This small storefront hosts an amazing display of caterpillars, moths and butterflies, and similar…read moreinsects, and is also the home base for an educational non-profit that conducts programs throughout New England to teach children about caterpillars. The small staff maintains several tanks of living caterpillars, that can be seen under microscopes and viewed on a large screen. The staff are thrilled to share their knowledge about caterpillars. They also have a large collection of books about caterpillars -- one that I picked up to browse was entitled, Caterpillars of West Virginia No charge to enter -- the project is carried by donations and by the sale of caterpillar related items such as jigsaw puzzles, posters, Tshirts and books The back story is that a little by named Sam Jaffe became fascinated by caterpillars, and had managed to turn his childhood passion into a passion project. Inspiring

Our 3 year old loved the museum! It was clean and well maintained. Staff were amazing and super…read morefriendly! Highly recommend!

This museum is so awesome for kids. It's small but has so many unique exhibits and is very hands…read moreon. I brought my two kids here and as usual was worried about what the baby, who is 1 year old, would want to do or try to get into since this is a museum. The very friendly woman at the desk was so encouraging of letting the baby explore and touch everything. This museum is very educational but kids can touch and play with everything. It's not one of those museums where you are constantly reminding your kids not to touch something. There are exhibits representing many different places and cultures, and the kids can play in all of them. There is a Central American kitchen with items stocked in the kitchen that would commonly be found in that region. There is a Japanese tea house, a Parisian cafe, a West African market (my personal favorite as there are so many fruits and vegetables that one wouldn't see here and cards describing what each plant is), a rainforest where you can learn about how chocolate is made and hold and smell a real cocoa pod. Such a cool place. If we lived closer, I'd take the kids every weekend. Still plan on going multiple times a year. It's just such a unique place.

Stopped here after visiting Quechee Gorge nearby. This is an impressive musuem! I have been to a…read morebunch with my kids, and we could have spent quite a bit of time here. Inside, there are exhibits and events, with tons of hands on activities. My kids went right for the Bubble exhibit. The exhibits appealed to both the kids and adults in our group, from aquarium tanks to contraptions, puzzles and instructions on how to solve a Rubik's cube, to natural history and a live leaf cutter ant colony. The kids also had a blast creating a marble run in the "Tinkering Lab", a classroom full of supplies to get your imagination and creativity flowing. There is a large gift shop, filled with all kinds of goodies from toys to science kits. I love that the museum extends outside. There are trails, a summer cafe under a tent, water features, and more. This was a great way to spend the day, and if we lived locally, I would definitely get a membership so that we could come back.

Museum is a children's paradise that entertains the young and enchants the young at heart. However,…read moreas a mother with two special needs children, I do not recommend it. The hyperstimulation caused by some of the exhibits is far too stressful for them and there needs to be more ADA infrastructure for physically challenged children. For example, I could not take one of my children on the beautiful nature path because the gravel would have gotten lodged in their wheelchair. Also, some of the visitor services staff were quite short and impatient with us, because we were not aware and familiar with all their rules and policies. One of them actually yelled at my child for tapping repeatedly on the fish glass because it was 'annoying' them. My advice: do some research on the museum to see what kind of amenities, rules and policies they have in place before you go to decide if it's the right place to spend a family afternoon.

Wonderful children's museum. We spent two hours here, but our 8 and 5 year olds, could have lasted…read moreanother three hours. Great staff as well!

Wow, what an amazing children's museum. Highly recommend reservations because we came in on a…read moreSunday right at opening and they only had a few spots left for walk-ins. But I do love that they sell out on like a lot of other museums that will overpopulate. There is plenty to do for all ages in the special area for our children under 3 . Kids 12 months and under free above 1 12.50 they offer military discounts and memberships! What a great spot on our vacation to stop at!

Being a devoted fan of children's picture books, visiting the Eric Carle Museum was truly amazing…read more Unlike New York, there isn't a similar museum there. The space was spacious with high ceiling. I stumbled upon interesting books with unfamiliar authors. The staff were friendly, and they offer engaging activities for kids. I can see the value in this place. No cafe is available but there is a snack vending machine and indoor and outdoor seating. There is a water bottle refill machine. I would advise to grab some food first at Atkins Farms as it is a just a few minutes' drive away. It offers a convenient option. Overall, I had a positive experience and I recommend others to come visit this unique place.

I found the Eric Carle Museum a bit underwhelming for the price. I also wasn't really sure who the…read moretarget audience was. The museum has two galleries, a paint room, a library, and an auditorium. Personally, I could spend a decent amount of time reading through the gallery exhibits, but younger kids can't really see or reach a lot of them, so I think they'd get bored pretty quickly. There are a few interactive activities like creating your own recipe or using the peg boards but they felt a little gimmicky rather than being a core part of the experience. The paint room was probably the highlight for kids since there were lots of supplies and things to create, but I didn't see anything my son couldn't already do at home. With that said, kids could probably spend an hour or more here so it should definitely keep them busy. That's kind of where the museum confuses me. I thought this was aimed at younger kids but many of the exhibits are better appreciated by adults. At the same time, older kids will probably find the children's activities too basic. It ends up feeling like it's trying to appeal to everyone without fully committing to one audience. Admission should be much cheaper or donation based. If you're visiting the area, check with your local library first because many libraries offer free passes, and that's definitely the way I'd recommend going. Ironically, I think I'd enjoy coming back by myself more than with my kids. I'd take my time going through the galleries and learning about Eric Carle's work. With young kids though, I found myself feeling rushed because they weren't really engaged. I could also see it being a worthwhile visit for aspiring writers, illustrators, or anyone interested in children's literature.

This is an interesting, out of the way house museum. We didn't know what to expect going here but…read morewow there's a lot of fascinating history to hear about. Later on we heard some locals talking about the special events they hold around the holidays. It's worth checking out if you're in Keene and looking for something unique to do.

More than 5 years at Keene State College, and well over a thousand neglectful walks past this old…read moregem, and I never even stopped to think about what could be inside. We rang the bell, and shortly thereafter a thin older lady in a bohemian top and long flowing skirt answered the door. She brought us in, and requested we deposit our coffees on the floor by the front door (although she kept her coffee mug in hand throughout the entire museum). Room after room, she led us through the story of the Colony family, and the generations of community influence that have come through the house's front door. The rooms held cross-generational antiques and oddities, from normal fixtures like rugs and dishes, to an overwhelming collection doorstops, representations of foreign dieties, and thousands of small animal statuettes. Here are some of the top facts that I learned at the Horatio Colony Museum: 1. Canopy beds were created to contain heat in the winter in bedrooms without fireplaces 2. Graphophones not only played cylindrical wax "disks," but one can also record his/her own music on some blank wax 3. The "bun" hairstyle of old Victorian England was inspired by the traditional hairstyle of Japanese Geishas 4. The entire faces of some paintings can follow you around a room. There's more, but this review would take forever. The tour is free... it's a half hour... and it's pretty neat... so check it out.

Traveling to Vermont looks alot different from my 20s to now having a toddler in my 30s. I found…read moreWonderfeet online and after 3.5 hrs in car we arrived yesterday. $16 for adult and child over 1yr old. My daughter loved it! Was very interactive and allowed her time to play with all sorts of things!

Such a great spot for kids!!! Everything is so unique and creative. Highly recommend!read more

Great place to play Playground is free to public…read more Parking is limited Has shade coverage, picnic tables and benches

Don't know why this is listed as closed as it is NOT. Wonderful place to take the children, and the…read moreplayground is amazing AND free.

I don't have kids but I went with my mom, sister and nephew. It was so cool to see what kinds of…read morebusinesses and opportunities there are for kids to receive enrichment beyond the home & classroom (e.g. daycare). It sounds like this is a popular place in the winter given its wide range of indoor activities. It's organized very well and provides different types of stimuli for children to choose from. The staff inside support and encourage parents & guardians to utilize the Discovery Museum's facilities to the best their kids are able to. The outdoor areas & trails seemed fun, as well as the giant chair and swing set.

The Discovery Museum is a hands-on museum for families that opened in Acton, Massachusetts in 1982…read more It was founded by math teacher and naturalist Donald B. Verger. The museum blends science, natural and play. A second museum building opened in 1987. After an $8.8M expansion and renovation, the museum reopened as a single-building museum in March 2018. A 550 -square-foot tree house and accessible nature playscape were also added to the campus in July 2016. The current museum now has twice the exhibit space of the original museum and includes significant galleries for STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math) experiences including water, air, tinkering, design, engineering, early brain development, math, light and color, and sound. My family and I recently visited the Discovery Museum while we were visiting the area. We visited a local brewery for lunch and my wife and I were interested to see if there was a place nearby that we could take our sons. The museum came highly recommended. We're glad that we heard about it because we all had a blast. The whole campus was beautiful! There are a variety of different interactive exhibits devoted to topics such as math, airplay, water, music & sound, illusions, simple machines, light & color, and Leonardo da Vinci. My sons never wanted to leave. After exploring the museum, we all headed outside to explore the Discovery Woods. My sons really liked checking out the tree house, the nature playscape, Adventure Hill, the slap-a-phone, the outdoor da Vinci exhibits, and Bessie the Dinosaur. Overall we had an excellent experience at the Discovery Museum and we highly recommend it to families who are visiting the area!

This place exceeded our expectations. Whoever created this place understands kids and their…read moreinterests. I was interested but thought there wouldn't be much for our 18 month old to do. Boy was I wrong! From the golf ball science room, to the water play, and Arthur room. This place is so cool! We also really enjoyed the planet/ Dinosaur room. We got lucky there weren't many ppl when we went and it was half off.

Excellent children's museum. Definitely worth every penny. So much to see and do. It's hard to get…read morethe kids away from each activity to see the others! Everything is so clean and organized. I love the bathrooms easily located in many places close to every activity.