Hands on Children's Museum (Hands on Olympia)
The Hands on Children's Museum rocks. We should have checked it out years ago, but I seldom get further South than Lakewood, unless a ride magically appears the way it did yesterday morning when a friend called and suggested the field trip.
If you're tired of your usual Tacoma haunts, HOCM is the perfect place for a rainy day playdate. We spent about 3 and a half hours there yesterday and just barely made it to every section. My youngest had a ball playing dress up, "working" in the grocery store, and crashing the toddler zone with mom.
Meanwhile, my eldest assumed the chief engineer role at the water currents table, shot balls through pneumatic tubes for a good half an hour, and constructed elaborate sand castles.
Everyone loved the kid-scaled fishing boat interior, although there was nearly a war when it was suggested that my eldest play the "servant."
HOCM has many sections: an art room stocked floor to ceiling with recycled materials, a tot zone, a large section devoted to all things construction, a tree house/pretend play area, and a whole wing devoted to grocery play. Currently, there's also a large sand table, part of the lead up to "Sand in the City" - a huge sandcastle competition and community beach party (benefiting the museum) to take place this weekend in Olympia.
Hands on Children's Museum
106 11th Ave SW
Olympia, WA 98501
360-956-0818
Comments
Authored by: Anonymous on
Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, August 19 2008 @ 09:59 AM PDT
I wish our museum was more like Olympia's. Theirs is much more engaging across a wider age range. Even I enjoy doing the activities there! Not too often I can say that about Tacoma's.
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Hands on Olympia
Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, August 20 2008 @ 12:55 PM PDT
We suddenly found ourselves with a completely free day yesterday and given the weather, most of our outdoor favorites weren't optimal. With your prompt, we tried (for the first time) the HOCM in Olympia and it was great!! We have the "Traveller's" membership from the Tacoma Museum which costs about $25 more than the regular membership but allows you entree into Children's Museums all over the US. We have found this to pay off well especially on our trips to Portland. So with our pass in hand, we went to Olympia and had a ball.
We had lunch down the street (1 1/2 blocks down Capitol Way from the HOCM) at Wagner's European Bakery which served enormous Children's plates (corn dog, grilled cheese, PB & J or Turkey Sandwich) with fruit, a huge home made cookie and a drink for $4.59. It was very child friendly but good luck getting out without purchasing one of their many incredible homemade cakes, tortes, cookies, cupcakes, and European pastries!! :)
Thanks for solving our "free day" dilemma of what to do.
Now if I can just get the Moonsand that we purchased from the gift shop out of the carpet! :)
~Rachael and family
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Hands on Olympia
Authored by: Jenyum on Wednesday, August 20 2008 @ 04:10 PM PDT
Glad you had fun!
And yes, moon sand is not a mama's friend. Every time I think it's really and truly all gone, it pops up again, somewhere else in the house.
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