Keeping up with the Cooksons!: Richmond Children's Museum

We took a little day trip to Richmond to try out the Children's Museum and it turned out to be well worth the drive. The kids had a blast ... and Pete and I were amused with everything too! Kylee has already asked us, many times, if we could go back again!

There were some dinosaurs to climb on when we first walked in.

There was a really big water table that had a lot of different bridges, tools, and toys to play with. Kylee was focused on filling some of the bridges with water. Ryland was focused on just splashing in the water. : )

The farm section was designated for younger children and luckily the age limit suited our kiddos perfectly. (Too bad all the parents didn't pay attention to the age "restrictions!?) Right outside the farm section, there was a cow that you could "milk."

Ryland become very interested in a table of puzzles (some of which we have at home!) Kylee really wanted to go to the restaurant so the girls headed over for some food. Kenzie and I sat at a table outside the restaurant and Kylee went inside to cook and bring us our food. She was really into using the trays to deliver our food.

In the middle of the museum there was a huge wooden apple tree. Apples would fall into the holes so the kids could "pick" them. We were lucky enough to get a basket to fill (there were a lot of kids at the tree so we had to go basket-less for a while.) Once the basket was filled with apples, you could dump them inside the tree where they were shot up a tube and sent back down to the holes in the tree. It was very cool ... and the kids loved it!

Stores are always a big hit when we try different museums and this one was no different. There were two registers, which was really nice, so Ryland was able to shop while Kylee was the cashier. Scoring a shopping cart instead of a basket was also a huge plus!

We also ventured into the cave. At first it didn't look like there was much to do in there. Then Kylee discovered a little path at the end. When she went inside she found a bunch of animals back there that she decided needed to be rescued. She went to work bringing the animals out of the back of the cave and putting them in a safer spot in the front of the cave.

Just some fun on the slide!

There was also a tunnel slide that had a clear panel in it so we could see the kids as they came down. It was nice to see their faces since we never know what they look like sliding down these things. : )

Ryland had fun building with the different blocks that we found. He really liked the colored blocks and the light up table that went with them.

Lately, the kids have been into playing with puppets so they were both excited to give the puppet theater a try. We are still working on the fact that they have to bend down so you only see the puppet. : )

A lot of museums and play places seem to have the same types of rooms (stores, restaurants, doctor's offices, etc.) but there were a few unique places here that were a lot of fun. One of them was the news room. You could sit behind the news desk and see yourself on the TV. You could also work the camera (which really moved around the room!)

The car mechanic's shop was another new room that was a lot of fun. Both kids enjoyed changing the tires!

When we took a break to have lunch, we discovered an area that had some odd looking things just sitting around. Turns out that one of them was like a trampoline (clearly right up Kylee's and Ryland's alley) while the other things were there to climb and run on. There were even pieces that you could move around and fit into different holes to create new obstacles.