Muncie Children's Museum — Attraction in Muncie

After reading many reviews I wanted to add my own very current & imo, honest review of this place. The staff was very friendly & welcoming towards everyone, especially the littles the entire time. Check in was a breeze. The place & bathrooms were clean. The toys & play areas are very well-loved, not brand new looking, but again- the kids love it!!! With so many kids playing as gentle or rough as they like- some things could use some tlc (i.e. fresh paint, working hands-on equipment, new play foods, more interactive displays)! Personally, I see it more beneficial to try to help fundraise for more hands-on supplies so there's more to go around for each kid, than to complain that it needs some donations! It is a wonderful destination if you are within 2 hours (imo). The little town has a kitchen, grocery store, recycling center, train station, pretend yard with a doghouse, a barn with an upstairs pet hospital. There's plushies the kids can carry around all over the place & it's such a laid back place! The train display is very cool- a little dusty & needs some new technology, but still fun to watch! Overall, my kids weren't rushing out the door to leave- the website says plan for about 2 hours, but my kiddos stayed for 4!! They weren't ready to leave- but there was no way to get a drink while inside unless you went out & came back in. I say bring one small bottle of water at least for each kid in a backpack. We enjoy this place & want to support it & keep it up & running for generations to come! Every community needs a Children's Museum. Way to go, Muncie for keeping this gem around 👏 💎!!!! It's great- set your expectations to not a brand new establishment & your kids will have so much fun & be begging to go back!!! (Younger kids that is like...

I'm not sure where to begin. I loved this children's museum growing up and this was my first time returning with my children. The dust in the Marsh area has probably been accumulating since I was there over 2 decades ago.There were plenty of unworking parts in each "exhibit", lots of lights that were out, and everything was dirty. Due to the size of the location and the lack of attendance this left an overall feeling of uneasiness. The absence of music and the hum of what little lights were on really infasized that uneasy feeling.

The poorly lit museum set the stage for the rest of the vist with items being broken down, extremely outdated, and highly dirty. There were so many areas where there was a step down that my 1.5 year old came incredibly close to falling the whole time we were there. I appreciate the caution tape but toddlers don't understand. There is also a step in the "baby safe" area that lacks the caution tape for older kids that happen to be in the area.

Due to the lack luster experience inside we decided to head out back and we were greeted with a sign on the door warning about a wasp nest in the play area out back. The museum has been in this location since 1996 and I understand renovations are coming. I can't, however, seem to fathom how they are going earn the revenue for the renovations without caring for the current state of the museum.

Please please please for the sake of the health and safety of future children coming to this museum please dust the place, mop the floors, sanitize the high touch areas, and turn on some lights and music!!! Soap and a little elbow grease and paint would really change the vibe of this place until the renovations come because right now there's no life...

I really wanted to like this place. This place is filthy, run down and a bit unsafe. Our three year old son had fun, but my husband and I were appalled the whole time we were there. First, at the front desk the employees were sitting there eating while we were paying the admission fee ($6 per person, and they accept cards), which seemed super unprofessional. Next, we took a quick trip to the bathroom. The bathrooms weren’t overly clean. The baby changing station folds down over the sinks in both the men’s and women’s bathrooms and that was super awkward. We couldn’t find a family bathroom there. As we started exploring the museum I couldn’t figure out why it’s called a museum. It’s literally an indoor playground, and a terrible one at that. We headed over to the toddler area and there was no play food in the farmer’s market. Some of the puzzles were broken. There was trash left from someone’s snacks there, too. I noticed a bunch of extension cords out in the open just off the toddler area, close to the turtles. That’s so unsafe! The animals were nice to see, but their cages were dirty. Upstairs was a waste; there was no chalk for the big chalkboard and the tablets weren’t working. The light bright board was fun. My son loves trains, but we couldn’t get the train display to move. It was apparently broken. The Marsh and the play kitchen were just as gross and dirty as the rest of the place. There was a thick layer of dust on top of things in the Marsh. A lot of the parents were just sitting around looking at their phones, not their kids. Like I said, I really wanted to like this place, but it was so yucky we all came home and took a shower. Not fun! This was our first and last time visiting the Muncie...