Oh, “Free Friday”; two of my favorite words. Free because I am cheap, and Friday
because, well, Rebecca Black says it best: “tomorrow is Saturday and Sunday
comes afterwards”. But this
summer, Friday means three straight days of trying to figure out how to
entertain the world’s most active toddler indoors to avoid the 110 degree heat
index.
Well, once a month, the Cincinnati Museum Center at Union
Terminal (CMC) makes my “momming” easy.
Every summer, the CMC hosts four Free Fridays (underwritten by Duke
Energy) where all three museums are open to the public and free of charge from
4pm to 8pm (Children’s Museum, Museum of Natural History and Science, and
Cincinnati History Museum).
If you have never visited the CMC, you simply must, you must! It really is such an amazing place for
kids of all ages with incredible exhibits, a beautiful historic building, and
playful learning opportunities abounding.
We stay in the Children’s Museum area, which is, essentially, a giant
playground where children learn while playing. It is very well designed with a separate area (Little
Sprouts Farm) for children under 4 years of age but primarily populated with
really little children. The
toddlers and older seem to love playing with the excavator, or in the ball area
where children learn some mechanics, in the water zone where kids can build
dams, operate a pulley system, or build a boat on a huge water table, or, the
favorite of many, The Woods. The woods
are essentially a forest where children can climb through the trees, slide down
slides, and learn about ecosystems.
Additionally, they have a whole town with a grocery store,
gas station, restaurant, and houses where children can play-act like their
parents; Knox loves to make me the most interesting concoctions to eat at the
restaurant. They also have blocks,
pegboards for building, a virtual reality machine, turtles and a live aquarium,
skeletons, and, and, you know what, you really just need to go see for
yourself!
The schedule of free Fridays can be found online at http://www.cincymuseum.org/events/freefridays
but the next one is this Friday, July 13, 4-8 pm. Parking is $4 after 4:30. I must warn you, it is usually quite crowded in the
children’s museum but totally worth making a night of it; maybe even splurging
for some Graeter’s in the lobby afterward, but only if you’re feeling really
wild!