Duluth Children's Museum — Attraction in Duluth

We moved here in summer 2017. We come from a city that has a moderate sized children's museum which is very active and has a good balance between museum-ishness and indoor play area. Let's start off with the good about the DCM. The museum is small and cozy in a way being in a small building with two floors. Members do get half off discounts to the Zoo and Aquarium, a very nice offer. Staff is friendly enough.

I fear however that we've been spoiled from other museums as we've had access to several other museums that were (admittedly larger), with more options (for more ages), more engaging and with a better layout. The DCM just feels.....unloved for lack of a better word.

Some areas to improve....the lower exhibit changes only three times a year. It takes a child about an hour or less to see the changed exhibits which means if you have a year long membership, they've seen everything there is to see in that short amount of time and there's no reason to use half of the museum again.

The upstairs exhibits have only changed slightly since we first started and the primary exhibits have some issues....There's an Ojibwe exhibit, a nod to Native local traditions (sounds very educational-ish), but kids never really played there (an ignored area = wasted space) as it's just a hut and a video screen showing Natives picking/washing wild rice. And that same exhibit has been there for two years....TWO years. There's a bank teller exhibit that has nothing there except some coins locked down to the exhibit. Kids spend zero time here because there's nothing to do. The movie theater exhibit has costumes and kids can dress up (many of the costumes have seen better days). The theater is cute, but it does use a lot of the little space that exists. There are glass display boxes holding some museum-ish trinkets inside of them that nobody looks and frankly get in the way of toddlers running around at mach 7.

The DCM could be really amazing. Maybe the "museum" designation isn't appropriate because it's very hard to be "museum-ish" with such a small footprint. It's hard to be all things to all people, that I understand. For the 1st floor, here's my idea.....What might be of value to the community in such a cold climate is a very well designed (permanent) indoor play structure area similar to a "Perch and Play" indoor cafe / playground (we went there in Bellingham, WA on many rainy days) that parents could monitor their kids while the kiddies expend energy. If it was well designed, it would be a very wise use of the lower space. Parents could monitor and talk to each other and kids could burn off calories in a place where they were looked after and safe. Maybe parents could even sip a latte? Make it a place parents WANT to be (and socialize with each other while watching). The upstairs could benefit from some changes (remove glass exhibits of things, get rid of dead exhibits kids don't use or maybe change them up more) and keep using the good exhibits that are working well up there. Also, install an Imagination Playstation area (google it, very cool)!!!! because that's a very creative way for kids to interact and build things together and it's so SIMPLE....just designate an area and kids will really build/design whatever you can imagine (very museum-ish). There is a very strong need in the Twin Ports for something like this that meets the needs of families to have a gathering place as well as a warm indoor gym that helps kids and families come together. Whether that is a "Children's Musuem" or "Indoor Gym" or a combination of the two, I don't know but I do know that if there was a fundraiser to change up the DCM, I would be the...

The kids(2, 6 & 9) always seem to have fun when we visit here(as you can see in the attached video😄) I definitely still miss the old building as there were two floors, more play space and more parking. There's apparently a second floor which will be available at some point at this location, but it has yet to be open. Staff is very friendly and personable, most even remember our names and the place is very clean.

I'd say it's definitely mostly elementary school age kid friendly, though there is a separate play room for babies/toddlers and there are a few "stations" that preteen age kids could keep busy with as well as a crafting/activity room. They have planned activities each day I think but you don't have to join in if you'd rather play.

The only negative things I will say, however, is that first of all-the hours are pretty terrible and not school age kid friendly. They are open I believe Tuesday-Sunday until 4pm-so last admission is at 3:30 then the doors are locked. They used to be open into 5, and that extra hour really was great This hardly ever works for us a school isn't done until almost 3 and we have to rush down without getting an after school snack, then only playing for 30 mins.

Second thing is that the kids here sometimes are way too wild and I don't think the staff members step up and intervene as much as they should. There have been many times where my younger children have gotten pushed down, blocked from the slide from other kids climbing up, and especially the "toddler room" almost always has big kids running full speed into with no regard for the tiny tikes crawling and playing. I typically have to speak up to the children or their parents and it's...

This to me felt like false advertising. It looks like maybe they moved locations or something, because a lot of the pictures are NOT of this place, at least as it is today. Like many said, it's a play café type of thing, this is NOT a museum and calling it such is a joke. There were like 3 glass cases in corners that looked like stuff they got in their backyard with nothing educational. The place was dirty, crap everywhere that was broken or seemed like something they got at a garage sale outside of like 1-2 coolish things. Our daughter is 20 months old and had clearly outgrown the "baby/toddler" room and the other slides that are the size she would typically like are incredibly unsafe. It looks like boarded up plywood where you can't see where your kid even is and you can't get to them as only kids can be on it. The price was also way higher than any other play place we've ever been (3x as much) as the parents also have to pay admission to just sit. It was a complete waste of time and we left after 30 minutes since our daughter was bored and it was gross. Also, the nursing room has a sink with no running water and the bathrooms had brown tinted water. We were so disappointed and felt completely mislead. I wanted to ask for our money back, but didn't think I could do so respectfully, so we just ate the cost and left. I would would not recommend this place at all. Go to the aquarium, the zoo, or...