The Mitten Children's Museum — Local services in South Haven

The museum is located inside of a Victorian type home. Picture small rooms, shabby carpet, numerous stairs across different levels and no central air. Also, not wheelchair accessible. The outside is in obvious disrepair with rotting wood trim and trash tossed behind the house. There are maybe two parking spots here so I parked in the parking lot a street away. It quickly became apparent that no central air conditioning was available. I don't know why. The smell of sweating barefoot kids and overheating adults was like being back in middle school. I was at the museum for approximately two hours and noticed that nobody was cleaning. Normally employees are constantly tidying and sanitizing at children's museums but not at The Mitten. Not sure who decided that was a good idea 😔 The posted hours list closing time at 3 pm. Suddenly, at 1:05 pm while playing games with my children an employee told me that the museum was closed. There was no previous announcement. No heads up when I arrived. When I asked why I was told that it was because there is a problem with the air conditioning. Hopefully they can get it fixed but I still wouldn't return. A clean museum is a good museum and The Mitten...

We drove down one weekday, only to find that there was a posting on the door saying it was closed due to staff illness. Fine; we wish that it was posted online, but it was what it was. We went the next week. That week we discovered the prices from the website were inaccurate and that they weren't doing memberships anymore - which could've possibly offset the increases in price (if we decided it was worth going again). Adults and 1 year olds are charged full price. The rooms were small with mediocre children's activities - things broken and missing. Steep staircases. It became fairly crowded with 3 other families being there at the same time. I cannot recommend it; the value...

After staying in South Haven for 3 days of pre-planned activities, we took our 7 and 5 year old to The Mitten. It was AWESOME. They got a chance to do whatever their heart desired and be kids with no agenda. I’m sure there are reasons “museum” is a part of the name, but it’s really more like a children’s play house. There are 2 floors with about 4-5 rooms (each with a different play theme). There is plenty to do without it being overwhelming. It was a perfect reset for our kiddos. Highly recommend to anyone traveling with kids. Perfect when they need space to...