Boston Children's Museum

As we entered Boston Children’s Museum and saw the most amazing, three storey climbing platform with children crawling all over it, we knew that we were in for a treat. Little Lady headed straight for the structure and we had some difficulty persuading her to come off it so that we could explore the rest of the museum. There were three floors to explore and we headed to the top to begin.

The construction zone was our first stop and it was clearly very popular. Children could build with all types of material. There were trucks, cranes, tunnels and ramps to investigate. At home, Little Lady rarely chooses to play with her construction sets but as we all started building, she got involved too. It was a brilliant place for promoting STEM. Unfortunately, we had difficulty persuading my husband to leave!

 

We headed next to a complete Japanese house from Kyoto. This is not what I had been expecting to visit in central Boston! We loved walking around with our shoes off on the tatami matting and even getting to peek in the bathroom- the bit kids really want to find out about.

One of our favourite exhibitions was ‘Explore-a-Saurus.’ A large Dilophosaurus that children can operate using controls was the exhibition’s highlight, and we all wanted a go. ‘Explore-a-Saurus’, cleverly answers questions that children may ask about dinosaurs but in an environment where children can touch, press, measure and interact with everything. To find out how tall different dinosaurs were, children can project images onto a screen and compare them with human adults and children.

We eventually moved to the second floor where there was plenty to entertain younger children. There is a space specifically for under threes and a ‘Countdown to Kindergarten’ space for pre-schoolers. But also on this floor was the water play. This is something that I had wrongly assumed Little Lady had grown out of! The apron went on and she played and played until it was time to dry herself off under the special quiet hand driers provided for damp children.

On our return to the ground floor, Little Lady was straight back onto the climbing platform only pausing to wave to us from different levels. I sneaked off for a look around the museum shop- the books alone were brilliantly chosen and endlessly appealing. The staff here are clearly tuned into what children like!

Before our visit, a friend of my told me that in her opinion, this was the best children’s museum in the world. I have only been to a handful but, after visiting, I’m inclined to agree (but willing to be challenged). We really had the most amazing time. Hubby and I felt like big kids and Little Lady was enthralled by every new room that we went into. I would love to see something like this in the UK. I’m sure many local families must have the annual pass but, if like us, you are Boston with your children for a short time, make it a priority to visit this excellent museum.