Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Please Touch

Going anywhere with two toddlers requires a fair amount of restraint, patience, and repetition ("No touching, please", "We only look with our eyes").

Sound familiar?

With a week of no preschool for the three year old (due to parent/teacher conferences) and a husband traveling on business, when a friend suggested visiting Philly to see the Please Touch Museum I'm sure my enthusiastic "yes, yes, and yes" could be heard up the block.     

I think I had as much fun as my girls to.

Everything was just the right height for both girls and there was so much to see and do.  They could touch anything and everything.  Exploration by little hands, eyes, ears, noses, and feet is the number one rule.

They could have spent hours just at the water tables alone. Madison's new favorite words are "rubber ducky" squealed at the top of her lungs.

We wandered through the Alice in Wonderland Maze, had a teaparty with the Mad Hatter, and even played a game of croquet (or pretended to).

Em loved being able to scoop up balls and sit on the Septa bus (and pretend to drive) in the Roadside Attractions section.

They shopped at ShopRite where a little boy even scanned their groceries and pretended to be the cashier and checked them out by scanning their items and ringing them up in the cash register.  Em even hung the kittens' mittens in the Fairytale Garden.   

We had packed a lunch and got to eat by the carousel.  Afterwords, the girls got up close and personal with one of the puppets thanks to one of the museum workers.

The girls played hard and slept the entire way home and even made bathtime and bedtime a breeze for me.  Madison gave her sister night-night hugs and kisses and actually ran to her crib, grabbed onto the rails, and said, "bed, bed".

I had as much fun watching them have fun and explore in a place that was just for them. It brought back memories of those moments of unabandoned joy that we all have experienced as children.  That feeling where everything seems so magical and new and it feels as though nothing else could top it in the world. I remember visiting the Franklin Museum as a child and being mesmerized by the new world in which I found myself.  A world where you could do anything and be anything.

I don't know which is better, experiencing it firsthand or experiencing it through the eyes of my children?

11 comments:

Alex said...

When I was kindergarten my class took a field trip to the Portsmouth Children's Museum and it remains one of my favorite school day memories. I took my son to a museum like that over the summer when we visited Atlanta & I think my husband & loved it more then he did.

*stopping by from sits

Steph said...

We were there Saturday! It was our first visit and we will definitely be going back.

...stopping by from SITS...

Liz Mays said...

My kids always loved the grocery store part the best! They had one in Chicago.

Anonymous said...

Sounds like an awesome place. I think it's even better to see my kids having fun than experiencing it firsthand. We've been to the Children's Museum in Denver, and that was very cool, too.

Lourie said...

That is awesome!!! I wonder if there is something like close to me. My son loves to get into stuff.

Tina L. Hook said...

Kids seem to have a way of bringing the magic back into our lives.

Michelle @Flying Giggles said...

So much fun! I have read a few other posts about this place. I know my daughters would love it!

TornadoTwos said...

What a great place! My boys would LOVE something like this.

Sarah at The Stroller Ballet said...

I love places where kids can just be kids. I've heard of the "Please Touch" museum and I think you've sold me on making a visit :)!

parenting ad absurdum said...

Yes, I think "we touch with our eyes only" should be tatooed on my forehead - what a fabulous place!!

Stephanie Faris said...

My stepdaughter's too old to enjoy stuff like that now...I missed out on all those fun years.

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