FASNY Museum of Firefighting — Attraction in City of Hudson

I am specifically reviewing their toddler and small child friendliness.

we had lunch at the picnic table outside in the shade. it was super nice. pack all your trash, there are no garbage cans outside the museum. there is one once you enter.

we pottied in the back of the car so we brought in no bags and I could have my hands free. good thing, no large bags allowed.

they ask you hold their hand the whole time.... (what.) so I asked exactly where the interactive exhibit was and B lined to it. the first thing he saw was scissors and no other activity looked as intriguing, even to me. so we spent 20 gleeful minutes learning to cut paper firefighters.

several exhibits are very language and concept driven, so be prepared to lecture. I thought it'd all be a little too abstract for my 2 year old who hasn't gotten to the "why" stage yet, so I skipped a lot of it. I also found a lot of activities that seemed welcoming, only to read sentences of rules once we arrived at it. (one such pictured).

the simplest exhibits were the best imo. stop drop and roll was fun. it's just a little carpet with a hard low boundary and a little leather vest they can put on. Also in the back there are 4 firetrucks they can climb into and pretend play. but like you know, make sure they don't touch the outside. 😑

bathrooms are good, boys room with a ground urinal, but no low sink or steps to get up to the sink independently.

This place seems great for older children practicing their compliance skills, who are not in peak exploratory phase. The place isn't terribly accommodating for neurodiverse abilities, so you'll want to leave at the first signs of them beginning to...

The trucks were cool but the rules were insane. They make you watch this intense video when you get there where they tell you don't touch anything and btw "see something say something", like this Podunk little museum is going to be attacked at any moment. They made us leave our diaper bag out front for our 4 month old because there might be a bomb in it or something. When she inevitably had a blow out, I literally went out to the lobby and snuck my bag in so I could change the diaper on their changing table that apparently you shouldn't use because you're not supposed to have the diaper bag to begin with. No one told these people that a real museum like the Smithsonian even lets you have a bag. Every 5 feet there was a posting of some arbitrary rule including a random sign halfway through the museum with 3 paragraphs about the need to wear shoes. There were no less than 500 do not touch signs (I'm not exaggerating!!). If it hadn't been for my 3 year old loving fire trucks I'd never bother. I'll finish this off by mentioning they are giving away "thin red line" pins. Look people, no one on the planet has philosophical disagreements with the firemen (except libertarians). It's a made up issue and the type of people pushing those pins are exactly the people who would expect there to be a firetruck terrorist lurking around every...

We have been members of the Museum for a couple of years now. FASNY does so much to engage our community with really excellent programming for children on Saturdays, special events in the summer and trunk or treat at Halloween, the perennially fun Dalmatian Day, the afterschool program partnership with MC Smith Elementary school, just off the top of my head.

This past weekend we had my son's fifth birthday party at the museum and it was a blast - the lead docent led the kids through a bunch of fun activities that engaged them and taught them a lot about firefighting. Bonus, everywhere she took us was interactive for little hands to touch and see and do -- we were a bucket brigade putting out a fire, then we could try on real fire gear and explore a few of the many trucks they have in their expansive and history-rich space, and shake off the flames with a stop, drop, and roll activity, and then we tried to pin the dalmatian on the fire truck. It was so sweet, so age-appropriate for our little ones, and the kids loved it.

We always feel extremely lucky to have this resource in our backyard, but having our son's party at his favorite place was more special than we even imagined it to be. Many, MANY thanks to the museum staff for another great day, can't say enough nice things...