Treehouse Childrens Museum

New Summer Adventure #1

Man, it was hard to get out the door for this one -- for reasons I can't remember -- but I'm so glad to be, in my new mother-of-three status, feeling ready for at least a bit of adventuring.



Sean's first impressions. Ha!

Technically, this was not my first time at this museum. I went when it was more like a little hole in the wall a few blocks away from where it now stands. I'd been looking forward to visiting the new location, and though I did go in early June, it was one of my off days. So I went again, and this time, I have lots of good to say. I have determined that the worst place to try and get pictures of kids looking at the camera is in a childrens' museum. Still I tried. :o)

Stuff we liked:

**Parking is nice and close, and there seemed to be plenty. This museum is right by the Ogden temple, in the up and coming nice downtown part of Ogden.
**You pay for your child when they begin walking, which I think is perfect. It bugs when a childrens' museum charges for a one-year-old who is just going to be chillin' in the stroller the whole time.
**They have a cheaper toddler time, which is I believe from 10-noon on Mondays. This includes some extra goofy story time which we caught when we went in June. Part of this story time included a 65-ish woman at the keyboard with songs like "If You're Happy and You Know It," and I imagined that she had been doing it and loving it for years and years. I think she even accompanied the story time with dramatic music when appropriate. And that, to me, is some serious piano talent.
**This museum has a huge tree in the middle of the building, you can go up the tunnel/stairs to the upper floors. They have a slick rock slide for going part of the way down, but this is currently cardboarded off for some reason.

Stuff we didn't like:

**Much of the parking, I think it may just be the parking closest to the entrance, is for only two hours. So they expect you to drag your kids out of the museum to move your car and then come back in? That sounds fun.
**No strollers allowed on the museum floor, which yes is probably the status quo at places like these. Luckily, this time I came prepared with the Bjorn. Still, after the three hours we were there, I was exhausted.


Exhibits:

**One of the first places we stopped in was made up of little houses representing different countries. My kids liked Africa. There was a straw-roofed house to take apart and put back together. And Ben thorougly enjoyed the flatbed safari truck. He was very sad that he couldn't take it with us to the next exhibit.

This little showcase, about the size of a shoebox, was a part of the Japan house. I stared at it for a long time, all the tiny detailed pieces were neat.
The Great Britain house had a tea party set up, as well as lots of books and information on Beatrix Potter. Wish I could have stayed and browsed but my boys were SO moving on. :o)
**Upstairs there was a very cool exhibit coming soon of "Be the Hero of your Own Story." I loved this area, even though it wasn't quite done. Huge books, complete with classic titles on the spines, made up the desks and partitions, they were stacked for the stage. I wish I'd have gotten a picture but my camera was dying.
**Ongoing activities at the art garden. They had these cute little pre-teens there to greet the children and get them started (accompanying grownup still had to be there too). We made these yankee doodle caps, that you staple together, complete with a feather on back. Ten minutes later I was wishing I would have just stapled them to my diaper bag, since I was the one carrying them most of the time. :o)
**OH, the music area. We spent a good amount of time here. I am finding that it is nigh impossible to get a good picture of my Ben without a flashed over-exposed face. He just moves too quick, always a blur.

Ben's favorite were these drums.

Yankee Doodle Zach liked the wall-mounted marimbas.
**The "castle" area is SO much fun! They have some turret tower scenery, treasure chests filled with dress ups for kids of all sizes, a curtained stage for life-size acting out, as well as a little puppet theatre to the side.

Since my boys really like Robin Hood right now, they loved these castle building pieces, complete with horses and knights to liven things up.

Here is the stage. I think it was at this point where my Sean was getting fussy and I gave up trying to get any decent pictures with my dying camera.
**I love these huge floor maps so much.

There is one of Utah and one of the U.S.A. The kids can press a button to hear trivia questions, and they stand on the state or county that is being referred to. Too mature an activity for my boys now, but perfect for older kids who visit the museum.

A funny thing about this day was that I was going to meet my sister-in-law there, she also with a newborn (and her own three older kids, AND two she babysits). We did meet. As we were passing each other while chasing kids across a lobby area. :o) So my visions of chatting with a friend while my kids were entertained were not fulfilled. Ah well, I think we'll go back again sometime and I think she will too.

Bottom line... I think this is a winner place to visit. I want to say that the feel there is a type of old-fashioned imagination-building that should never be extinguished. Lots of emphasis on telling stories, on creating a place to pretend in for awhile. I loved it.