Free Friday at Cincy Museum Review

Last Friday our family headed down to Cincy for Free Friday at The Museum.  While all the Museum's located at the Museum Center are free that evening, we spent our time at the Duke Energy Children's Museum.

Because a Free Night at a Children's Museum with thousands of cranky, hungry kids sounds like a blast, right? 

Actually, it wasn't so bad.  Yes, it was pretty crowded, but we got there right as it began (4pm), and so there was no wait for tickets, (they are free, but you have to have them), and the parking, (which was $4), was easy too.

The first thing my girls wanted to do was the Energy Zone.  This area is a netted enclosure and has like a gazillion little balls for kids to play with. There are these stations inside, and each station offers chances to figure out the path the ball has to take to reach its destination, and what kinds of energy forces help get it there. Plus, there is a HUGE ball catcher thing in the middle that dumps all the balls at random times, and the kids love that!

Next, we headed to  Kid's Town.  This is an child sized neighborhood complete with a diner, a grocery store, a bus, a vet clinic, a post office and more.  My girls spent most of their time in the diner serving up delicious dishes like smothered steak sandwiches, bleu cheese bread pudding, and pecan pie with caramel sauce.  (Okay, *maybe* we have been watching a little too much Food Network...)

At any rate, they had a lot of fun there, and I love to see their ideas go wild as they experience it all.  There is a freedom of imagination that comes with being in that kind of setting, and for kids, it is paradise!

They also had a great time with using their hands to build things.  They had blocks, a workshop area, and soft building toys to play with and I realized that maybe I need to incorporate more 'building' play at home.  I think with girls it's easy to get stuck in the rut of buying dolls, crafts, and other girly items.  So now, it will be, Bring on the blocks!

Some of the other areas we enjoyed were the water play area, (watch out!  You WILL get wet!), making music with drums, puppets, and The Woods.  The Woods is like a Huge Tree House area that kids can climb all over.  I will warn you, if you have really young ones, you may want to avoid this area.  It can get kind of crazy, and since it's a large area, it's easy for kids to start climbing and wandering and get lost.

The kids love it, but we did lose ours a few times in the chaos of it all. But alas, they found us.  (Oh well, better luck to us next time).  Hahaha, just kidding, (kind of...)

After several hours, we were worn out and ready to head home, (well, not without a stop to Red Robin on the way home!).  I have to say, I loved Free Friday and I am sure we will be back!  The dates for the next Free Fridays are:  August 5th and September 9th 4-8pm.  I encourage you to load up your own crew and check it out.  I'm sure you'll be glad you did!