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| Children's Museum in Greensboro NC © Katrena |
The Greensboro Children's Museum offers a nice assortment of fun, educational activities for children of a variety of ages. My kids were quite excited to see this children's museum because of the huge black and white sculpture standing out front. Many colorful and interesting surprises awaited inside as well!
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| Fun Things to Do at Greensboro Children's Museum © Katrena |
Parking is limited at the Greensboro Children's Museum. We have visited the museum more than once, and each time we have had to circle the parking lot waiting for an open space because the lot was full. They have a sign stating that parking is available across the street for a fee, but we circled for a while and ended up getting a spot in the museum parking lot both times.
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| Wear Costumes and Act on Stage at Greensboro Children's Museum © Katrena |
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| Practice Using Sound & Lighting Equipment © Katrena |
The museum is set up in a circular fashion and the floor is painted to resemble a road going through a town. Fun and unusual opportunities for educational play are found throughout the museum. My kids decided to turn to the right first. They loved dressing up and putting on a play for the adults in the theater. The raised stage has a curtain, some props, and several choices of different sized costumes back stage. Out front, the kids can get some practice with lighting and sound effects. It was interesting to see the kids being creative and imaginative in their productions!
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| Practice Being a Dentist at Greensboro Children's Museum © Katrena |
Kids can try their hands at being a dentist a little farther down the hall in the medical area. This can be a great opportunity to talk to little ones about what to expect at the dentist's office and to give them a chance to sit in the chair and role play being the dentist as well. My girls were really hoping that the chair would go up and down, but it was stationary. My oldest daughter in particular thought it was cool to dress up and be on the giving, rather than the receiving, end of the dental chair!
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| Practice Being a Surgeon © Katrena |
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| Practice Taking Care of Babies in the Greensboro Children's Museum © Katrena |
Just a few steps away is the doctor's office, where kids can practice being a receptionist, inspect x-rays, take care of newborn babies in the nursery, or perform surgery. The surgical table resembled a huge life-sized Operation game. My youngest would have probably been content to take care of the baby dolls in the nursery the whole time we were visiting. They had lots of blankets for the babies, and my 3-year-old particularly enjoyed tucking in the dolls and holding and rocking them in the rocking chair.
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| Nonie's House in Greensboro Children's Museum © Katrena |
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| Collecting Eggs at Greensboro Children's Museum © Katrena |
Nonie's House was next on my kids' list of fun places to visit. This area was set up like an old fashioned home, complete with hens sitting on their eggs in the "yard" beyond the picket fence. You could pick some wooden flowers, place them in a vase, and walk into the house to decorate the dining room table and even look out the windows to see the view of the street. Great Southern homes often center around the kitchen, and kids can explore the cabinets, refrigerator, and more in this vintage-style kitchen.
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| Delivering the Mail in Children's Museum in NC © Katrena |
The mail room had lots of letters, a full-sized mail truck, and some equipment one might see behind the counter at the post office. My girls loved taking the mail around to the various areas in the museum and placing them in the mailboxes. This can be a great activity for kids who are learning how to read in particular.
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| Tot Spot Provides Fun Play Activities for Toddlers © Katrena |
The center of the circular area hosts a large Tot Spot, designed for preschoolers. My kids were all wanting to go explore in that area and were disappointed that it was for little ones! There are lots of safe places to crawl, explore, and play in that area. It is especially nice for the caregivers to have a gated area so that the little ones can explore away from the bigger kids for part of the time.
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| Practice Balancing on Rope Bridge and Stepping Stones © Katrena |
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| Climbing Wall at Children's Museum © Katrena |
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| Camping Area in Greensboro Children's Museum © Katrena |
On the far side of the museum circle is a large room with stepping stones, a small climbing wall, rope bridge, and camping area. Two of my kids want to climb on everything, so they particularly enjoyed the challenges in this section. They also enjoyed climbing in the sleeping bags, zipping the tent, setting up a picnic, and telling a few stories in the camping area. Their granddad, an avid camper and fisherman, would have been proud!
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| Pretend to be a Fireman © Katrena |
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| Kids Can Drive a Race Car © Katrena |
Kids who love vehicles and transportation will love the back part of this room. Several full-sized vehicles are located in this area. They feature a fire truck, race car, and police car. The kids can climb in and out of these vehicles and imagine zooming down the road! They can also fill the race car with gas, or put out a fire while wearing firefighting garb. The racing flags around the edge were cool too – I'll have to look up what the various colors mean one of these days. My girls were really excited to see kids on a UNC-TV commercial playing on the same fire truck when they were watching television!
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| Kids Train at Children's Museum © Katrena |
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| Children's Museum Passenger Train © Katrena |
The transportation theme continues into the next large room. A train offers kids the opportunity to ride, add coal, load suitcases, or don an engineer's hat and drive for a while. Passengers in the train can have a grand tea party. They also have a table in front of the train where kids can play with a model train track.
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| Airplane at Children's Museum in Greensboro NC © Katrena |
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| Fly a Jet at Greensboro Children's Museum © Katrena |
Along the other wall is the front part of a DC-9 jet. Climb the stairs along the side of the airplane to become passengers with loads of leg room and even seat belts! More daring kids may want to climb into the cockpit and test out all the instruments. If the kids don't want to climb back down the stairs, they can hop into a tunneled slide and ride down to the bottom.
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| Having Fun a Children's Museum in North Carolina © Katrena |
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| Hands-on Education at Children's Museum © Katrena |
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| Curious George at Greensboro Children's Museum © Katrena |
The room with the jet and train sometimes features traveling exhibits and sometimes offers a large area where kids can play with balls, hula hoops, and other items. We saw a Curious George exhibit in this room once, and it was full of interactive opportunities. A side door in this room leads to the outdoor garden area, which is packed full of plants, flowers, and charming decorative pieces.
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| Walk Through the Garden at Children's Museum in Greensboro © Katrena |
Several other areas are offered for fun and educational play at the Greensboro Children's Museum, but the ones I have featured have been some of my kids' favorite stops. A family can easily spend hours in this hands-on museum that is kid-friendly. Visit the Greensboro Children's Museum
official site for rates, times, and additional learning and play opportunities. Readers may also wish to find more great places to visit with the kids at my
Travel NC With Kids site map.
