Touring Boston – What to Know About Visiting the New England Aquarium with Kids

The New England Aquarium is one of those places that seem to show up on all of the “Top Things to do in Boston” list so of course we had to check it out.

The New England Aquarium is in a huge building near the Boston Harbor. The center of the aquarium is characterized by a giant, round, multi level tank filled with all manner of sea life.  There is a spiral incline that follows the tank and at each level there are also smaller tank exhibits on the outside walls.  The vast majority of the aquarium is housed in one huge room with lots of paths leading in different directions so you can easily access what interests you.

Things to Note:

1) Price
Fairly expensive. $27/Adult, $18/Children, 3 and under free.  However if you’re a Boston local check out the library for discount passes.

2) Stroller Friendliness
Super stroller friendly.  There is tons of space to maneuver a stroller around and the walks ways up to each level are huge ramps, but if you get there and decide you don’t want to take your stroller along they also have a free stroller check at the entry.

3) Child Friendliness
Again super friendly.  This place was built for children to explore and while most of the things to do are visual (look into the tanks and various fish) there are also some interactive areas with buttons little ones can push as well as two different tanks where you can touch live sea creatures.  (Thankfully hand washing stations and sanitizer and everywhere near the stations)

4) Crowds
This is a really popular destination and every time we’ve been the place has been crowded, I think it comes with the territory, however the exhibits are spaced out enough that we’ve never had a problem seeing the things we were interested in, though we have had to wait a few minutes to “pet” the sea creatures in the petting area.

Summary and Rating ★★★★☆

Four stars.  The giant fist tank and penguins are super fun to see but without a pass/discount this place is quite expensive. We’ve been to the aquarium a couple of times, it’s a great activity during the cold winter months when you need to get out of the house and walk around someplace warm. We always enjoy seeing the sea creatures, but the crowds paired with the big open space and low lighting makes my son feel the need to dash around like a mad man until he is worn out and cranky so most of our visits have been short lived.  :/

Have you been here before?  If so I’d love to know more about your experience and any tips or tricks you have in the comments section below.

New England Aquarium
1 Central Wharf
Boston, MA 02110

Phone: 617-973-5206
Website: http://www.neaq.org/

Hours:
Fall-Winter Hours
Monday – Friday 9 am – 5 pm
Saturday – Sunday 9 am – 6 pm

Summer Hours
July 1 – September 7 (Labor Day)
Sunday – Thursday 9 am – 6 pm Friday – Saturday 9 am – 7 pm

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Family Friendly Boston – What to Know About Visiting Boston’s Children’s Museum with a Toddler

Winters are long and cold here in Boston and it’s easy to start feeling locked in and going a little crazy.  One place I kept hearing that we needed to check out to assuage these winter blues was the Boston Children’s Museum.

I wanted to go check it out for a while but felt like it was ridiculously expensive for a one time visit ($14 per person, including young children) but not awful for a year long family membership ($150/year). I needed to get out to stay sane so I decided it was worth it and that we may as well just get a membership.

We waited for a warmish day and walked the 2 miles to get there, but there are lots of other transportation options to get you their more easily, I’ll list them below.

The Boston’s Children’s Museum is tall and laid out with a bunch of different themed rooms, like a music room, a community room (where they have a small grocery store, a barber shop, and a dress up station), a construction room where kids can build things or climb in crazy tunnels and most importantly for us at the time, a little kid room where you were only allowed if you were under… I want to say two…  This room had books, puzzles, a climbing area, and bubbles.

We made it to the museum and let our son go wild.  He loved it… and I’ve never seen him throw so many tantrums so he also might have been a little over stimulated… :/   I mean there were about a million-billion kids there going crazy and so many new things to see and do.

After having a membership for a while I realized that the Children’s Museum is always crowded, even during week days during the school year.  My son really loved it, but I felt like at a 1.5 years old he was constantly getting plowed over by other, bigger kids, and when our membership expired I decided not to renew it until my son is a little older and more able to enjoy the bigger exhibits.

Things to Note:

1) Price
I think it’s fairly expensive for a single visit.  $16/person for anyone over 12 months or $150 for a four person family year long membership.  Also if you want to try it out before you commit, and you don’t mind large crowds, you can check out the museum for $1/person on Friday nights between 5-9pm.

2) Getting There
There are tons of options for getting there including buses, trains, and a parking garage, you can learn more about those options here: http://www.bostonchildrensmuseum.org/visit/directions

3) Stroller Friendliness
Surprisingly not very stroller friendly for such a child centric place.  We always ended up there with a stroller and had to drag it around room to room with us.  There is a little bit of stroller parking near the toddler area and you can leave your stroller at the end of a couple of corridors, but there really isn’t a place to check them in and some of the room spaces are too tight to accommodate them. The museum suggests leaving them behind or bring a smaller umbrella stroller that can fit in a storage locker.

4) Lots of Kids, Always
This places is a mad house of kids during the weekends, but I found it to also be quite busy during the week with field trips and the like, and the toy and exhibits are all fairly well loved/used.

Summary and Rating ★★★★☆

Four Stars.  This place has a lot to offer, but I think it’s fairly expensive and much better suited to children older than two years.  I felt like my little son ended up getting run over by less well accompanied older children and the baby/toddler room didn’t hold our interest super long.  We’ll try going back when he’s a little bit older, but for now we’re going to stick with the Boston Museum of Science.

Have you been here before?  If so I’d love to know more about your experience and any tips or tricks you have in the comments section below.

Boston Children’s Museum
308 Congress Street
Boston, MA 02210

Phone: 617.426.6500
Website: http://www.bostonchildrensmuseum.org/

Hours: Saturday-Thursday 10am-5pm
Fridays 10am-9pm

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