children's museum of richmond - short pump

Clearly this place is for children under 5, unlike the other children's museums. It should be titled "Toddlers Museum" at half the price!!!All that was done was an overpriced store front was stuffed with play sets and a broken train ride that WOULD go around in a circle. Our son had more fun at the free playground!

The museum is pretty big, but the exhibits are somewhat limited. There was painting, a little ship and treasure hunt area, race car repair, a grocery store, a few other exhibits that didn't interest the little ones, and a train ride. Most of the exhibits were pretty run down and some were closed because they were broken. Although the kids were able to do some painting, the painting was a bit disappointing as there was nobody around to replenish empty paint and paper bins. The kids enjoyed the grocery store and treasure hunt exhibits and the train ride, which only runs every 30minutes was a huge hit. Overall the kids had a great time, but I am basing this review on the fact that my daughter and niece are young (2yrs). I agree with other reviews that this would be great for kids under 6. With a few minor upgrades the experience could be upgraded from average to very good.

Joined with a family year membership for my son and his wife and daughters and me (Grannie).I only went a couple of times, but it was obvious the kids mostly under 5 were having a blast, There is one large room with all kinds of games, slides, leaning tools and a shop with make believe packages of food and grocery carts. Made me flash back to being a kid and playing shop.Then there was a small separate room ,which is the art room ,smocks are supplied for the kids to wear while they finger-paint. Great place for kids especially in the winter months when there isn't much to do for them, when its really cold outside.Parking can be a little tricky but spaces are usually to be found, you may have to walk a block. Take a baby stroller just in case.

This is by far the best place for little ones to play indoors. The museum is small, and it is easy to keep track of your busy children as they are having fun! Definitely one of our favorite places to visit!

It is basically one big room with about 10 exhibits and an art area. Don't take the kids there ifthey are over 6... they'd be bored. But for the under 6 crowd, it was FUN! The staff was supriseingly energetic and seemed to love thier jobs. It is in a great area of town.

Great interactive museum for children. They offer classes as well. Go enjoy this awesome museum. Good times...

Hard to get by auto, parking ???traffic out of this world, especially in late afternoon and weekends, downtown better! Location !!!

The weather was bad, so we stopped at the Children's Museum. Different to what I was expecting, it had a great space to keep my little man busy. With a massive area for arts and crafts, a life size Meccano type car, train, and a couple of shops.The shops were scaled versions of the Silver Diner and a grocery shop. With tills, shopping trolleys, my little boy was in his element. The diner was a miniature Silver Diner with booths, menus and play food. The kids loved this, you could just see it on their faces.We stayed for a few hours and would recommended to anyone.

The museum is a bit small, but younger kids will have a great time exploring. The arts & crafts room consumed most of our time, but the rest of the museum was a hit too.

We have a membership here and I love the layout of this Museum, it's basically one big room. So, I can still see my kids even if they're on the other side of the room. It's pretty expensive to go, but a membership is definitely worth it!

I took my 4 year and she was too old for the majority of the museum. Not worth the money that you have to pay to go there. The CMOR Central is so much better and larger. I was extremely disappointed since I drove across town to go there.

I am a member of the Charleston South Carolina's children museum, so I can compare the two a bit. We are here in town as we wait to close on a house in the NE. The downsides of CMOR-- you do have to walk through toys that are for sale to get to the part where you can play. I did think they should rethink that. Are they that desperate to sell stuff that if the store were at the back nobody would buy it? My 3.5 year old did better with it than I expected.Also, I did have a lot of doubts paying $16 for a day, and there is no discount with a membership to another children's museum in the nation. If they would consider a less expensive pass than a membership so that people in town for a month or two could go for less than that a day, we would be there several days a week. While the price is fair, I won't pay that to go several times a week for 6 weeks, so we may go back one more time.The positives are a really cool huge sandbox area with the rubber gravel. They also have a great train that goes around almost every hour. It loops three times in a little look (and makes noises), and then the next group of kids get to ride it. I was impressed with the train, and it is free.Also, I loved the layout. The Charleston one .. You have to literally watch your kid like a hawk. Here, you can see around the entire place. It is in a very large area, and you can watch easily without stressing about the child. The best part would be the high school/college kids there. I met high school kids who told me they loved it there and were earning volunteer hours. I went on a sunny Friday, and there were more volunteers than kids much of the day. My son had one young male volunteer, Will, to play with for a large part of the day. I haven't been to a museum where there are people that actually played with the kids. Eventually Will went home, but we did not... I thought we were never going to leave. An African-American employee was equally spectacular (missed her name). She played hide-n-seek with my child and another woman's grandchild for hours. Finally, I made mine leave at 4:30.... Yes, we never even left for lunch. When you think of the amount of babysitting $16 buys (which is one hour of a kid either getting to play with a babysitter or watching a babysitter on a cell phone), this is a huge bargain. Also, I was impressed that none of the kids seemed to do anything but work or play with the kids.. no cell phones were even out. Now, I did play and read to my child there, but I also had a lot of down time to just sit and relax on the wonderful benches while my son ran around playing games with the volunteers. Oh, and they had a curtain stage area where you can dress up, a small kitchen area, and other small areas with slides, etc. They also have an art room, and Will helped my son to paint a picture, etc. I would say however that the museum is HIGHLY targeting up to about 4. If I had a toddler or baby and wanted to spend some quality time in a clean environment, then I wouldn't hesitate to get a membership there. Even two year olds would love it, but I would say if your child is 4 or over, you would want to look into possibly the downtown/main branch.

Immediately upon entering you have to navigate a gift store to get into the play area. My normally even keeled two-year-old had a complete meltdown. Very hard to explain to toddler which toys he could play with and which ones he could not. I'm sure most patents just cave and buy things from the gift shop. Feels very manipulative, we bailed after a short time.

The museum is not a good place for older children above 4, not alot to do....plus adults pay money to get in and walk or sit around. Its good for younger children for about an hour of play and then it gets tiring, the selection is limited.

First of all, I have no idea why adults have to pay to get into children's museums. I would probably go more often if I wasn't paying $24 for 3 of us to go (2 of which are adults). Then we get in there, and I was really surprised at how there was so very little to do. My son who is 4, was done in an hour -- 15 minutes of that was waiting for the train (the train is fun but should run much more frequently than on the hour).I just felt very disappointed in spending so much money, and didn't there was a very high quality of things to do. I doubt we will go back.