Explore and More: Gettysburg's Wonderful Playhouse

On a recent trip to Gettysburg, we had a bit of dismal weather.  This situation became a great excuse to check out Explore and More, Gettysburg's children's museum.  K had seen simple ads for it, and in town with our two kids and friends and their two kids, we figured it would be worth a shot for spending a bit of time together.  We wound up turning our "bit of time" into about 4 hours with our combined kids, ages 18 months to 7 years.  Everyone had a great time!

Explore and More, situated conveniently "behind" the town library and walkable from Lincoln Square and Steinwehr Avenue hotels on the Baltimore Street end, is a repurposed older home turned hands-on exploration area.  In short, if we could turn our whole house into a playroom, this is what we would build.  Downstairs, you'll find exploration stations including a giant bubble making area and an imaginative play space with a civil war period "home" and campsite.  Upstairs, there's a small black light room and multiple art activities--as well as our boys' favorite space, a construction/manufacturing "site" with a loft and play office.  K, principal of a career-technical education center, was thrilled to see E, age 7, enjoy it so!  There are also small animals to observe (not pet)--think pet mice in cages--and there's a mini gift shop to boot with educational toys.

K, a kindergarten and first grade teacher in a previous segment of life, was impressed by how developmentally-appropriate the museum is--exploration comes naturally in this environment. The owners are two former teachers--and they work to provide this opportunity for the community without paying themselves.  Therefore, pay your admission happily--it's a good value at $7/kid 2-14 and $5/adult.  Those with the potential to visit frequently should investigate a frequent-visitor punch card; there is no membership available.  The atmosphere is quite welcoming and low key, making the museum an excellent place to frequent.

If you go, really consider walking if you are staying at such places as the 1863 Inn of Gettysburg or the Inn at Cemetery Hill.  The walk is pleasant and will allow you to see the living town of Gettysburg--after all, the town was a town at the time of the Civil War battle bearing its name. Metered parking is, however, available and can be free in some circumstances (like holidays)--check ahead.  We agree with the official website that the museum is pretty perfect for ages 2-8, but kids older and younger can enjoy it as well.  Remember that you can walk to Lincoln Square; there are several nearby moderate pub-style restaurants directly on the circle, and the economical and fun Lincoln Diner (truly situated in a diner) is about a 10 minute walk away, albeit through intersections.  Art activities do include paint and glitter; while there are smocks, dress accordingly. Our best advice, though, is to come on out to Explore and More and get messy!

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.

Fun with Friends and a New Exhibit: Danville Science Center

What do you do on the next-to-last day of your ASTC Passport-level science museum membership?  1) Make sure it is renewed for next year (it is!).  2)  Enjoy the benefits with a guest good friend!  Today, E, his friend L, and Kim drove down to Danville Science Center to enjoy pleasant weather, a new travelling exhibit, and the Dome Theater movie of choice, National Geographic's Wildest Weather in the Solar System.

First things first:  Three big thumbs up to the travelling exhibit Design Zone, in-house through spring 2016.  These six-year-old boys spent well over an hour in the exhibit, and they didn't even notice they didn't cover but about a third of it.  It may be implied by that last statement, but the experienced museum-goer knows to spell out these important facts: the exhibit components were interactive, in good repair, and very engaging.  Most appropriate for early elementary through middle school, Design Zone lets you test lots of maker concepts and play games--and the connections to basic algebra, simple machines, and the like are thoughtfully designed.  It would be a fantastic field trip classroom!  Our favorite exhibits were roller coaster and skate park test tracks, both digital and physical; a three-person "bike race" activity; a catapult tester; and a marble maze game you could customize with simple equations.  Also intriguing: an equation balancing activity, coordinate plane drawing (that requires cooperation between partners); and "laser lights" to manipulate, dance-floor style.  In short, if you live where we do, it is completely worth the drive from Roanoke. By way of really nifty memories, we were also the first non-museum folks to enter the exhibit, which made us feel like celebrities.

All that said, the rest of the museum was equally pleasing.  Our other favorites included the taxidermied animal collection in the train station building and the force experiment stations upstairs. We enjoyed our Dome movie--and in Danville, there's a short planetarium "sky show" at the end of the movies.  In about 45 minutes, we saw our feature and had an educational presentation about the area sky.  Our "sky guide" was very well-spoken and informative--and the information he presented was accessible to everyone in the audience.  The technology in the Dome allows various perspectives on sky views, including the ability to "zoom out" to the Milky Way--educational, yes, and also just plain cool.

For families and collections of young friends, this museum is a great choice.  The size is big enough but not overwhelming for a day trip visit, gift shop prices are reasonable, parking is convenient, and there's an area inside for snacking/picnicking if you please.  And another plug for ASTC museum memberships:  Danville Science Center memberships are particularly reasonably priced, and you don't have to live in Danville to get them.  The ASTC reciprocity piece "kicks in" 90 miles from your home museum, so this option may be a particularly good deal in Danville depending on your family's travel plans.  They also have educator memberships, so if you work for schools, ask questions and see what works out best for you!  When getting a membership, be sure to ask about its passport status.  For more on our previous adventures at the center, click here.

A Favorite Children's Museum: Marbles Kids Museum in Raleigh, NC

If you have young kids, you are definitely going to want to visit Marbles Kids Museum in Raleigh, North Carolina!  Kim had heard of Marbles after visiting the Greensboro Children's Museum and then became quite pleased to note admission to Marbles is free to ASTC Passport holders.  We simply had to make at least one trip there this year with E, almost 6, and G, almost 2.  Yes, it's about 3 hours from home in Roanoke, but it was definitely worth it.  We are actually surprised we hadn't heard about it earlier.

Marbles features two large floors of spacious, well-kept exhibits.  On our 3-hour visit, we took in the Around Town, Idea Works, Moneypalooza, and Splash! areas.  We could have spent more time in each, and we did not cover the entire museum.  Our kids were thrilled with a firetruck setup featuring a fire pole, a large train table, lots of moving parts (simple machines, pneumatic tubes, etc.) in Moneypalooza, and opportunities to build in Idea Works.  E even used a hand saw here in a special area that allows kids to create with found objects and safe building materials.  There's lots of fun to be had in art stations, at special events (a vet and a therapy dog were there to greet kids during our visit), and more.  Expect a good crowd, and know the Around Town area is a good one for the smallest explorers--it's gated.  We highly recommend this museum for the toddler-to-early elementary school set.

In short, Marbles was one of the best children's museums we've seen. It was a great place for E and G to enjoy a playdate with their cousin R.  If you go, consider roaming the museum with a small group of similar-aged children and a couple of adults for good measure.  Admission is just $5 if you do not have membership rights; parking is nearby (pay to park in a surface lot or in a garage).  There's an IMAX theatre and restaurant on site, and you are within walking distance to the North Carolina Museum of History.  There's also an attractive museum courtyard, so if the weather cooperates, we don't know why you couldn't bring a picnic.

ASTC passport holders traveling to/from Roanoke, consider planning your visit route to incorporate the Museum of Life + Science, Greensboro Science Center, and/or other museums on the passport list--you are within driving range!  We have family in North Carolina, and we are planning more joint play date trips this year.