The Entrance to Port Discovery Children's Museum
For our daughter’s fourth birthday last month, we were thrilled to receive free tickets to the Port Discovery Children’s Museum, courtesy of Family Magazine of Washington, DC. “A” was so excited about visiting a three-story building devoted entirely to toys that it was totally worth maneuvering the twists and turns of Baltimore’s highly congested one-way streets!
For those of you who are not familiar with this gem of childhood fun, Port Discovery is ranked among the top 5 children’s museums in the U.S. by Child Magazine and recently earned a spot on Forbes’ list of top U.S. children’s museums. This amazing museum offers three floors of interactive, educational exhibits and programs for children ages birth through 10. There are areas to experience farm life, explore a three-story treehouse, play a game of indoor soccer, “cook” and serve food at the Tiny Diner, and splash in the Wonders of Water!
The Next Iron Chefs at the Tiny Diner
When we arrived at Port Discovery, the front desk directed us to the third floor. For those of you with preschoolers, the third floor is definitely the place to start, as it has the most captivating areas for kids, ages 3 through 5! “A” made a beeline for the Tiny Diner, a room that was reminscent of one of my favorite DC restaurants: Johnny Rockets. It offered a 50′s-era jukebox that set the kids grooving to tunes as they cooked and took food orders.
I personally loved the comfortable little booths where parents have a chance to talk, under the guise of deciding what to order. And, “A” thoroughly enjoyed sashaying by to take our order, scrounging up the food (i.e. complaining loudly at the lack of options as she peered into the refrigerator…I wonder where she learned that?), and firing up the stove. But, despite our efforts to order burgers, fish, and malts, we always seemed to end up with a raw steak topped with lettuce and served in a stainless steel mixing bowl.
Workin' the Assembly Line
Once we had our fill of raw meat, we wandered over to the Wonder Widgets exhibit, a fun-filled assembly line. It boasted a motorized belt that had shapes with a missing piece, and your job was to fish out the appropriate piece from the vat of choices, stick it in the corresponding hole as it went past, and finish as many sets as you could before the 60 second buzzer rang. My husband was slightly concerned that this section appealed to our daughter so much (since every other child seemed to avoid it), but she singlehandedly manned the assembly line with incredible gusto. A hundred years ago, she would have been the dream child of the Industrial Revolution!
The Splish Splash of the Wonder of Water
Another highlight of our visit was the Wonder of Water, a myriad of fountains, squirt bottles, and water mazes. “A” had the greatest time sailing little Lego boats, operating the water wheels, and washing windows. Yes, you read that correctly! The Wonder of Water room is glass-encased, and Port Discovery ingeniously offers squirt bottles and window washing implements to the children. It is truly a Tom Sawyer-ish idea! Those glass windows are the cleanest you’ll ever find, as every child vied for a turn to spritz and scrub a section of the glass! {Parent Tip: while Port Discovery offers ponchos, it’s probably a good idea to bring a change of clothes, as it is pretty much impossible to leave dry!}
Writing Letters to Clifford
This Spring, Port Discovery has a special exhibit that thrilled “A” to her very core: Clifford the Big Red Dog. There is a section to read Clifford books (we had to pry her away), dig for bones, write a letter to Clifford, camp out in a dog house (because who wouldn’t want that?), and bang on percussion instruments (I’m still not sure how that ties in with Clifford but, judging from the line, it’s a huge crowd-pleaser!). It’s a place where the Clifford books come alive and children are transported to a play date with Emily Rose and her favorite dog!
KidsWorks: The Urban Treehouse
And, of course, our daughter’s favorite part: KidWorks, the urban tree house. It’s three stories of rope climbing, tunnel crawling, and body maneuvering. Since “A” begged and pleaded to try the enclosed three-story slide in the middle of KidWorks, my husband patiently climbed the course with her. We assumed that one ride down such a long slide would forever squelch her desire for tree-climbing adventure. We couldn’t have been more wrong! We finally decided it was time to leave when another parent mistakenly assumed my husband was part of the KidWorks’ team and asked him to escort their child through the maze of ropes as well!
Needless to say, I highly recommend the Port Discovery Children’s Museum -you will treasure the wonderful memories you make as a family! But, make sure to clear a day for your visit, because there are so many fun activities to enjoy.
And, don’t forget! Target is sponsoring $2 Family Fun Nights at Port Discovery on the THIRD Friday of every month. General admission is just $2 per person from 4pm – 7pm. (Fine Print: Tickets must be purchased at the door. They cannot be purchased in advance or combined with any other discounts or coupons.) For more information about Port Discovery discounts, be sure to read our earlier post!
{Disclosure: Our family received tickets to the Port Discovery Children’s Museum. However, all ideas are my own and were not influenced in any way.}
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