Discovery Museum
177 Main St, Acton, MA 01720
Everyday 9am-4:30pm
$$
indoor-activities, museums
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The Discovery Museum is a great place for all ages to engage in interactive activities.
The Discovery Museum, located in Acton (about a 45 minute drive from Boston) was recently renovated. The outside area is fantastic and the indoor area is larger than before with some great exhibits! The outside centerpiece is a large tree house with plenty of books, seats, and sleeping bags to let your child imagine camping! There is also rock wall steps for your child to climb up and on, a slide, tee-pees, slider rope and bridges for your child to run around outside!
Inside you are greeted with plenty of space to put your coat and bags as you enter into this great museum. There are individual cubbies to store anything you don't want to take through the museum and a family bathroom.
The first floor has many interactive exhibits. The water area is the first one you encounter, although we try to save this until the end of our visit in case anyone ends up soaked. There are pitchers and cups for pouring, and a place where you can build dams and channels. There's a place for you to make giant bubbles. The next area has a large variety of musical instruments for kids to test out. Air Play is an area with wind tunnels and tubes, where you can put scarves and balls into different openings. I find this exhibit a lot of fun, watching the scarves as they fly all over!
The second floor has some dramatic play areas. There's an enclosed room for crawlers and younger toddlers. There is a train station with tickets and cash register, and a train engine large enough to go inside. There's also a train table with tracks for building. In the next room is a diner, complete with menus, food, booths, and payphone. Behind that is a camping room, where you can crawl through a tent and see the night sky. There is also a large arts and crafts area, engineering area, and simple machines exhibit. Farther up on the third floor is a ship for more dramatic play.
Plenty of outside seating and benches with lots of shade and a vending machine to get some snack if needed. And my favorite: a water fountain that has a spot to fill up your own water bottle!