Category Archives: what to know

Touring Boston – What to Know About Visiting the Museum of Fine Art (MFA) with Children

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MFA > ICA about a million to one.  No Contest.

The Museum of Fine Art (MFA) had a free day on Saturday with a bunch of cultural events to celebrate the Year of the Horse.  I thought we should go check it out because we’ve tried to make it to the MFA a bunch of times and somehow we just never get there.  This time it was free and on a Saturday.  Also… we needed to get in about 3 days of skipped “Get Fit” workouts minuets.  So we walked. 2 miles there and 2 miles back.  It was 20 degrees outside.  Weather.com said it felt like 8 degrees.

We bundled our son up good with lots of blankets, his coat, two hats and his stroller windshield and set off. I tried to convince my husband to turn back because I was cold, for about the first mile, but he kept telling me it wasn’t that bad, and the baby wasn’t complaining, and we could make it. So we kept walking.  The sidewalks and the path through the park that we were suppose to take were all covered in snow so we enjoyed a chilly detour, but we made it.

I thought the museum was fantastic, though we only ended up seeing fraction of it because it didn’t seem like the best place to let Mr-wiggly-buns-I-want-to-touch-everything run free.  We started by seeing the ancient Egypt stuff.  The have a ton of artifacts thanks to the museums connection with Harvard and the many excursions they’ve funded.  It was cool and crazy to see the ancient Egyptian writing and tombs.  I love the little glimpses into the life of other cultures hundreds of years old.

Then we took a tour of the Greek statue gallery.  If I was a bajillionair I would totally have a statue gallery.  I love walking among the stately figures carefully carved from stone.

Finally we took a brief tour of the ancient Chinese artifacts, since that was the reason for the free exhibit that day, and they were also fantastic.

All in all I loved it and we will definitely go back another day because my husband said there are tons and tons of paintings that I missed seeing this time around.

Things to Note:

1.  Price
$27/Person – Adults
$23/Person – Students
Free – 17 years old and younger depending on the day

*For youths ages 7–17, admission is free during weekdays after 3 pm, weekends, and Boston public school holidays; otherwise admission for youths is $10.

FREE DAYS – Wednesday nights after 4 pm, admission is by voluntary contribution (suggested donation $25). The Museum is free to all visitors on the following Open House days: Monday, January 19, 2015 (Martin Luther King Jr. Day Open House); Saturday, February 21, 2015 (Lunar New Year); and Monday, May 25, 2015 (Memorial Day Open House); Monday, October 12, 2015 (Fall Open House).

2. Kid/Stroller Friendliness
We were able to bring our stroller without a problem, but there were a lot of people there (probably because we went on a free day) and space was often tight.  A number of the exhibits are safe from tiny finger being behind cases, but there are many that are merely roped off so if you’ve got a little one you’ll need to watch them like a hawk.

3. Size
This museum is huge.  I don’t think you should expected to be able to take it all in in one day.  There are tons of floors and tons exhibits to see and they are all amazing.

Summary and Rating: ★★★★★

Five Stars.  I though this place was breath taking and there is so much to see and so much to learn about.  It’s fairly expensive if you pay to go, but totally worth seeing and great to go on the discount or free days.  We had a really good time with our toddler and I’d like to go again when he’s a little bit older and better at not trying to touch everything.

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. 

Museum of Fine Arts Boston
465 Huntington Avenue
Boston, MA 02115

Phone: 617-267-9300
Website: http://www.mfa.org/

Touring Boston – What to Know About Visiting the Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) with Children

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I kept seeing these things for the Institute of Contemporary Art Boston (ICA), like that it’s open free to the public on all Thursday nights between 5-9pm and that the last Saturday of every month is family day and families and kids get in free, and that the library has a bunch of passes that you can pick up to see the museum for free.  I have known about and forgotten and been reminded again of these things for probably about a year.  For the last 3 Thursday’s we’ve been trying to go, but something always comes up, my husband has to work late, someone offered to drive me grocery shopping (it’s a big deal when you don’t have a car) or it’s so cold outside that I don’t think the baby would stand for a mile walk along the pier…. etc.

It looked like my husbands next couple of Thursdays were booked and I finally put my foot down.  We were going to see this Art Gallery if it killed us.  So Saturday, after our son’s nap, we went.  It was actually the perfect day for a walk downtown, it was in the mid 40’s with only a little wind, and since we got a wind shield for our stroller the baby didn’t mind the walk at all.

I love seeing Boston, the buildings are fantastic and walking along the water front is always interesting and exciting.  I was thrilled to note the museum is right on pier, so we would get a great water front view as we walked to it.

We carried our son around the museum looked at the different pieces they had.  One of the wings was closed as they are working on getting a new exhibit up, but they gave us free tickets to come again because of it, which was great.

I think the most memorable installment was a video clip of extreme closes up of models licking a piece of glass covered with different candies.  It was gross, fascinating, a little bit sexual, but mostly like a train wreck that you can’t look away from.

Our son did okay initially, but he started getting bored and impatient of being carried a few rooms in.  He was too busy to walk with us and we didn’t want him bugging the other people so we had to cut our trip short.  I wish we had gone during family day so he could have blended and interacted with the other kids and I would have felt less guilty for annoying other people… perhaps will have to use our return tickets for family day.

They had one room toward the end that was just a glass wall with a view of the harbor where we felt safe setting our son down.  He made a real effort to get their glass good and smudged, but the view was lovely nonetheless.    If I worked there, that is where I would take all my breaks.

We finished out trip and played on the grass near the ICA for a little bit to get out some energy.  Unfortunately, I realized the lawn was so covered with bird crap that it looked like it had been aerated, so I had to cover our son’s hands with his coat and watch him carefully while he walked.  He passed out the minute we got him back situated in stroller.  All in all in was a fantastic day.  I loved having family time and getting to be out and about exploring this fascinating city.

Things to note:

1.  Getting There
I have no idea where you would park there, since we didn’t have a car I didn’t even look, but it was a nice, less than a mile, walk from the “T” which worked out well for us.  The website mentions that there is parking around it but that it cost upward of $20…

2. Price
$15/Person – General Admission
$10/Person – Student
17 and under free

FREE for all every Thursday from 5 to 9 PM during ICA Free Thursday Nights. Special hours: From Oct, 10, 2015 to Jan 24, 2016, Free Thursdays will start early at 4 PM in conjunction with Leap Before You Look: Black Mountain College 1933–1957.

Free admission for up to two adults accompanied by children 12 and under during Play Dates, offered on the last Saturday of the month, except December.*

3. Hours
Tuesday and Wednesday: 10 AM – 5 PM
Thursday and Friday: 10 AM – 9 PM
Saturday + Sunday: 10 AM – 5 PM

Closed Mondays, except on the following national holidays: Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Presidents’ Day, Memorial Day, Labor Day, and Columbus Day.

4.  Stroller Friendly
You can easily bring a stroller into the place.  It’s big and open.  A few of the exhibits you’ll have to leave the stroller to enter but we found it to be easy to do.

5.  Kid Friendliness
Go during one of the free kid Saturdays.  We didn’t and I wish we would have.  I felt bad having a toddler there who wanted to walk around and was fairly disruptive to the other patrons who seemed really into their contemporary art.  I would have felt much better about taking our son if there were a bunch of other kids and if the people going knew that kids would be there… plus its free on kids day so it’s kind of a win/win.

Summary and Rating: ★★★★☆
Four Stars.  The museum itself was really nice and state of the art. The walk to it was gorgeous.   It was stroller friendly and it seems like they are really trying to make sure children are welcome there.  The draw backs are that this is a nice art museum which can make having young children there a struggle.  I think we would have had a better experience going during family day where we would have felt less disruptive. Also the museum looked huge from the outside, but we saw all the exhibits fairly quickly from the inside, as I mentioned one of the wings was closed for a new instillation so we might have been missing out on a big portion of the museum but it was quite a bit smaller than other ones we’ve been to, like the Isabella Steward Gardner Museum or the Museum of Fine Art.

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 Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA)

100 Northern Avenue
Boston, MA 02210

Phone: 617-478-3100
Website: http://www.icaboston.org/

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

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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

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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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Touring Boston – What to Know About Visiting the Boston Museum of Science with Kids

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We went to the Museum of Science with some friends shortly after we moved to Boston (before we had kids) and we loved it! There was so much to do and so much to explore. They had a fantastic lightening exhibit, a weather station where you could see touch and feel all sorts of weather related things, science puzzles that test probabilities given different circumstances, pirate ships and more. We spent three hours there, saw maybe half the museum and had to head home because my husband had a take home test and MIT is not very forgiving when it comes to testing. Grr.

Fast forward a few years and I went back with my toddler son in
tow, and was amazed all over again at what the Boston Museum of Science had to offer. This time I was amazed by the live animal shows, ball runs and an amazing little kid only area that is crowd controlled so that once you’re inside your child can enjoy the toys without being over crowded.

We love the toddler area, it’s got stroller parking right out front and two levels of awesome things to play with and explore.  The top level has a ball run that sucks up ping pong balls and then drops them down a shoot.  The shoot has a bunch of magnetic pieces that can be moved and manipulated to change how the balls drop down and my son happily played with just the ball run for over an hour.

Things to Note:

1) Price
It’s expensive if you don’t have a discounted pass ($22/person, children under 3 are free)  However you can get discounted passes from the library if your a Boston local and MIT has a sweet deal where students can get in for free and can buy discount tickets for $7 for anyone else.

2) Stroller Friendliness
This place is huge!  Bring a stroller!  If you use the baby/toddler area you will be asked to park your stroller out front near it, but if you want to see some of the other amazing things the museum has to offer and you have little ones you’ll want the help of a stroller to get them around.

3) Baby/Toddler Area
The Museum of Science has an amazing baby/toddler only area.  We go and only go there and still feel like we’ve had a great trip.  They have tons for your little one to do and it’s crowd controlled so your little one wont be over run.

4) Getting There
The “T” drops off nice and close to the Museum of Science they also have a parking garage so getting there is a snap.

Summary and Rating ★★★★★

Five Stars.  I have loved the Boston Museum of Science every time we’ve gone.  It was a ton of fun to go as an adult and to be able to explore interesting bits of science and I love taking my son.  The toddler room is clean, there is plenty to see, and even I find the toddler toys interesting and engaging.  If you’re looking for a membership somewhere to get away from the winter blues this would be my location of choice.

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.

Museum of Science

1 Science Park
Boston, MA 02114

Phone: 617-723-2500
Website: http://www.mos.org/

Regular Hours:
January 1 – July 4 & September 9 – December 31
Saturday – Thursday, 9:00 am – 5:00 pm
Friday, 9:00 am – 9:00 pm

Summer Hours:
July 5 – September 7
Saturday – Thursday, 9:00 am – 7:00 pm
Friday, 9:00 am – 9:00 pm

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