One BIG Children's Museum: Marbles Kids Museum in Raleigh, NC

If you need a kids' day out in a large size, Marbles Kids Museum is a great place to be!  A truly large children's museum, Marbles is also extremely economical--it's just $5 to enter in any case, and it is an ASTC Passport museum, so your membership gets you in free if you have one! We went on a trip with friends, and our group of 5 kids, ages 3-9, all had a great time and spent about a full day in the museum.

Marbles is full of imaginative play spaces that truly encourage kids to interact and cooperate.  Our favorites include Kid Grid and Moneypalooza, both of which have transport systems for disks and balls that are just plain fun.

Kid Grid is particularly manageable in size--and our kids got into the theme, declaring there was a power outage and they had to restore power quickly.

There are also imaginative play spaces like a pirate ship and submarine.  Exploratory places include a large maker space that is well-stocked for a variety of age levels and an "art loft."

Another big hit for our kids? Power2Play, a workout area with a trampoline, log rolling, pulleys that allow you to lift yourself, a small hockey rink, a basketball area, and some additional gym equipment.  G really enjoyed the "swings"--gym rings.  We started at the "top" of the museum at Moneypalooza and worked our way "down" and through--ending at Around Town.  This worked well--and ended our day with a quieter section of the museum before we headed to the car.

If you go, this is another place where you can pack snacks--just plan to eat them outside.  We found surface parking nearby at a reasonable cost ($2 an hour) and ate at Pogo inside the museum courtyard.  Expect crowds in the museum no matter the day of week or time in the summer.  While in the area, also consider visiting the Museum of Life and Science in nearby Durham, NC--we made an overnight trip of the two this time.  For our previous visit to Marbles, click here.