kid subjects, including a life-size animatronic Dilophosaurus dinosaur; or the “You, Me, We!” exhibit, which encourages families to connect with each other around questions of fairness in the world and express themselves through guided identity exploration. And are there rotating exhibitions?The museum’s Gallery exhibits child-friendly work by local artists, with the installations changing every few months. “Wish You Were Here: Greetings from the Galápagos,” for example, created a magical realist landscape with an immersive video that speaks to the wonder of natural habitats. What did you make of the crowd?In case the line of strollers in the entrance didn’t make it clear, this is a place for families. Visitors under nine have the best time here, as older kids are more likely to take a walk through and move on, though they do like to explore the Japanese House, to build engineering marvels with the KEVA Planks, and to dive into the STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math) Lab. There’s a buzz of energy that borders on chaos during busy weekend visits, so consider visiting on a weekday afternoon in the summer. The price for admission is $22 for adults and children over the age of one, but the museum offers $1 entry on Sunday afternoons from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. On the practical tip, how were the facilities?The thoughtfulness of Boston Children’s Museum is clear when you read about their accessibility program for kids and adults. The entire museum is wheelchair accessible, and beyond that, there are special accommodations like noise-reducing headphones and icons that illustrate which exhibits are best for different kinds of learning styles. Any guided tours worth trying?Because this museum was built as an interactive space for kids, personal discovery rules the roost here. There are no public guided tours, but the museum hosts some awesome daily programming in the STEAM and Art labs. Gift shop: obligatory, inspiring—or skip it?The museum has added additional gallery space to replace the area formerly occupied by a gift shop. What if the little ones, or, you know, someone else in the group gets hungry?The museum’s Stonewall Kitchen Cafe offers a menu of light lunch and snack bites, many of them kiddo pleasing, as well as specialty food items that make good gifts and souvenirs. A space that connects the cafe to the museum has vending machines and tables and chairs for families that bring their own food for snack or lunch. Any advice for the time- or attention-challenged?Your kids won’t want to leave, but it’s still worth visiting if you only have an hour. The back-of-the-envelope hit list depends on the age of your kid, but the three-story New Balance Foundation Climb is a must-scale for any child who's old enough to enjoy the jungle gym at their local playground. Speaking of local playgrounds, there’s a new one right behind the museum, Martin’s Park, outfitted with a pirate ship, misters that spray from boulders, slides, swing and climbing opportunities galore." - Elizabeth Wellington
