Exploration is key at the Children’s Museum!
Hurrah! We’re off for an adventure with Grandma and (Great) Aunt Charlene. Hi, “We’re Keaton 7 and Kaia 6.” Today we’re going to the Glazer Children’s Museum in Tampa. How far is it to Tampa? What will we do there? Aunt Charlene’s says there’s lots of things to do at the Museum. It will be FUN!
Wow! This museum is BIG. Smile! Picture time! Aunt Charlene takes a picture of us in front of the museum. We sure look small! Once Grandma and Aunt Charlene get their tickets and wrist bands we are off to explore.
First stop is KidsPort. Look at all the water things to do! We can take a ball and place it in a tube then watch it roll. It goes down and over the Sunshine Skyway Bridge. Let’s put all the balls in and watch them roll over the bridge. Oops one jumped off the bridge. It is quickly recovered. This is a lot of fun!
Look I get a water helicopter into the water. Whee! I have to get it started to slide down the ramp.
I prefer to pump the water really fast out of a pump. This gets a lot of water flowing into this river at Kidsport. How fast can I pump? Pretty fast – look at all the water I’m pumping out.
I find a control panel. What’s it do? As I hold the buttons a chain moves a cart over the water. Oh! This lets me move things from one side of the water to the other. This is cool. I have to be patient as it goes pretty slow. I can put balls on it and send them over the water to the other side – Kaia can take the balls off there. She can even operate from that side and send them back to me.
I’m the Pilot! I can dock a ship! Taking the wheel, I am now the Captain. I have to pay close attention as I steer the ship into the Port of Tampa. I have control of both the wheel for turning and the speed for how fast I go. Oops, I like going fast but it makes it hard to steer. I watch carefully as I follow the map for taking the ship and docking it safely at the Port.
Look! There’s a ship in the Museum. Well at least the front of a ship. Inside I sit down and read the map. Looks like this ship lets me steer it from Tampa to different places in the Gulf of Mexico. I can go to New Orleans, Cozumel or the Cayman Islands. Not sure where some of these are but I just like steering the ship. I have to pay attention to keep this ship on course. I like piloting a ship!
Look at me! It’s Kaia climbing into the clouds. Aunt Charlene explains that I can climb in the clouds at Water’s Journey. I love to climb so this is exciting to me. Umm, I am supposed to be a raindrop coming from a cloud and going down to the ground.
This is a lot of fun! I don’t have to take the stairs to get to the second floor of the Museum. I just climb from level to level of Water’s Journey. I can go up pretty high. Look how close I am to the very top of the Musuem. It is a TALL bulding! I climb off on the second floor and meet up with Keaton. I like to climb while Keaton prefers to take the steps. On the second floor a group of kids arrive for a field day so it’s pretty crowded. We opt to check out things to do on our own away from the crowd.
Look it is the Twinkle Stars Theater. I like being on stage! In the back I find different costumes. I can be a butterfly, go on a safari, or be a dinosaur. There are curtains for different backgrounds. I decide to be a dinosaur. ARRRR! I’m scary. Keaton is busy doing the lighting for the theater. He is good at it. Sometimes the lights are blue or green or red.
Now we are off to Art Smart. What’s that? It’s a lot of different things. There is a piano – so Keaton plays the piano. There are different things to do. My favorite is the dancing video. I choose the type of music from country to hip hop and more. I watch myself dance on the TV. This is thrilling. As I dance lights are flashing too. I think I’ve got the BEAT!
Look Grandma! We can put these scarfs in this tube and it blows them out. It’s Keaton and I like taking a bunch of scarfs and putting them all in the tube at one time. Puff! Up and out they go! Grandma helps me load the scrafs and then we try to catch them as they blow up and out. Then they float down to us.. Hurry Grandma and catch the scarf!|
Look it’s the FARM! Here we learn where our food comes from. Kaia is deciding which food each animal prefers. What does a pig eat? What does a cat eat? What does a cow eat? There is a saddle so she hops on it and even tries to ride a pig. Kaia, you don’t ride pigs you ride horses.
I think I’ll try milking a cow. Well that is interesting. No milk but I get an idea what it’s like to milk a cow. Kaia also tries to milk the cow.
Note: We bypass the Engineers’ Workshop and Publix as each is packed with the kids on a field trip. |
I want to be a Vet! So I head to the Vet Clinic. Here I put on a lab coat. Today I am going to treat cuddly pets. First I check out an x-ray of an animal. Then I look at the utensils in a sterilizer (that’s what Aunt Charlene says it is).
Look at this little puppy. I think he should be treated. Ah! The puppy needs a special collar. I carefully attach it. This collar will keep the puppy from biting himself where he has been treated. Yes, I am a very good Vet. I am always kind to animals. This puppy should get well soon.
Look! Watch my body bones Dance and Jiggle! At the Hospital (St. Joseph’s Children’s Hospital), I can dance and have the x-ray machine follow my moves. See how the machine only shows my bones. This is FUNNY! I jiggle and the bones jiggle. I put my hands up and the bones put its hands up. There are other things at the Hospital but I like the x-ray with the dancing bones the best.
PIZZA OR ICE CREAM? As I Explore the Global Café, the main treats are slices of pizza in the Pizza Place or scoops of sweet treats at the Ice Cream Parlor. The food is fake so I opt to skip it. Kaia carefully makes a tasty dessert for Grandmother. Instead I head over with Aunt Charlene to the Central Bank.
It’s Keaton and I like operating things. I am trying to see how fast I can turn these handles. I can really go pretty fast. Aunt Charlene points up and explains that by turning the handles I am moving the circle over my head. Ok – I am more interested in just seeing how fast I can turn the handles. That is entertaining enough for me.
We’ve had a FUN TIME at the Glazer Children’s Museum. We got to try out a lot of different things. Keaton especially like piloting a boat and operating anytype of equipment. While Kaia thrilled at climbing into the clouds and dancing. The Museum lived up to our expectations allowing children to try on various identies and explore the world around them. Truly a place for “imaginative play.”
Check out out last Adventure where we explore the St. Pete Pier.
If you go:
- Parking is easy next door to the Museum at the Poe Garage.
- Each child must be accompanied by an adult.
- Go on weekdays to avoid weekend crowds.
- Recommend check ahead to see if the Museum is hosting a Field Day for a school group. On our visit there were 3 first grade classes and it was hard to visit some of the exhibits due to the crowd.
- Check the calendar for events and actitivities.
- There are a few eateries near the Museum. For lunch we like the Tampa Bay Pizza Company and the Peterbrooke Chocolatier Tampa for a tasty gelato treat after a visit to the Museum.