Monday, May 9, 2011

Great Las Vegas Museums for Kids


We went to two museums while in Las Vegas. Both were really wonderful, especially for kids around the ages of 3-10.  During one of Steve's meetings we rented a car and I drove the kids to the Leid Discovery Children's Museum. We went for free since we have the Explorer's membership with the Chicago Children's Museum. If you haven't looked into a membership at your local children's museum, please do. Also, check out the Explorer's level or the level that gains you admission into children's and other museums across the USA and other countries, too. We saved over $150 using the pass during our trip.


We're used to going to a lot of different children's museums since we live in the Chicago area, but we were sufficiently pleased with this one. Although it's not very big, the museum had a lot of unique exhibits like the one above about how the piping system in your bathroom works.




There was shooting basketballs...




....and an awesome exhibit where you had to balance a round, metal object on a metallic spinning wheel. This enthralled the kids for at least 20 minutes. 




The kids also enjoyed playing car mechanics...




...and airplane pilots.  We only had a little over an hour to spend here and wish we could have stayed longer.




On our way back from San Diego, we drove back to Las Vegas to catch our flight back home. We stayed at a hotel the night before flying back and had time in the morning before our 3:00 flight. So, we stopped in for an hour at the Las Vegas Natural History Museum. The kids were SO disappointed when we had to leave. The museum was fabulous. It was small, but it had excellent hands-on exhibits.




Anyone who loves dinosaurs would be captivated by the great dinosaur exhibits they have at this museum. The funnest part about the exhibit?  Pressing buttons and making each dinosaur move and make sounds. Very, very cool!




There is a special section for younger kids that drew our kids like a magnet. They enjoyed the pretend submarine....




.....but they enjoyed digging for fossils even more. This museum is worth at least three or four hours of your time. If you're in the area, check it out!


2 comments:

Lynn B said...

Wow, I had no idea that there was good kid stuff in Vegas. Dh and I went pre-kid, and had a blast. But somehow we were insulated and didn't see the nasty side - we were at a convention. It sounds like a great trip anyway. What's new, Chris? What's the project you've been busy with? Loved the picture of you with Jared. As an old mommy, I am amazed by you young ones, you are such a spring chicken! :)

Chris said...

I have a bunch more posts about our trip, but it was really great. I'll write more about it, but I've started a website about interest-led learning. It's at www.christinapilkington.com. I'm really excited about it. As for being a young mom, at age 35 I don't usually feel like it!