McKenna Children's Museum

My latest adventure with Paxton was to the McKenna Children's Museum in New Braunfels. After hearing rave reviews about it for the better part of a year, it was high time we finally made the short trip to check it out for ourselves. For years, all New Braunfels meant to me was that it was the home of Schlitterbahn. Since I became a mother, I learned that it also has some of the best children's activities in Central Texas. Landa Park is still on my short list of family outings after hearing about how lovely it is and that it comes complete with a quaint train ride around the park.

Chris and I took Paxton to a birthday party at the Austin Children's Museum a few months ago and were blown away by how much fun it was. I expected the McKenna Children's Museum to be a dim shadow of it's neighbor in the big city. Boy, was I wrong. From the moment we pulled up in the parking lot, I was impressed. Paxton, too, considering their were giant sports balls on the roof of the building. He practically sprained a muscle trying to get a glimpse of the "soccer ball" and "taxi ball" (Paxtonese for "basketball"). We wandered starry-eyed through the fun gift shop and paid our relatively inexpensive admission fees ($5.50 per person). And then we walked through the doorway to a world o' fun!

Unlike the Austin Children's Museum, where they change the theme and displays semi-regularly, the McKenna Children's Museum has a large selection of permanent displays. Of course, Paxton headed straight for the trains. I literally had to drag him away so that he could see what else the big world had to offer. There was a camping area, complete with a fishing area, a teepee (or "pee-pee" as Paxton called it), a "campfire", and a kayak. There was a large aquarium, where paper mache puffer fish hanging from the ceiling complemented the real fish swimming in the tank. There was a farm, with a little farmhouse (kitchen and all) and a chicken coop outside of it where a wall display explained the phases of development of an embryonic chick. There was a bank, that boasted a real ATM machine that spit out fake twenty dollar bills. There was a grocery store, with mini-carts that the children could push around to collect food and pay for it at the little register. There was a hospital, a New Braunfit health lab, a house where you could do plumbing or attach siding to the outside and a workshop. There was even a space rocket!

It was a little bit of a buzz kill when Paxton and his friend, Harper, were told they had to keep the grocery carts in the store. It was far more fun to load them up with groceries and then run them through one door of the hospital and out the other, stopping at the ambulance to push the button that lit up the overhead red flashing lights. A 21-month old kiddo and his 16-month-old buddy don't understand the logic of boundries. Sure, the grocery cart is supposed to be just for the grocery store, but any great toddler mind will be happy to expand those limits and show anyone who is interested just how cool it is to take the cart on a joyride to your camping site or, better, to outer space! There were some tears involved when we firmly, but gently, tried to teach our little guys about rules, but they got over it quickly.

In an effort to use the experience to learn a little bit myself, I dragged an uncooperative Paxton to the science lab so we could learn how to make butter. Seeing how devout these people were about really setting the scene, I anticipated that we'd be donning frontier clothes and working a churn. Turns out that all you really need to make butter is a cup with a secure lid, some heavy whipping cream, a little bit of salt and a marble. Or, if you're pressed for time, a mixer. We went the marble route. Paxton was more interested in seeing how fast he could climb on top of the tables than he was in shaking the cup. I dutifully shook and shook, still trying to engage my bored toddler. Finally, the leader of the lesson spared us and let us try a little bit of the butter a little girl had successfully shaken up before we arrived. Mmmm! It was good. Even Pax had to admit that the rewards were worth the lack of interactive excitement the rest of the experience had thus far provided. The boy is like his momma--food wins us over every time.

As we wrapped up our visit, we went outside to see the displays there. Once again, I was wholely impressed. There was a big water feature with different activities to engage and teach the children. Since the high yesterday was an unseasonably chilly 58 degrees, it wasn't ideal, but I could see how this would be a lovely place to spend some of the long days of summer. There was nice shade, giant animals for the children to climb, a gated garden and even an old VW bug that the children could paint, if the museum was offering that activity that day. It was all very cool!

My only complaint was that many of the displays had buttons that were no longer functioning. I don't know if the curators plan to repair them or not, but it would entice Paxton even more to see a reaction to his actions. The flashing lights of the ambulance were clearly his favorite part of the visit, so it's obvious how tickled he would be with more activities like that. As it was, I was absolutely blown away by the overall experience. We definitely intend to get a season pass for our family and visit often. I'm so thankful that we have someplace that cool so near our home, and that I'm able to share such a fun learning opportunity with my little ray of sunshine. Next time, we'll certainly bring Daddy along for the ride!