Amazement Square

In recent months, the little kids and I have visited two children's museums outside the Greater Richmond Area, so I thought I'd share some photos and observations from our experiences.

In March, we visited Amazement Square - The Rightmire Children's Museum in Lynchburg, Virginia, which is a two-hour drive from us. I don't know how I failed to blog about it before now except that my brother visited around that time, and then I got caught up in Easter festivities and spring break.

Anyway, I learned of Amazement Square from our friend Sharon, who rode along with us the day we visited. It's a large museum (four floors!) in downtown Lynchburg, and--while my two-year-old and four-year-old daughters found plenty to do--I thought it much better suited to elementary-school-aged children than the children's museums in the Greater Richmond Area.

I felt panicked for just a moment when someone at the front desk of Amazement Square told me I couldn't use my stroller, but he provided me (for free) both a backpack for the baby and a locker with a key. Chip was happy enough in the backpack, but--at four months--he was still a little floppy for it. Sharon tucked a blanket around his head and performed all the hard scrambles after the girls.

We had a wonderful time and didn't visit the Imagination Studio on the first floor or, for that matter, anywhere on the fourth floor, at all.

Learning How to Milk a Cow in the Big Red Barn

1) Voltageville, 2) Giant Kaleidoscope, 3) Light-up Steps, 4) Mirrored Wall

On Stage:The Rockstar Experience

Inside Listen to the Rhythm Music Studio

Inside the Paintbox

Clockwise from Left: 1) the Examination Room, 2) the Walk Through Heart, 3) Slide, 4) Outside Art

I thought Amazement Square well worth our two-hour drive, and I intend to return once or twice a year until the little kids outgrow its sort of fun. In the future, I'll arrange for longer days there because--as I've already indicated--we didn't explore the entire museum (and couldn't because I needed to be home by 3:30 to get Cade off the bus). I'd like to spend more time in Lynchburg, in general, which looked like an interesting town.

I was thankful for Sharon's assisstance on the day in question and won't return (at least for a couple years) without a helper: even if that helper is Cade. At thirteen, Cade's probably outgrown much of what Amazement Square has to offer, but--unlike the Virginia Discovery Museum in Charlottesville, which is its own sort of wonderful--I think he could find ways to enjoy it. I'll write about the Virginia Discovery Museum, soon.