This afternoon I took the boys to the newly re-opened and expanded children's museum. And WOW, is that place awesome! We've had a pass for the last 2 years-so I was a big fan of the old museum. They have been expanding it and renovating it for the last year and the wait was worth it. The museum here has been rated one of the best in the country before the expansions and now its has the be one of the best. The place has doubled in size and there so many things to do to entertain all ages from 6mo-teens. In fact, adults can do a lot of the stuff and I was kind of bummed I had 3 kids to keep track of because I wanted to do some of the activities.
The Tot Spot is designed for birth to 3 years is huge with so many ways for the babies to explore. Noah even had fun there for a while. They have mirrors on the walls, toys, places to crawl and explore, music, books and slides.
There is an area called Powerplay which is designed to get your heart pumping with different physical activities. They even have stations where you can check your heart rate. In the Powerplay area-it has a 3 story climbing contraption where you have to climb over and under little platforms, a climbing wall (which I tried until I was summoned by #1 and #2 fighting over scooters you can drive through a maze. #3 was watching me on the floor), a light jump rope, a game where you jump on moving lights (ie. each player chooses a color then has to jump on that color on the floor anytime that color flashes, kind of like a life size Simon if you remember those, Winston loved this he crawled all over the floor with lights and tried to dance to the accompanying music), and other various playground/climbing paraphernalia.
Outside is an area called Water Works-really really cool especially if you are a little boy. There is a system of locks which you can alternatively fill and empty with water and sail your boat down, much like the Panama canal. There is a huge 1000 gallon tank that fills with water and periodically dumps out, a place where you can put hoses together to divert water and create fountains.
We hardly even scratched the surface today when we went. We left only because the kids were starving and soaking wet from playing in the water. I am sooo glad our pass doesn't expire until Feb 2010. Here is there website in case you want to check out the great stuff. www.cmhouston.org
I want to come! Sadly, I think the travel time would negate any wonderful experiences we had while at the museum. It sure seems a lot more fun than the Portland Children's Museam!
ReplyDeleteWow! They had to have been inspired by the "Kindercity" here in Zurich (or somewhere else). Kindercity is exactly what you describe of the newer and expanded Houston Children's Museum. The music, the water play zone, the climbing walls and "fit" area, here they even have a Children's size Paraolympic zone where the kids can go on a mini wheelchair and go through a racetrack--Loic loves it and can do it on his own. I really liked taking the kids in the Houston C.M. when we lived there I'm glad they made it even better. We'll have to go back when we come visit...
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