Over the weekend, we took the girls over to Thompson’s Point to explore the Children’s Museum & Theatre of Maine‘s new location. The new museum opened up in late June and I was excited to get tickets ASAP. With COVID, the museum is only allowing a certain number of people into the building at a time so you have to buy tickets in advance if you want to go.
When I bought the tickets, the next available day was a Saturday (which was perfect) but the only time slot available was from 4 to 6:30pm. Which isn’t terrible, but Hailey goes to bed at 6:30 so I wasn’t sure how everyone’s moods would be at that point in the day. Thankfully, Hailey took a really good nap earlier in the day and Allie ended up napping in the car on the way there. So it worked well.
We arrived right at the scheduled time and was a little annoyed with the parking situation. At first, I wasn’t a fan of the fact that it was paid parking but thinking back on it, you would have spent money on parking in the Old Port at their old location as well. So I guess that wasn’t a big deal. I do wish there was more parking through. I ended up parking in a big dirt parking lot and then spent the whole outing crossing my fingers, hoping I was allowed to park there, ha!
Going in, the line moved super quickly so we got in really easily. They also had masks at the front desk and I was super proud of Allie for wearing hers for the duration of the experience (for her age, it was recommended but not required so I asked her to wear it as much as she could – there may have been some bribing with a McDonald’s Happy Meal as well).
Our Neighborhood
We started on the second floor which was quite busy. I was actually really surprised with how many people there were. The museum isn’t at full capacity right now so I guess I expected to have a bit more space and room to move around and we didn’t. It got better in the larger rooms, but ‘Our Neighborhood‘ is the first exhibit you come to when you exit the elevator on the second floor and it was definitely very busy. So keep this in mind if you’re still being extra cautious with COVID.
In the neighborhood, you had some of the original play structures from the old location like the giant fire truck. You also have a cute little lobster shack, the doctor’s office, the Amtrak Downeaster, the jetport, the fish market, a lobster boat (with lobster traps) and even a baby/toddler area called lighthouse cove. It’s a super cute little play area and is a perfect representation of a cute little coastal Maine town. So fun!
Related: Indoor Play Spaces in Maine
Allie was most excited about the doctor’s office (aka Bear Care Center) and she wasn’t scared at all to jump right into playing with other kids (she had been talking all week about how excited she was to play with all the kids). She took care of the teddy bears, put out fires, cooked and served a delicious lobster meal, and even drove the train. She could have stayed in this room all day long.
Hailey really loved Lighthouse Cove and I was super thankful to have that space for her. This is a gated space designed for children 2 and under and for those with sensory integration needs. We had so many errands that day that Hailey really didn’t get any time to play until we got to the museum. So she absolutely loved the freedom this space gave her. And to make it better, there were only a few other kids so she had a good amount of space to herself.
Another thing I noticed on this floor was that they had a nursing room. I myself don’t nurse but for nursing moms, I know these kinds of spaces are hard to come by. They even had a few toys in there for older siblings who may be waiting. So I’m sure this is an added bonus for those of you who look for and appreciate these spaces!
Meet Our Neighbors: Korean Language School
Down the hallway from this space, you have Meet Our Neighbors which is a Korean language school. Allie is a bit too young to fully understand this space but did she enjoy using the paintbrush to try to write words in Korean (although she can’t write in English yet so we need some practice there, ha!). This space aims to teach others about the various cultures residing in our community and introduces visitors to Korean clothing, art, traditions, and the Korean language of Hangul.
Beautiful Blackbird
The next exhibit you come to is the Beautiful Blackbird exhibit. The Children’s Museum & Theatre of Maine states:
The Museum & Theatre strives to ensure that everyone feels they belong at our facility. We are committed to equitable community participation in the creation of our exhibits and programming, and that our diverse community of visitors sees themselves reflected in our work.
The Children’s Museum & Theatre of Maine
The Beautiful Blackbird exhibit is “designed to engage diverse audiences, explore the perspective that “black is beautiful” and “difference is beautiful,” encourage creative self-expression, foster listening to others, and enable the sharing of stories visually and verbally”. The museum goes on to say “we believe it is critical that children– especially Black and Brown children–experience positive identity development where their lives are valued, represented, and celebrated.”.
I loved seeing the amount of diversity included in the new museum space from the Beautiful Blackbird exhibit to the Korean Language School to even the inclusion of those with disabilities. It was really wonderful to see!
Further down the hall, you have the Artist Gallery Exhibit which features art work from 14 Black illustrators. Allie enjoyed looking at all the art and danced around in the small theater space. They also had an activities room but we didn’t partake in any of the crafts this trip.
From the Mountains to the Sea
On the third floor, you walk directly into the From the Mountains to the Sea exhibit which is sponsored by Poland Spring. Here, you can see some of Maine’s freshwater species like sunfish, water bugs, crayfish, frogs, turtles, and so much more. They had a touch tank as well, but it didn’t appear to be open (probably due to COVID). There were a few tanks that had ‘coming soon’ signs so I imagine there will be more in the future. They also had a small campsite where Allie pretended to camp with other kids. She’s been asking to go camping for a while now, for some reason, so she really enjoyed this.
Observation Bee Hive
Right off the From the Mountains to the Sea exhibit, is a learning lab sponsored by IDEXX. Here, you have the observation bee hive which honestly made me pretty uncomfortable, ha! It’s a large glass container filled with bees and as someone who is terrified of bees, I wasn’t a fan of this. But the kids seemed to think it was super cool.
In the learning lab itself, you can learn how to care for animals with their mini, mobile vet clinic. Kids can grab a clipboard, find a patient, and find out what’s wrong with them. They’ll learn about the anatomy of each animal and use critical thinking skills to determine what’s wrong with their patient. The learning lab isn’t open at this time, but I’m excited to visit the museum again when it is!
Go With The Flow
Down the hall, you enter into a large room where you can find the Go With the Flow exhibit. Allie really loved this and I’m sure Hailey would have as well if she had had shoes to walk around. They both love water play and this room was filled with water activities. It was essentially a room filled with giant water tables. So it’s a great space for sensory play.
Allie loved using the cranks and levers to control and move the water. There were plenty of fountains and tubes to help move the balls around the room. Hailey loved putting her hands in the fountains. They even had rain jackets to keep kids dry while playing (and hand dryers to help dry hands and clothing when they were done playing!). Allie could have played in here for hours. It was so fun!
Illuminate
The next room was dark and closed off and filled it various light up games and activities. Allie’s favorite part was the giant Lite Brite right as you walked in. She really enjoyed taking out all the glass pegs and moving them around to create patterns. In this room, you can also dance in front of a shadow wall, create a stop-motion animation movie, and see the views of the Fore River with the one-of-a-kind periscopic camera obscura.
This space became busy and crowded pretty quickly a lot of the older kids gravitated to this room as well so unfortunately, I wasn’t able to safely let Hailey out of the stroller to play but Allie really seemed to enjoy it. Maybe next time it’ll be a little less crowded and we can let Hailey wander a bit more.
Ramp Up
The last space on this floor was Ramp Up. The original location had a similar space that Allie loved when she was younger, but here, she didn’t seem to have as much of an interest. Hailey, on the other hand was able to move around a bit more so she really loved crawling and walking over to all the balls. Our only issue was that she wanted to eat them but that was to be expected (and I obviously took them away so she couldn’t).
In here, you could launch balls up and around the room through the various piping in the ceiling. You can also create your own ball roller coaster with the tracks and ramps. It’s a great space to learn about gravity, kinetic energy, velocity, and speed. So pretty much all things physics which I hated learning about in school, ha! But at least it’s fun for the kids.
Outdoor Adventure
Once we were done with the inside of the museum, we made our way back down to the first floor. Here, you have a large climbing structure but Allie was a little too scared to explore it (it required some climbing and she didn’t want to go alone). There’s also a theatre and access to the Outdoor Adventure exhibit. This is a large, fenced in outdoor space where kids can dig in the sand, climb the play scape, go down the slides, balance on logs, and so much more.
Related: A Parent’s Guide to the Maine Discovery Museum in Bangor
Allie spent the last 20-30 minutes of the visit in this outdoor space before we packed up to head home (after the McDonald’s Happy Meal I promised her, of course). Since it was chilly and rainy out, there were fewer people outside which meant we had much more space to move around and play. So we really enjoyed this time before heading out.
I think one of the big things I loved most about the new museum space was the amount of diversity included. From the Beautiful Blackbird exhibit to the Korean Language School to even the inclusion of those with disabilities. We live in such a diverse community here in Southern Maine (Portland, especially) and it was wonderful to see so many groups represented and made a priority. We’re so excited to be able to come back for more fun!
