Great Explorations Children's Museum — Attraction in Saint Petersburg

We recently visited Great Explorations Children’s Museum, and unfortunately, it didn’t meet our expectations. First off, calling it a “museum” is a bit misleading — it’s more like an indoor play space or glorified daycare. While there are a few hands-on exhibits, don’t expect anything educational or curated in the way a museum typically is.

When we visited, the place was extremely overcrowded and very loud. If your child is sensitive to noise or overstimulation, this is definitely not the place to go. It felt chaotic, especially when day camps were present — it was like a hurricane of kids with minimal supervision. The LEGO section was complete chaos, and older kids (well above the age limit for some areas) were constantly taking over the younger kids’ zones. This created a less-than-ideal environment for little ones, especially when many parents weren’t supervising their kids or encouraging good behavior.

Another major downside is that no outside food or drinks are allowed, and there’s no real concession area. They do offer bottled drinks, but charging $3 for a bottle of water is excessive, especially when there’s nowhere else to get a snack or take a break.

Admission is also on the pricey side — $15 per adult to essentially supervise your own child. I don’t mind contributing to operating costs, but $30 for two adults just to walk around behind your kids feels steep for what you get.

While we did manage to have a decent time overall, it wasn’t without a lot of frustration. If you're looking for a calm, educational experience, this isn’t it. If you're okay with a noisy, free-for-all indoor playground, you might get more out of it — but don’t expect much structure...

My grandson is enrolled in this school and currently attending summer camp. He is constantly being beat up by other boys. One boy pinched him on his neck and the other boy punched him in the face leaving a bruise. It hurt so bad they put ice o the area but failed to notify his mother of the incident!!!It is quite obvious that the children in this program are unsupervised. The bulling boys (2 different boys) are not punished but instead they punish the victim (my grandson) by not allowing him to play while the offender continues to play!!! I believe they discriminate against my grandson because is half black and half white. When he graduated from VPK, he was the only child (the others in his class are white) who did not have a certificate of completion. The executive director lied and said they "must have left it upstairs". After I complained to the executive director, they quickly created a sloppy certificate to give to him. The next day another "teacher" inadvertently apologized for not having made him a certificate explaining that it was merely an oversight on their part. Clearly the organization's leadership (the executive director I spoke with the night before) lied about having "left the certificate upstairs." If they lie about something like this what else do they lie about. Do they keep the children in their school safe from bulling practices? Do they appropriately supervise the children? Do they even care? The museum is great but the child care and schooling program housed in the museum is substandard! BEWARE if you plan on using this program for child care...

I stopped coming here for a while because of staff unprofessional behavior. Unfortunately coming back today has reinforced that. I want to say every single staff member other than the women in dark hair with no name tag (of course) was a total disgrace to people who actually enjoy working with children. Its unfortunate because this place used to be great. She was wearing a dark green shirt and black pants with dark hair in a clip. First hour was great, after the second hour with no issues suddenly she is screaming loudly enogh for the entire full facility to hear "walking feet" at every single child she passes. Yet.. The children weren't even running. I am a professional who works with children for a living, so watching her walk around and look for people to yell at was just horrifying. If you worked with children and behaved that way in any school or other environment you would be repremanded. It got to a point where she kept circling and picking on certain children, some parents even left or looked upset. I also thought they should be able to understand sensory needs since they have sensory days right? Nope this vile women had no problem yelling at small children about shoes when their parent's were trying to explain that they have certain needs.

It's appauling that you hate yourself so much so you'd spend your days looking for issues when nothing is wrong. Yes rules are in place for a reason, but so are standards and professionalism. It's also worth mentioning that the kids she kept picking on were mostly of color. (Again no name tag,...