Gateway Children’s Museum

Gateway Children’s Museum

The museum had been updated since our last visit. They still had the ball suction area and the construction site. The kids had fun making balls float on blown air and operating the construction crane. Most everything else was new and updated. They had a beehive climbing area, a new water playing area, and much much more. 

Best water play area ever!  It had fishing poles and fishes with magnets that the kids could catch. It had a lego building area (you can see Locke above building a dam to stop the water). It had these spoon things that Link is playing with that you could use to cover a spout and cause different patterned fountains to spurt out. The pink thing above Link is a dome of water with smoke inside. The kids experimented with it to see what would happen to the smoke if they parted the water.  The kids only played in a small portion of the water area. There were lots more things to do. 

The play grocery store was a favorite for Locke. Locke, the fireman, is doing his shopping in the video to the left. There were toy canned goods, fruit and vegetables, and bakery items in the store. When the kids went to check out their “groceries” they pushed the scan button and it sounded just like a real scanner. There were several adult workers constantly restocking items. Kids would drag the food all over the museum. (The workers restocked the bags in the checkout lane right after I stopped videoing Locke.)  Link’s favorite place was a house and we found several grocery store items in there. He likes playing in houses and kitchens.

Not only could the kids pretend to be grown ups and shop, they could also pretend to work on this car. There were tools to work on the engine, and they could get on the dolly and work under the car. They could also pretend to fill the tires with air and pretend to get gas. 

The farm had been remodeled too, except for the horse (I have a picture of Locke on this horse when he was a lot younger). The bins were filled with fruits and vegetables and the kids could sort them and put them on a conveyor belt to put in crates. Link especially liked operating the conveyor belt. 

The upstairs had lots of fun things to do too. Link, of course, headed straight to the derby track. He could barely see over the top, but that didn’t stop him. He also made this car in the derby car building section.    

There was also a giant blue foam building set that made very sturdy houses. Link loves building houses with pillows at home, but he gets frustrated because they fall over, so he liked these sturdy building blocks.    And, of course, the museum also had the tunnel that blew scarfs around. There were lots of other games and things to do in the upstairs too, but we ran out of time.  

Some final pictures and thoughts:

Left: Link playing in the construction area. He loves tractors (basically, he loves any kind of vehicle)  Right: Locke practicing doing a headstand—a new skill he is learning.

Another thing I liked at the museum was the food place where the kids could make sandwiches and pizza and other food. Locke was able to make a multi-layered sandwich with plastic lettuce, tomato, bread, cheese, and meat.  I also liked that we all got into the museum for half price because of my military ID.  What a fun day!!