Since my last review, I ended up purchasing a family membership to the Children's Science Center…read moreand it is the BEST purchasing decision I have made all year. It's close proximity means that I have a go-to spot to bring the kids on school breaks, rainy days, cold days, or whenever we simply have nothing to do. While there are a few standing exhibits, the staff does a really good job at changing things up (and keeping things topical) so each visit feels special. And the best part... SLIME. We've made slime conductors, spider slime, fluffy slime, snowflake slime, glow-in-the-dark slime .. basically alll the slime. The experiment lab always has a slime option and it is a highlight of every visit. My eldest daughter went from barely reading and needing help at the beginning of our membership to fully reading and creating experiments on her own. It is so much fun to see. For the littles, there is a small playroom with building blocks, magnatiles, books, and those large blue fort/construction material building materials. My two-year old loved spending time in this room but now that she is three she likes making her own hovercrafts and setting them sail in the wind tunnel. The staff is SO kind, SO helpful, and so passionate about what they do. I love how they offer volunteer/internship opportunities to teens and will also set up special traveling science labs to Title I schools. If you are a member you also get discounted or free visits to children's science museums all across the United States which has made this membership 100% worth it for our family. If you are looking for an experience gift to give a little one this year, I highly recommend the Children's Science Center!

Had a great time with my toddler today. She's not quite two so her admission was free and there's a…read more$2 discount for purchasing tickets in advance. I was worried there wouldn't be enough activity for her age but she had a blast playing with exhibits and blocks in the interactive room. She also made "play dough" as an experiment. The staff were all friendly and helpful, we will definitely be back.

Days before D-Day, a secret message from the Japanese Ambassador was decoded in Vint Hill, a former…read moreU.S. Army Intelligence and Security Command. The Japanese Ambassador was in Berlin, and had the power to get a meeting with Adolf Hitler. The U.S. gets this message and it gets sent to Eisenhower's staff. This message changed the U.S.' move. To buy time in Normandy for a few weeks, the U.S. puts on a fake ghost war, playing up Hitler's belief that Colette was significant. Fake tanks, commands and signals were staged. Germans in England who sided with allies played Hitler reinforcing Colette on purpose. (Last image is from this ghost war.) The impact of D-Day can be traced here. Very cool learning about cryptography and geospatial intelligence in the Cold War.

Happened upon this by complete happy accident and I cannot be more thankful to have discovered…read moreit!!!! Walking in we were immediately greeted by a delightful gentlemen who I unfortunately couldn't catch his name, that's on me he said it twice but I was so overwhelmed walking in! He took the time to explain exactly where everything was, what room included what, and what the key spots were. We only had a very limited time to poke around so I didn't even get to go upstairs unfortunately :( I was thrilled to see that they had merchandise, so we grabbed two amazing shirts that I've already worn. Clayton was incredibly charming ringing us up. His delightful jokes and willingness to put up with me going back and forth between sizes for 10 minutes still brings a smile to my face. I am so desperate to come back now that I know it is so close to DC (under an hour). Again, everyone was so kind and funny and just amazing and there was soooo much to look at. 10000/10, counting the days until I can come back!!!!

We visited on a Tuesday afternoon. I actually ended up getting a Groupon deal which was really…read moregreat so I saved some money. We were there for a two hour play block. There was lots of rooms and things to do. They also had cars you could ride on. My 4 and 1 year old had a good time. There definitely was a lot of various ages of kids visiting. I do think it's good for younger ages but you do have to have a watchful eye on younger kids due to kids ridging those cars everywhere throughout the place and can get wild. They had tons of workers cleaning up while we were there as well.

Very cute spot. We signed up for their happy hour deal where you come in an hour before they close…read moreand it's only 15 dollars. My 18 month old definitely enjoyed himself in all the different little "lands". The only thing is, if you do the happy hour, you don't get a full hour as they close 10 minutes prior (which I don't blame them, they gotta clean up and get home as well). We will be back.

My inner 12 year old enjoyed visiting the museum. It is located in the Ronald Reagan Building…read more Metro is close by. The museum has a few play/learning areas outside of the building. It is one of the few museums that charges a fee (just like The Bible Museum, Spy Museum & Museum of Illusions). All are worth a visit for different reasons. There are interactive exhibits and fun displays.

Luckily the two times we have visited we haven't had to pay for tickets (free museum days). I'm…read morebaffled as to how this can be the children's museum of DC!! For starters this place is so unkept, it's so incredibly dirty and the bathrooms are gross. I truly wonder if they ever clean this place? We visited 2 years ago and again this weekend, and I can tell they haven't updated a single thing. Including the nasty pom poms that have clearly seen better days and cost 2 cents a piece. This is the weirdest children's museum I have ever been to. Not even sure what the target age group is. They have like half of an exhibition appropriate for each different age group. The exhibitions are not cool, barely entertaining, half of them are broke or barely work, they are all dirty as can be. And the museum overall is tiny! I feel bad for the people that pay to visit this place. This was definitely the last time we visited, even with free tickets. Every single Smithsonian museum is 100000x better than this, and they are all free. So save your time and money and visit any of them, I'm sure your kids will be more entertained there and at least they won't catch a nasty virus from playing in this dirty place.

Great hands on play for your kids!…read more We were in the area and since it was hot we wanted an indoor activity for our kids. The museum recommends 8 and under. Our kids are 8, 7 and 5. The website does a great job of explaining where to park. We followed our gps and it took us the emergency exit entrance. The entrance is right on the main brick road. The museum will also validate your pass so parking is free. Entering was easy and we let the kids loose. We spent about 2 hours but they could have easily stayed longer. They do not allow food in the museum but you can come and go as you please. Great experience to let your kids explore.

Visited Charlottesville and this was the perfect little pitstop on the walk through the "mall". So…read moremany great shapes and then this for the kiddos was perfect and fun. The front has a lot of hands on stem stuff while you head down an alphabet corridor and get to play imaginationville with tractors, a bank, restaurant, Dr office as well as a music room and arts and crafts room. Had a great time. Seemed clean. Nice bathrooms. Price was right. Staff wasn't overly friendly but not rude either. The free carousel out front was a nice touch too! Would return.

The kids (ages 7 & 9) went with my husband and they loved it. They talked for days about how cool…read moreit was and it was a good adventure on a cold winter day.

This place is a lot of fun for kids. We've been twice now. The prices are reasonable and there are…read moreso many different things to interest children from ages 2-10. However, the rooftop level is basically NEVER open (they close it if they feel a rain drop or the winds blow more than 3 mph), it is hot and humid on the second and third floors, the women processing you to enter are extremely slow, and this museum becomes incredibly crowded! I would recommend they sell tickets for two hour blocks or windows in order to keep the crowds down and to avoid lines of kids waiting to play with every single thing in the building

I am visiting the area and kept missing the turn for parking , so if this helps anyone who is…read moreslower like me, park on the left side of the building (facing the building). Haha tons of parking there. The place itself is so fun, lots to do for kids. There are three levels but only the first two were opened. Very clean which is my favorite part. Reasonable ticket prices as well!

We love this place! Ever since we found it on our last trip to Massanutten, it quickly became a…read morerequirement for our vacations. There is so much for the kids to do! Trains, planes, and automobiles included! Probably one of my favorite parts is that it integrates fun with learning. Definitely a must if you have kids.

I came back to host a birthday party. For any parent, looking for a party venue for their child I…read morehighly recommend this place. I booked the option two party about three months in advance. What's great is that you just select a theme from the pictures they have they send you a digital invite to send out and as you get close to the party date, they'll confirm the theme and give you an idea of what the schedule is. That's it that's literally all you have to do. Honestly, if you were to just walk in the door without anything in hand other than a child, your 90 minute birthday party would go off without a hitch. They had the cupcakes, the utensils, the balloons, the beautiful room set up and they had the goodie bags. Honestly, a lot of the parents gave us a compliment on organizing the party and how much fun they had and I felt weird taking any credit for it. We had an assigned party planner that was very invested in making sure everything was running on time and that the room was set up perfectly to our needs. And at the end of the party, they packed everything up for you. What's wild is they actually packed everything back in the original containers organized and ready to go. And then these poor people had to re-organize all the toys that our party had demolished and dragged a different corners of the room all within 30 minutes. I hate planning, and hosting events gives me a lot of anxiety, so to have a party go off successfully with my minimal involvement is amazing.

I'm at a stage in my life where I'm going to kids birthday parties every other weekend. Out of all…read morethe places I've been to, I think Play Street is probably ranked first. First of all, the concept of a pretend Main Street USA with shops with all kinds of props and working cash registers with play money inside is brilliant. I remember playing pretend shop keeper with my brother and cousins as kids and we would have loved this place. Secondly, the place is very well maintained and has plenty of space for the more active kids to just run around from shop to shop. My wife loved it so much she booked one of their other locations for our son's birthday which is many months away.

Pros: play street, I think one of the only ones in the area. (Although there is a cute one in WV…read morethat has a cafe with food too). It's clean, bright. I love that there are also crafting options, some tables with puzzles as well. In a shopping area so plenty of easy parking. Your child gets to pick a snack at the end which helps with the "I don't want to leave" tantrums Cons: The price is hefty $16 for 1.5 hours. It's hard to get behind this when I can go to a place like me land in chantilly for $10 and unlimited play time with a much bigger space and a lot more to do. The snack helps with that but still, at this price I'll come maybe every other month. At $10, I go every week sometimes multiple times a week. The space is small and they are cleaning while you're playing, in such a small space this feels rude/ puts unneeded pressure on the customer. Especially since they have a gap to clean before the next time slot. Overall: I would come again but not often due to the price. If you have a really crafty kid and only one younger kid I feel the price might become worth it. If you have kids in a spread out age range, or who don't like crafts, or you don't want to deal with the stress of having to be there at a certain time, and leave after just 1.5 hour. There are certainly better options both from an affordability standpoint as well as quality.

I brought my youngest here for their Easter event and she had a blast! The session was 90 minutes…read moreof play with opportunity to take pics with the bunny. This is hands down the cleanest indoor space we've been too and we've been to lots. The staff here were super friendly and regularly cleaning and putting things away. The play space has a town motif with a crafting and art area and then a vehicles, blocks, and dinosaur area. My daughter's favorite was the vet space, followed by the recycling truck. She spent a fair amount of time with the dinosaurs and at the grocery too. We never made it to the play areas on the left side. 90 minutes just really isn't enough time to cover it all if your little spends a long time in one area. I looked online to book play for another weekend and was shocked to see they only offer play 9-1030 on the weekends. I'm a working single mom, child in preschool, and we live in Springfield-essentially the weekend schedule means we won't be able to return without setting out super early. I love the imaginative play concept so I really hope they open a space closer to Fairfax or open up additional weekend play hours.

I usually don't care about service like a typical Karen but the receptionist is either a racist or…read morejust straight up horrible person. Also I plan to report this place to local health department because I am 100% sure all the surface is never cleaned regularly and kids reported to get sick consistently after playing there. To the business owner: If all you care about is making money, all the negligence and rudeness one day will backfire you.

We've visited this indoor play area four times, hoping for fun, but every single visit resulted in…read moremy child getting sick shortly afterward (respiratory virus) We specifically tried different times - once first thing in the morning and once near closing time- expecting better cleanliness, but the result was the same each time. This consistent pattern strongly points to the play equipment itself not being properly sanitized. While the setup seems fun, the lack of visible cleaning/sanitization protocols for the toys, slides, climbing structures, etc., is a major health concern. It's unacceptable that visiting at opening didn't prevent illness, suggesting deep cleaning isn't happening overnight. We won't be returning due to this recurring health risk. Management urgently needs to implement and enforce rigorous, frequent sanitization of ALL play surfaces.