MiWonderings: Stepping Stones Museum

Last weekend, we went to Stepping Stones Museum in Norwalk, CT. I've heard it compared to the Please Touch Museum in Philadelphia, which I have not been to. But Stepping Stones was a great day-trip place and my kids, 17 months and 3 years, both loved it!

What's nice about this museum is that it even has facilities for infants. In "Tot Town" young kids can roam and play in a nice enclosed area with toys, a slide, books, musical instruments and a bus they can climb onto. And the entire museum is not too large as to be overwhelming for the kids or the parents.

My son's favorite exhibit was the Energy Lab where balls are whisked away by wind or water power. It's basically a big water play area and they even provide rain jackets!

P washing the balls

Great place to splash

Balls are whisked away in tubes and shot out across the room

All the exhibits are interactive with costumes for role play and touch screens, allowing kids to learn as they play.

The skeleton copies the motions while L bikes

P pratices proper dental hygiene

There was also an outdoor gated play area with large foam building blocks for the kids to build and just run around.

While we were there, there was also an art studio session where my son participated in an activity to learn about optical illusion. And we went to the multimedia gallery to watch a movie on how kids play in other countries.

We ate lunch at the cafe, and I would say that was the only disappointing part. I generally don't expect much from the food at museums but while "healthy" (everything is baked instead of fried), the pizza and chicken nuggets were so dried out.

Outdoors, there are some gardens and sculpture that are powered by rain, wind and the sun. There's even a child-sized exit door, which my 6 foot husband tried to use.