Greater Wausau Children's Museum — Local services in Rothschild

I don’t know, this place is less of a “children’s museum” & more of giant room with toys. A “play place” would be a more accurate description than a children’s museum. It has a giant dinosaur skeleton in one of its windows, but ya go in & the most educational thing there were the books & toys they were trying to sell you. They even had a bunch of junk food for purchase at the front, like soda, Gatorade, & bags of chips. I mean, it’s 2023. There are so many healthy & delicious quick snacks for kids, it was kinda disheartening to see junk food at a place for kids that’s supposed to be a healthy experience.

I would have been a bit less disappointed if it was actually labeled as a children’s play place, rather than a children’s museum, which it most definitely is not a children’s museum.

My 3yr old had fun there overall, but with the toys strewn everywhere, kids racing in bikes & cars & scooter things & whatnot from one end of the “museum” to the other end, the 3 & under room just kinda devoid of toys, & the cacophony made it kinda exhausting for both of us after a bit.

So, I guess if you’re looking for a “gym” with a bunch of toys strewn about for your kid to run off their energy, it’s a good place to go. And, honestly, it is fun to go free rein running back & forth & having toy onions & blocks & puzzle pieces scattered about.

But, if you’re looking for hands on educational play, like one expects at a children’s museum, you’re not really gonna find it here. Also, if your kid is way too into junk food &/or begs ya to constantly buy toys for them, probably best to go...

We went after lunch, my mistake for not checking the time but they are only open until 2pm. Upon getting there it was fine we only had an hour as they didn't have a ton to do so an hour was perfect. The price was right I felt. I'm not sure the price but it was $7 for my daughter (4) and I. There are signs when you come in that you are responsible for your child, which I had zero issues with. My issues came when out of the 8ish families there only two adults were actively with their families. One set was playing cards while the kid played, one was on the phone talking the entire time, etc. anytime my daughter tried doing something, such as building a fort with blocks the bigger kids just knocked it down. She wanted to go through the tunnel and they blocked the other end, she tried going down the slide and a few of the boys would take a running jump down it and knock her over. I mentioned it to the parents who didn't care, "kids will be kids" and the worker was just sitting at the front not watching what was happening. Kids who couldn't be more than 18 months old were climbing on tables and throwing all the magnet tiles on the floor, etc. there needs to be staff or something monitoring the behavior of kids who can step in and say something. We picked up after ourselves for everything and no one else did. They also sell Usborne books so if you do not support MLM this isn't the place for you. My daughter enjoyed herself so I'm giving it three stars, but we...

It's a big area/storefront for little kids to run around and play with donated toys. Parents can sit and have a break. Our area definitely needs something for littles to do in the winter. I wouldn't call it a museum though necessarily. While I'm grateful for the space and appreciate what the creators are trying to facilitate I never see any of the volunteer workers cleaning. I've found sharp pieces of wicker wood broken off donated baskets on the ground, the toys are dirty, surfaces sticky, play clothes and soft toys stained. I wipe down surfaces while I'm there, I make sure my curious 1 year old doesn't eat the crumbling drywall out of the cracks in some of the walls and fixtures- I'm sure stuff is probably sprayed with Lysol, hopefully? For what it's trying to do, it's a great big space to burn off energy, I just wish it...