We finally went to visit the newly re-opened Strong Museum today. I like the changes a lot, although it was a little overwhelming in places. We got there right around when they opened and spent a little less than three hours there, including having lunch, and we didn’t nearly see everything that was new.
The new Field of Play area had some fun things, but it was the most crowded so we didn’t spend too long in there. Carrie really enjoyed the toddler area there despite the fact that there were several kids who were way too big to be in there and were crowding out the smaller kids. (This is a real pet peeve of mine. If your kid is a foot taller than the very prominent “you must be shorter than this line to enter” sign then they shouldn’t be in that area. And if you see that sign and let your kids play in there anyway, shame on you. Nice example you’re setting for your child about following rules.)
Carrie, as always, loved the “old” area. We spent some time in the Sesame Street exhibit, where Carrie sang the alphabet with Elmo and played chess with Mommy. Of course, no trip to Strong is complete without a shopping trip to mini-Wegmans. Carrie picked out a peach, a fig, some oatmeal, a brick of cheese, and a carton of orange juice. And before we left we went back to let her ride the train. We skipped over the other parts of the original section so we could move on to…
Reading Adventureland! There were neat costumes in this section, wizards and princesses and royal capes. A play kitchen with green eggs and ham, as well as velcro’d fruits and veggies that could be cut apart (Carrie *loved* those) and a stove that had a talking chicken in it…I couldn’t quite catch what it said over the noise, but that was a little odd. A chair shaped like a hand next to a pillow shaped like a banana with a small selection of books to read aloud. And there were just tons of little hidey-holes, things to climb into/onto/under, knobs to turn, pulleys to pull. It was all storybook-themed, and I got the impression that it was all fabulous, but this was the part that felt pretty overwhelming.
If Denis hadn’t been there to be another pair of eyes and hands on Carrie I would have been worried about her disappearing somewhere. I’m sure a fair amount of that was just the sheer volume of kids running around and the rather high noise level. A weekday should be much calmer, and when I’d normally take Carrie by myself (or with friends) anyway. All in all, we’d give it 6 thumbs up! (Out of 6, of course – the three of us each have two thumbs, get it?)
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