The Works Museum — Attraction in Bloomington

I've been curious about The Works since reading a blurb about it in the MN Parent Magazine a few years ago, but never made the effort to check it out.

I finally took my six and seven year old sons to The Works 'Museum' for the first time last Wednesday.

It was a phenomenal hit. I genuinely did not know what to expect, but was very pleased with our experience.

The main floor of the museum has three open, large spaces:

-One space is designated for building, with a couple of hundred foam blocks; my sons helped another little boy make a maze, my older son then built a very large bridge, and my younger son made an igloo - there are a LOT of foam blocks to work with!)

-One space for a 'sensory' maze that has several different types of sensors throughout the maze - for example, in one portion of the maze, there are sensors under the carpet; when someone steps in a certain spot, a light would shine down on them until they stepped off of the sensor. The walls of the maze are only around four feet tall, so you literally cannot lose your child in the maze, and you do not have to accompany them through it.

-The biggest open space in the middle had several tables with various building materials and items with which to explore and tinker. This space was definitely the biggest highlight for us. There are no tall barriers, so, had I chosen to, I could have sat in one of the chairs along the wall and just let my boys wander from table to table, because I could see them the whole time. I, personally, preferred to stay with my kids and explore with them, but its nice to know that I could take them there in the future, and they could burn energy while I just take a seat.

Both boys had a blast with the different building materials - many of which we do not have at home. There was a table with wooden blocks, a table with a building material called 'widgets' (look it up, I want a thousand of these for our house!), and a few other tables of which I cannot remember the contents. There was also a large, two-laned race track located next to three tables with Kinex building pieces. The kids can make cares or vehicles to race, or they can just build their own contraptions with the pieces.

There is an upstairs, but it wasn't terribly interesting. I actually really don't recall what was in the upstairs room, because we were only in it for a few moments before my boys requested we go back down stairs.

I'd say the best age range for kids to find it interesting would be between five and ten years old. Younger kiddos could be tough to entertain, and hard to keep from putting things in their mouths - the kinex would be a huge choking risk.

Safe to say that I do highly recommend The Works if you are looking for a quieter museum/play space that offers a lot of unique opportunities for imagining...

I would not recommend the camps for kids here. The program seemed disorganized and lacked communication. It took over 20 min to get into the building to pickup my child (no one answered the phone), items were stolen during our day of camp from another child attending the camp who lied and claimed our stuff was his, and my child was excluded from snack time because the program failed to notify us that we had to bring a snack (every other program we've attended has a stash of extras). The kids were not given any time to run around, no recess or outdoor time, but instead remained in 2 rooms to work independently on taping cardboard pieces together. The project our child brought home looked like he received no help. The staff at pickup was dismissive and unfriendly. I reached out to the program and was offered some free passes. We've done camps at the zoo, snapology, and the arboretum and never experienced any of this. The Works camp is substandard and I don't recommend you send your...

We took our six-year-old grandson here for his birthday. He loved it so much; we ended up spending five hours here! The activities were stimulating. We enjoyed constructing cars, modifying them, and then racing them on the ramp. I was surprised how much time we spent in the LEGO area, where we were busy constructing pictures (following the guides) and then following the guides to collaborate on the picture on the wall. In addition, we spent time in the house model with the electricity exhibit, and the building area, where our grandson proudly constructed a ladder using screws and nuts. The favorite area was the coding exhibit, though, where he could program the mouse to move. I am glad we had a lunch packed in the car. We actually ended up heading out to the car to eat, and then we came in to enjoy the museum again. There is no food sold at the museum. It was a fantastic Museum. I would recommend for children ages 4 to 10. The price...