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Children's Museum of Tacoma
- Hours:
Mon-Sat. 10:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
4 reviews for Children's Museum of Tacoma
If you have been to the Olympia Children's Museum....you will be very disappointed with this one!
It is very small and pricey to get in. I usually only go on free fridays or when the farmers market is running on Thursdays, then it is free and worth it.
As one other review mentions, anything more than 2 hours will be too long and boring.
The staff are great though and work hard to keep it organized during your visit.
A disappointment. I have a 19-month old and there wasn't a whole lot there for him. There were a few boxes of really worn wooden blocks and some dirty-looking stuffed animals. Otherwise it's for older kids, I'd say at least 5 or 6, because the premise is based on storytelling so they have to be old enough to comprehend those concepts. It's also a pretty small space overall.
There are boxes of books and a few tables with markers and crayons, which are things my son can do at home. I was expecting more unique things to play with and explore.
As an additional note, it's not baby or small toddler-proof. For example there was a basket of metal gardening tools laying on the floor, which included a small metal rake with spikes and a shovel. I was kind of surprised to find those kinds of things in an all ages children's museum, seems a little inappropriate. At least get plastic ones for goodness sake!
All in all, I wish I had spent my $12 buying my son a new toy or some art supplies. I guess I'm not the only one because there were only 3 other children there the entire hour I was there and two of them were around 7 or 8 years old.
If you have time for the extra drive, it's worth it to go to the Seattle Children's Museum at least once. It's pricier but you can find a free adult admission coupon online.
Planning a trip with my family to Tacoma normally involves heading to Point Defiance Zoo or either heading to Tacoma Dome to attend some sort of event for kids. From it being a Disney on Ice , Bob the builder to Dora and Wiggles concert. It always ends with our kids having fun. We are from Seattle so we usually only come around here about 3 times a year. Recently we have been exploring the idea of checking out other venues for our kids aside from the normal Seattle scene. Why not start at the Childrens Museum of Tacoma. Was hoping to see more reviews on Yelp prior to heading out but didn't find any. Lets make mines the second :)
Heading to Tacoma we where very excited and our expectations high. Normally we attend the Seattle Childrens Museum or the one in Factoria Mall. We always have a blast. The kids would run around for hours as we would tag along and play as well. Always a great time. So we expected the same with the one in Tacoma. To our disappointment, our expectations where not met, not even close :( First off half the exhibit featured a Native American / Coyote theme. The other half was some small art / crafts room and a small vegetable supermarket. Also there was a couple couple small activities stands, but that's it. Compared to the Seattle's Childrens Museum it was like 1/20 the size, probably even smaller. The Factoria one is small but there are plenty to do. There was just not much to interact with here.
Our kids ran around for about 45 minutes until they've seen enough and started getting bored. You can only keep them in one area for so long just to make it seem like its bigger then it really is. Our stay would have even lasted for only 30 minutes if it wasn't for 3 kids having to use the restroom. Your stay will be short.
Overall the price for admission was only 6$ a person which is not bad. The exhibit which was very limited did have a few interesting themes but not enough variety to warrant another trip for our family. There are much better Children Museums around. Also I noticed there was a party room for birthdays available. The problems is you have to go outside and enter another door to get to it. Its not even internally connected. Horrible layout.
If your in the area and want to check it out, by all means do. This is just my opinion. The problem is our expectation was not met. There wasn't enough for us to make this memorable for the kids. It did seem the children that where running around in there was having fun. Funny thing was we just didn't see the same ones around from the time we came in to the time we left. Looks as if people don't' stay that long.
Do you want to take your kids out to this type of venue and don't mind heading to Seattle or Factoria / Bellevue, then you will find yourself a children's museum that will keep even you as parents running around having fun for 2 + hours. The Tacoma Museum does try and does have some interesting themes but like I been saying throughout this review, it's just not enough.
If you've got small kids and you are in Tacoma then you should check out their local children's museum. Tacoma is creating a buzz with it's many museums in the area. This is the smallest & most hidden of them.
It has a lot of the things you find at other Children's museums - cultural hand s on exhibits, fruit & vegetable stands, play restaurant (tables, stove, fridge, cash register & even mops), climbing wall, etc.
It isn't very large and I think the kids would get bored if they had to spend more than 2 hours here, but otherwise no complaints.
Seattle, Portland & Olympia (only 45 minutes South of Tacoma) have better Children's museums, but in a pinch this one works fine.
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