We visited the Kaleidoscope Children's Museum and here is my review.....
Date: 1/9/2011
Parking: It can be difficult to find parking in the lot when you visit during 9am - 5pm as the lot is shared with other businesses. There is pay to park though along the road.
Gate/Admissions: [$$$] Friendly and informative.
Birthday Parties: Yes. A beautiful room to host parties.
Bathrooms: Clean with changing tables!
Cleanliness: Very clean. I have seen the staff wiping toys down with a solution and have been told that they are all green! Wonderful. The staff is always cleaning up and rearranging the toys.
Store: They have a cooler with water and juice (no milk) and they also have a great selection of neat toys. Mostly wooden and educational toys. No peanuts products allowed in this facility.
Overall: I really like the Kaleidoscope because they are so clean and the space is set up really nice. The museum is in an old mill building and the space is amazing. There are a few structures for climbing, a puppet show area, a kitchen, a vet's office, soft climbing area for little ones and a great pirate ship that my son loves. Kaleidoscope also offers a bunch of classes. Check out their website for more information here.
**updated from Concord (closed location) to Manchester location
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Just FYI - across the street there is a parking garage - very reasonable. You enter on the Storrs Street side and then go up (there's an elevator) to Main Street level. HTH!
I know many have complained that this place is really small, but I love the place because my son always has a great time. It is easy to keep track of your kids in a smaller place. I am looking forward to seeing their new location at the end of July!
Tried the new Manchester location.
NOTE: The official grand opening is July 25th, so some of the exhibits weren't completed. The place had obnoxious paint fumes still and that's the main reason why I left after 30 minutes - I was getting a headache.
Their pizzeria/restaurant section no longer has (or has yet to set up) all their wooden Melissa & Doug food. Instead they had some felt scraps, guess we were supposed to try to make a pizza from that? And there are only two chairs in there.
All of the exhibits are designed for little ones. Sounds good at first, but you can't go on these things with your child unless you're three feet tall.
The bathrooms are NOT kid friendly whatsoever. They do not have any step stools at the sinks. There was a changing table, but it's set up in front of one of the two stalls. So if you're changing your kid, you're blocking someone either in or out. They don't have paper towels. Fine, be "green", but let's not mount the hand dryer at a grown-up level, or get a step stool. Or install a second one much lower.
If I had paid full price to get in there, I would have asked for a refund.
NOTE: The official grand opening is July 25th, so some of the exhibits weren't completed. The place had obnoxious paint fumes still and that's the main reason why I left after 30 minutes - I was getting a headache.
Their pizzeria/restaurant section no longer has (or has yet to set up) all their wooden Melissa & Doug food. Instead they had some felt scraps, guess we were supposed to try to make a pizza from that? And there are only two chairs in there.
All of the exhibits are designed for little ones. Sounds good at first, but you can't go on these things with your child unless you're three feet tall.
The bathrooms are NOT kid friendly whatsoever. They do not have any step stools at the sinks. There was a changing table, but it's set up in front of one of the two stalls. So if you're changing your kid, you're blocking someone either in or out. They don't have paper towels. Fine, be "green", but let's not mount the hand dryer at a grown-up level, or get a step stool. Or install a second one much lower.
If I had paid full price to get in there, I would have asked for a refund.
This place was lame. I would not call it a museum. I would call it a play center or something. They did not have enough hands on things for lots of kids to play with. There was a big group there when we went and not enough "stuff" to go around. They had a stage which would be cute with an appropriate amount of dress up clothes, but they didn't even buy new dress up clothes for this! Just a few (my daughter got nothing, they were all being used) hand made smocks. OH, and some old, used cowboy hat. A veterinary center boasted a few used, dirty stuffed animals with a few toys (not enough for groups of kids going through there) and an xray machine that didn't work well and was falling apart.
ugh, would not go again, sorry!
It is always great to get feedback. I would like to address some of the concerns of one reviewer. Our liability insurance company will not allow us to place a step stool in the bathroom. Due to ADA complaince we can not mount a sink or hand dryer at a lower level as it impedes on the radius required. I would love to have been a part of the design of the bathrooms but they were pre-existing, we hope to renovate them in the future. If anyone has suggestions for a better location in the bathroom for the changing station we would love to move it. We just have not found a better location with available wall studs on which to mount it.
In response to conerns about the food options in the pizzaria: there are 4 chairs in the pizzaria and always have been. The felt scraps are cut in pizza shapes for children and families to use their imaginations in designing their own pizza. We have done this to limit the "mouthing" of toys and thus keep your children safe from viral infections. The felt is easily laundered on high heat and the texture greatly deters children from placing it in their mouths. We want your children to be imaginative and safe during their visit! I am usually very sensitive to fumes, I wish I had known you were so uncomfortable by the smell, we would have happily refunded you on the day of your visit. We are very excited to have made many improvements in the last month. We have many more murals on the walls, a new ZOOM exhibit, a new rocket launch exhibit, added details to the veterinarian exhibit and a wonderful fall line up of special events! We hope you will come and see all of our new changes and those still to come.
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