Portsmouth, VA Kids' Museum
- theherewegofamily
- Apr 9, 2022
- 3 min read
Fun for Adults and Kids, even Preschoolers to Preteens
What an exciting place to bring your kids. My kids are 5-13 and they all had a fun time. I love how there are also places for the parents to either join in the fun or sit in a rocker and enjoy watching their kids.
Cost & Annual Pass
As a family of 5, our day tickets totaled $52 (10 per child, 11 per adult). We made our reservations online, but when we arrived we decided to use the current purchase credit towards a Stargazer reciprocal pass for $78 more. If we come 2 more times, we will have saved. Also, with the reciprocal pass, we can visit other children's museums that are part of their program. There are so many in North Carolina. We travel to South Carolina several times a year. It would be such a blast to be able to stop at a kids' museum in North Carolina (or 2) on the way.
Bier Garden German Restaurant
We love German food and wanted to take our kids with a full belly before the museum. Bier Garden, which is only a short walk away, is amazing!
Explore the museum
The bottom floor has a music room, vet area, dentist office, grocery store, train room and a science room. We spent most our time upstairs in the Energy area.
Our Favorites
My kids' favorite by far is the Motion Machines where you design a course for a ball to roll.
They maneuver the obstacle pieces over and over again to get the best course for the flow of the ball. It is so much fun to watch them spend so much time creating new courses and exploring the cause and effect of the pieces.
Another favorite is the Bubble room. Even I get excited in this room. Being surrounded by an enormous bubble is so exhilarating! 😁
My oldest is very good at making huge bubbles at the wand station. It was great to see that he was not too old yet to enjoy this fun place.
There is a Planetarium with a movie about two fish going on an adventure to save their reef. They discover that getting everyone to sing to the moon is the secret. Not sure how singing makes the tide rise, but it is cute. Sorry if I ruined the ending 😆
My youngest loved the fishing boat. The magnets on the fishing rods work surprisingly well. I was nervous that it would be a source of frustration for my 5 year old. But he did great! He also amazed me with his ability to then match the shape of the fish he caught with its matching shaped drop spot. The drop spots dump the fish right back into the fishing area. Brilliant!
The gift shop had several fun souvenir options for each of the kids. The 5 and 9 year olds got Plus Plus mystery makers, which were a blast for my daughter to build (9). It was too tough for my youngest. My oldest got a small Newton's cradle, which quickly became too tangled. I do not recommend that purchase. Our favorite was an astronaut ice cream sandwich that we all shared as we walked back to our car.
Would we go back?
Definitely. It was not very stressful as a parent. There was lots of variety and it was fun to watch or play with the kids. We set a limit of 3 hours total which I think helped enjoy the moment. And with a reasonable annual pass, yes, we will be returning! We are also excited to see the other museums that the reciprocal pass gets us into.
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