Hands On Regional Museum Review

Overall 4.00 of 5 (by 1 user)

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awlafon
Big Island, VA

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Hands On Regional Museum, Johnson City, TN: Fun, Learning 4 Kids

family traveler, a homeschool Mom, making learning fun

Pros

very hands on, interactive exhibits for toddlers, preschoolers, and school aged, very friendly staff, indoor playground & more

Cons

has a dated look

JUL

2008

Hands On Regional Museum

315 E. Main Street, Johnson City, TN 37601
(423) 434-HAND
http://www.handsonmuseum.org/

Schedule for the Hands On Regional Museum:

Monday 9:00 am - 5:00 pm in summer
Closed on Mondays September - May
Tuesday-Friday 9:00 am - 5:00 pm
Sunday 1:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Saturday 10:00 am - 5:00 pm
Closed on Major Holidays

Prices for Hands On Regional Museum:

Adults & Children (age 3+) $8.00
Children (2 & under) FREE
Members receive FREE admission.

Membership ($60.00) includes Reciprocal FREE admission to over 270 other museums world-wide which belong to the Association of Science-Technology Centers (ASTC).

We love to fish on the South Holston River in Tennessee but we always take a “rest cast” mid-week and travel to Johnson City to visit the Hands On Regional Museum. With a preschooler and third grader, hands on museums are always a big hit and the Hands On Regional Museum is worth a drive.

We’ve visited hands on museums in many cities on the east coast and we’ve visited this museum several times in the past few years. The first thought that I had was that this hands on museum had a dated look. However, I discovered that the basic premises of the museum are so classically developmentally appropriate and engaging for kids that the dated look is not at all discouraging.

Great Features of the Hands On Regional Museum:

*A full size indoor playground. (This is so awesome for rainy days.)

*A stage and dress up costumes.

*A classic child’s play grocery store.

*A hands on bank

* A weather-reporting studio

* A reptile and fish exhibit

* A water play station

* For those with little ones, there’s even a toddler toy room.

Whenever we visit there is announcement about educational demonstrations we can attend. It has been anything from handling and learning about millipedes to erupting a model volcano. These demonstrations are 5 -10 minutes and perfect for those short-attention-span-theatre guest.

There is also a walk through Ark display with stuffed animals (we’re talking taxidermy here, not Winnie the Pooh) that my children find to be a bit dark and creepy and I’ve witnessed that they are not alone. Some how the Wild Boar doesn’t emanate the personality of Pumba in The Lion King.

With all the exciting features of the Hands On Regional Museum for the youngest it is the simple things that seem to bring the most delight. My preschool aged son loves to push the button and make the lights go on the police motorcycles, sit in a wooden rocket and count down a blast off and pretend to drive the pink bi-plane.

My 8 year old is always most interested in “Little Bit,” an iguana that may be found accompanied by staff exercising anywhere including the bank reception room.

To the right of the entrance there is a large room that has a rotating interactive exhibit. On our last two visits this has featured many building and engineering stations. The staff shared that this exhibit will be there through August 2008. We all got a great work out on the racecar pit crew team matching tires by color and prepping the car to a count down clock.

When I say that the museum is has a dated look I want to be sure to share that it is always clean and we often see friendly maintenance personnel making repairs. Currently the biggest things that catch my eye are that the water cycle and land erosion exhibit is starting to crumble (perhaps a reflection of our environment but not intentional) and the chairs in the bank are beyond ratty. Understand that these things stand out to me as a parent but don’t seem to warrant any attention from my children.

Perhaps the greatest asset of The Hands On Regional Museum is the staff. Everyone is always very friendly and encouraging. I watched one of the dress up stage supervisors as she noticed a tear in a costume. Moments later I saw her stitching it up by hand. My children have a lot of questions and when I can’t answer them I encourage them to ask the staff. I have always been impressed. My daughter, born an animal lover, wanted to know if the museum had a plan to get the animals out safely in case of a fire. The museum employee smiled and complimented her on a great question and replied, “ We have a plan to first get the people out safely and then to get to the animals out safely.” Good answer.

My Viewpoint:
If you’ve been to hands-on museums like Discovery Place in Charlotte, NC or others in major cities, the Hands On Regional Museum may not have the same eye candy appeal but I assure you that it will provide up to two hours of fun and learning and for children.

Hands On Regional Museum is recommended by awlafon

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Comments about awlafon’s Review

CyndiA wrote on Jul 10, 2008 at 7:29AM

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Excellent review!

awlafon wrote on Jul 7, 2008 at 9:10PM

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In response to LisaCarey's comment from Jul 4, 2008 at 2:31PM:

That is a big plus. We've used that membership in Richmond, VA, Danville, VA and Charlotte, NC too so we definitely get our monies worth out of the science center museum membership.