EdVenture — Attraction in Columbia

Good museum overall - not as clean or interactive as it was designed to be, but still a good afternoon with your kids and a great educational experience. It’s not perfect, but I’m glad it’s here.

I got a yearly membership for my family since we live in the Columbia area and I bring my 4 year old son here all the time (usually depends on the weather. I’m also pretty big user of public parks because kids need sun and fresh air.) Edventure has a lot of good educational exhibits and it’s a great way to wear your kid out for a couple hours in an educational environment.

The cost is per person, so I think we were paying around $40 for the three of us to go each time (me him and his mother). I got a family membership for $120 for the year, and I’ve easily taken him 15-20 already times. Every time we go, he learns something new, or he interacts in a different way. If you’re local, I highly recommend repeat visits with a membership versus paying each time you decide to go. It is much better for a child’s development than just hanging out at home on a rainy day and it pays for itself surprisingly quickly. If you are three people it pays itself off within three visits (And you can literally purchase it at the door and walk in.)

That being said, the place needs an overhaul in terms of maintenance and cleanliness. Bathrooms are always dirty, half of the motion sensors for the sinks don’t work. Rarely any soap. A lot of the exhibits are missing pieces or completely out of materials. For example, if you go to the exhibit where you make arts and crafts, all of the paper and drawing materials are either broken or gone. The water table outside has limited functionality, as do some other exhibits. I think this is mainly a staffing issue versus the amount of people using the museum. Those poor workers are running around everywhere, but kids are kids and you can’t be everywhere. And a thousand kids a day passing through a day is no joke.

Some of the areas, for instance the three and under area need better monitoring. Unfortunately, a lot places assume parents will watch and monitor their kids. As a result there are always kids who are basically giant balls of chaos while their parents are glued to their phones. You see this at every store, playground, museum, etc. So monitor your kids and keep a close eye out, especially if they are little.

Overall, I think it’s well worth the cost, and is good for children of multiple age groups. Just be sure to have some hand sanitizer and paper materials in your bag when you go. And again, if you are local, definitely look at the possibility of a membership. When I first got it I thought I was overpaying, and I realized I have saved so much money and I’ve had so many great times there with my kid.

There’s kind of a shortage of these kind of places, so we should try and support...

Absolutely LOVE the concept for the museum and wish we had a place more like this in Central Florida! Also appreciate that they make it accessible for military families and low-income families, who may not otherwise have access to museums, cultural showcases or family excursions. Between the arts and crafts activities, STEM labs, career centers, amazing kids library nook (with top notch books for a quiet reading break in the middle of the day), the veterinarian play and games area, the traveling museum showpiece and a toddler center, all connected by a giant 3-story playplace of a little boy that introduces elementary anatomy and physiology (that the kids can use to move from one floor to the next in an amazingly fun way while Mom and Dad ride the elevator) - this place was made for kids and it shows!

With all that being said, I give this place 4 stars because it needs ALOT of maintenance work. The bathrooms need serious remodeling and most of the outdoor playground and butterfly garden (with only fake insects and missing fairies during the off season) appear in disrepair and are either inoperable or in very poor condition.

The other major flaw in the experience is that a calendar of daily events was neither available online in advance, nor available at the front desk or posted in any centralized location, which resulted in us missing the majority of the labs and instructor-led activities until we stumbled upon a group as they were concluding their art class (around 2pm) and were informed by the museum lead of the remainder of the day's activities. So unfortunately, we missed out on some really neat activities that the kids would have loved, in lieu of playing a bit longer in less unique activities.

All in all, it was a day fabulously well spent and I, for one, am completely hopeful that the next time we come, it will be even better than the last. Can't wait to visit Columbia again and to continue taking the kids to EdVenture as they grow up.

Btw, thrilled about the remodel of the aerospace and technology section! And seeing the front of the airplane popping out of the building and the kids being able to take over the cockpit - so cool. And loved the quotes -...

First time coming to Edventure Columbia. We were impressed! It’s so inviting. The workers were so kind, I wish I had gotten some names, but especially a girl with glasses and dark black hair in the front. All the children had this space to create, pretend, and explore. And us adults got to play with them too, but also able to sit back and watch them socialize amongst themselves in a different way than they could at a park. The only thing I felt was a little bit of a let down, was the water center out front. Most of the toys and parts were a little moldy, the water dirty, and the mechanism to make it fun weren’t working properly. But still, I’ll give it another chance since I’m sure this is something they’ll take the time to fix in the near future, I hope! Other than that we had a wonderful experience and we have so much we still need to check out next time, because we will absolutely be back.

Also want to add that we didn’t purchase tickets ahead of time, but we didn’t have to wait too long to get in. The only reason I’d see you wanting to buy online, is if you want to take your time to explore the memberships. Bathrooms were clean. The workers went around picking things up and setting up again and again for kids to find anew, but didn’t stop their play to be able to do so, which is perfect in my opinion. It’s almost as if they weren’t even there. The only reason you notice them is if you know the shirts they’re wearing to...