Like they used to say on TV, membership has it’s privileges. Both of the Bay Area children’s museums that I have been to are part of a consortium of Children’s Museums that have reciprocal memberships. This means that if you get a one-year membership at Habitot in Berkeley, for example, you can go to the Discovery Museum in Sausalito for a significant discount. Also, if you travel to a place with another children’s museum, you are totally in.
The point, however, is not the membership. The point is that these are destinations with rooms for crawlers. Usually they have mats on the floor or different textures and large scale shapes that babies and young toddlers can put their grubby hands on, in and through. The Discovery Museum Tot Room, for example, has at least four waterbed-type areas for babies.
If you live near one of these places, and buy a membership, consider it a mommy meet market. Go there when you and baby are feeling lonely, let down your hair, and have a juice box or two.
Your 47th weekly challenge is to seek out a children’s museum and make a special trip there with your baby. Tell us, how was it? (Baby too young for this outing? Start at the beginning.)
Photos: Minnesota Children’s Museum; Children’s Creativity Museum in San Francisco
[...] Just like the children’s museums, when you join, you get to go whenever you want all year. The Oakland Zoo membership includes free parking and a few other benefits. Also, the Zoo is a non-profit, so membership is a feel-good thing. The money helps take care of the animals, and since as a mother, you now have a Responsibility to all things living, including those nasty reptiles your child will soon be fond of, this is a Good Thing. [...]
Check your local libraries for free passes to local museums! I live near Portland and my local library has a membership to 5 local museums inc. the Children’s Museum (CM2). They are usually good for the whole family and are free! It varies on how you sign up for them so ask the librarians. We have enjoyed the local children’s museum for free each year when my mom comes to visit.
In San Diego, the museum at Balboa Park are free on Tuesdays. It is on a rotating schedule so different museums are free every week (except the 5th Tuesday of the month should there be one). Six of these museums have been labeled as “kid-friendly” (Ruben H. Fleet Science Center, Model Railroad Museum, Natural History Museum, San Diego Air and Space Museum, San Diego Automotive Museum, and the San Diego Hall of Champions)
http://www.balboapark.org
Also located in Balboa Park is the world-famous San Diego Zoo. A pass for 2 adults for the entire year is only $89 ($129 for Diamond membership). For kids ages 3-11 is $24/year and kids 12-17 is $28/year. Annual passes are good at the zoo as well as the Wild Animal Park in Escondido, CA.
http://www.sdzoo.com or http://www.sandiegozoo.org
In Berkeley the deal between museums got much suckier this year. I don’t remember the details exactly but I know that Habitot essentially raised the rates significantly, cut the hours in half, and does not honor reciprocity for FREE any more with the neighboring museums. If you don’t work and the hours are not a problem, I still say go for it, but they just took away my Thursday evening ritual and I’m still pissed about it.
We will just be getting a membership to many places this year. Often, it’s not worth the cost of a family memebership if your LO is granted free admission (usually up to age 2 or 3 where we live). That being said, we definitely frequent these places! Where else can you go that your kid will, well, be a kid and no one blinks an eye?
I love taking my daughter somewhere where SHE gets to be the boss. She gets to pick the activity and how long we stay there. It helps her figure out planning skills and time management. I have to say it really bothers me when I see kids loving an activity at the children’s museum, and the parents are like, ok time’s up let’s move to this other activity! And then they don’t understand why the kid is crying and screaming. EVERYTHING there is interesting, and they will often be most attracted to something that correlates to whatever milestone they’re coming up on.
[...] Join a museum, membership has it’s… [...]
[...] another membership (zoo? science museum? student discount? AAA? affiliate children’s museum) to see if it can save you money on a yearly pass or daily [...]