Denver moms quick question

[KrystalS]

Which is better for a 5 yo, aquarium or children's museum?

[justlearning]

I'm not able to answer your question but I do think that DS (also 5) seemed to have more fun at the Museum of Nature and Science than the children's museum. But that might be because he was able to learn about things there that he's particularly interested in right now (specifically their natural disasters exhibit, which ends 5/3). IMO the children's museum seems geared towards younger kids, though. For example, I think that their climbing areas, train play area, grocery shopping area, coloring area, etc. also seemed better suited for a 3-year-old.

We haven't been to the aquarium yet because I read some reviews saying that it's become more of a theme restaurant than a really nice aquarium. I'd be interested in hearing what other moms have to say about it, though, because we might go this year. BTW, I just went to their website and it said "stingray reef pool closed for maintenance" in case that matters to you.

ETA that I just noticed your child's sex and age--my son is turning 6 next month so your daughter is younger than him and also might enjoy the pretend shopping area, for example, more at the children's museum than he did.

Oh, one more thing--if you do go to the Children's Museum, there's a trolley (called Platte Valley Trolley, I believe) right outside of their building. You can ride it very cheaply and just have a short little trip and then come back the same route. It makes stops at different places too if you wanted to get off. I did that two years ago and my boys seemed to enjoy it because trolley riding for them was a novelty.

[jenmcadams]

Depends on your DDs interest.

My kids (6 & 3) like both. The aquarium is really only good for 1 1/2 - 2 hours tops -- it's pretty small. If you do go, make sure you go to the play area that is in a separate building behind the restaurant. They don't advertise it, but it's a nice play area that my kids enjoy. The restaurant is pricey, but can be fun. You can sit in a table next to the tanks and see the divers (they normally have a few in there at lunch). Overall, it's a pretty commercial aquarium (big restaurant, big gift shop), but the exhibits are pretty nicely done. Also, while the focus is on aquatic life, they do have a tigers too.

The Children's Museum isn't my favorite (my kids like it more than me), but there are definitely things an older child would enjoy. There's an art area (easels, paint, tables, paper/crayons/stamps, etc.) and a construction area called Build It where they can use tools to build things out of old milk jugs, wood, etc. My DD still likes the grocery area and she also likes the bug playscape upstairs. There's also a full sized fire truck. If you check out their website, you can time it to be there when they're doing a craft or story time. The other nice thing about the Children's Museum is that there's a nice outdoor playground right next to it. Overall the Children's Museum is definitely cheaper and you can probably kill more time there, but it's not as impressive as the Children's Museums I've been to in other cities.

Also, just an FYI -- The Children's Museum and the Aquarium are basically within walking distance of each other (the equivalent of a couple of city blocks).

My kids like the Museum of Nature and Science the best these days. We used to have memberships to the Aquarium, Children's Museum, Zoo and the Science Museum and these days we only keep up the Science Museum and the Zoo.

Edited to Add: I saw the note from the other poster about the Trolley which reminded me of something else cool right by that area -- the REI flagship store. You can take the trolley from there too. The store itself has a great climbing wall (members can climb free once per day...you just need to check their website to see when they have open climbing times) -- my DD loves going there. Also they have a small play area up in the kids section on the top floor

[tylersmama]

We haven't been to the Children's museum yet, but went to the aquarium for the first time a month or so ago. DS loved it, and I thought it was really nice. It's not huge, but we had a great time. The stingray reef being closed isn't a huge loss. It's a cool thing, but not a make or break type of thing.

[kijip]

We went to the Science Museum and the Children's Museum. The Science Museum was a much bigger hit with T (he was a couple months shy of 5 at the time). That said, I am not local to the area, I just visit my Grandmother and relatives there every so often.

I believe our membership to the Science Museum here got us free or very discounted entrance to the one there. Which was kinda cool, we paid extra for the planetarium movies.

[KrystalS]

I might look into the Science museum. I think DD might get bored at the Children's Museum. DH is deploying soon and we wanted to do something fun with DD this weekend. Thanks for the info!