So to avoid the massive influx of peeps we get during spring break in Austin, I decided to head to Waco for the day to check out this Children's Museum. I had heard good things so I figured, why not. I was pleasantly surprised! This place makes my Austin Children's Museum look like an ice cream cone when the person next to me has the full cherry-on- top sundae. This place has all the cool things I wanted to see as a kid: dinosaur bones, caves, tipi's, stuffed wild animals, fossils, a weather center, trains, a musical walkway... PLUS it all the upstairs is considered the Discovery Area which is tons of rooms that have different themes for the kids to experiment and explore. My favorites were the water and bubbles room, simple machines, the music room, and the People of the World room (which has outfits to try on and instruments from places around the world), We didn't get a chance to check it out, but they also have a Pioneer Town set up in the back for the kids to explore. They have a picnic tables outside and they have a small cafe inside for you to eat your lunch. I'm not sure if they always have food, but the day we went they were selling pizza by the slice at the gift shop. Every employee I ran spoke with was very helpful and a bit enthusiastic. It was pretty refreshing. Parking is free. Admission was pretty inexpensive for what you get to see and if you can spend the whole day there, do! There's plenty to keep your kids occupied. read more

Just plain fantastic museum! It appears geared toward kids and families. We absolutely LOVE it! Its spotlessly clean. It feels like an endless array of ooh and aaahs from the little people. If you will go often I suggest getting a membership. Just be aware that it is an independent museum so there is no reciprocity and your membership will not in any way assist you at other museums. Do also be aware that as in all public places there are those who don't properly supervise their children and who allow them to run amok. Especially upstairs. If you are sensitive to this plan accordingly. read more

So many rooms! So much to see! Every room had a different theme and so many cool things in it. The kids had fun too. Seriously, though. Being from Austin, I'm embarrassed at our lack of a cool children's museum. I didn't once think it was lame or full of donated toys. We enjoyed the optics room and the do booth in the audio room. The little boy loved the trains. They offer student, military, and senior discounts for those over 65. read more

I've been to several children's museums. This one ranks near the top for me. Kicks Austin's butt. Almost as good as the one we went to in Chicago. Lots of hands on stuff! Western room, recycling room, model train, music room, room with stuffed real animals, cardiac room, pendulum room, bubble room, tv news room, phone and typewriter room, etc. This being our first time there we got the regular entry and skipped the special exhibits. I believe we spent three hours there. We'll go back and get a family annual pass and see the specials as well. And I don't even believe we saw it all. I think there is also a natural history wing, but I can't be sure about that at the moment. read more

Completely agree that this museum is far better than Austin's children's museum. For one thing, the Mayborn is 143,000 sq feet. Austin's museum (the Thinkery) is 40,000 sq feet. What this means for parents is that all the children are spread out instead of crammed into tiny loud rooms. We went on a Saturday, and even though the museum was busy, we were completely relaxed. Plenty of places to explore and never too many children running around shrieking. Of the four children's museums I've visited, this one is the best! We spent 3 hours here and could've stayed much longer ... we didn't see even close to everything. Note: Make sure to check the calendar on the Mayborn website before you visit. On Baylor football game days, the museum is closed. read more

Fun little museum for families and students. The outdoor town is fun to walk around in! The interactive kids area is really cool but some of the activities were broken/run-down. read more

We enjoyed the museum with our 4 and 6 year old granddaughters. We went on community day so there was free admission. The girls loved many of the activities and PawPaw enjoyed teaching them about simple machines. I'm sure we will go again soon and plan to purchase the grandparents package next time. read more

Glad my family and I decided to hang out in Waco for the day. Started the morning at the Mammoth Monument to beat the summer heat and moved the day trip in to the Mayborn Museum. This place is a must see especially if you want to be indoors and and see/do cool things with your children. Very spacious and inexpensive (military discount pricing) and plenty to see! We will definitely be making more trips to visit the Mayborn Museum! read more

Mayborn Museum - Kids enjoyed the museum! - Museums Near Me - Waco, Texas

First time at the Museum and a young employee scolded my child for being a "kid" (toddler) and climbing the race car. Mind you there were other kids climbing on as well, but she picked my kid out of the other kids to scold at. Might be a "racial" thing but we left the museum right after because he was the only "different" one out of the kiddos playing. He left crying and didn't get to experience the rest of the Museum. Wasted money and time. I do not recommend this place. Not so "kid friendly" after all. Would've been more professional if you talked to the parents about the kids climbing the race car instead of scolding a toddler. He is just a kid, a toddler!?!? By the way, the other young male employee was just practically hiding in the corner on his phone near the other racing cars. Drive 3 hours to get here, definitely not worth our time. read more

Excellent hands on experience for children and adults! This was a great place to entertain the family for a couple of hours!

This place had it all from interactive walk through to programmable rooms for parties and field trips, very clean and orderly. Definitely a good place to take the kiddos on those hot summer days...just be careful with the grandparents as they will have a tendency to get left behind reading! read more

We usually go once every 6 months. When a new exhibit comes into the museum. This race car has been a huge hit. Not only for a 6 year old, but my 13 year old enjoyed it too. It's always clean, and children never seem to want to leave. Loved the interaction with the car exhibit. Super fun and interesting. Highly suggest you check it out while it's here. The kids loved changing the tire on the race car and enjoyed the game and the car race. read more

Have been members for years. Recently, they changed their policy so that you MUST present your membership card to gain entry (they will no longer look up your info/ID to validate). So, imagine my embarrassment when I go to take my kids on a whim and get rejected at the door. My wife typically takes the girls, so I don't carry the card with me. Thank goodness that my children are mature enough to understand. My wife also let me know they are now basically doubling party rates and sent us a lovely letter after all of this informing us of the new 'enhanced' member tiers (which are incredibly basic and offer limited to no additional benefit) that are now available, which I will not be taking advantage of. Combine that with several lackluster exhibitions over the past two seasons, reduced hours from Baylor stadium traffic congestion, lack of younger age-appropriate activities, extensive remodeling, and no associated museum benefits...I can not find any reason to renew at this time, and I wouldn't recommend others to do the same. Once or twice a year, and you're pretty much good. Membership is not the way to go until things improve. read more

Really great museum, especially for kids! We were really surprised, though, that there is an entire room dedicated to teaching about the importance of recycling and yet there was not one recycling receptacle in the building. We asked someone who worked there and they also did not know if any recycling in the building. I know super smart, creative people have put this together. Disappointing that they would miss the mark on this! read more

The Mayborn Museum really makes me wish Austin could get its act together on a Natural History. The museum is well laid out and has a broad variety of permanent exhibits and a great children's area. They also schedule some really good travelling exhibits and we make a point to head up every year for the Model Train exhibit. One of the most wonderful things about this museum is that the children's area is spread out enough to allow the kids to play. Living in Austin we rarely go to the ACM because it is always crowded. Not at the Mayborn. There are numerous different rooms that are laid out in themes, i.e. sound, light, water, life, the body and machines. There is also a cultural area and an open area where they sometimes do presentations. All in all this is a great daytrip with the little ones and a good all around museum. read more

Great museum!!! They have a children's area that is great for smaller kiddos; lots of hands on fun, animals, and a wide range of very educational rooms. The normal museum part is neat with drawers you can open to see Indian artifacts and animals. They have several prehistoric skeletons and a humpback whale skull, which is awesome. They have an outdoor village you can walk through that is set up like the 1800's. Very reasonably priced at $10 if you want to go to the special exhibit or $7 for normal. read more

This was really cool with the whole family. Great staff, clean restrooms and interesting exhibits. Very cool little village the kids loved it and the adults learned new things. I would strongly recommend anyone to visit. I will definitely be returning again. read more

This museum is really great. There are so many interesting things to see. My family loves the outside area, the dinosaur/fossil areas and the mammoth room. But our favorite part is the childrens area. It is awesome! So many different things for kids (and adults) to do. The bubble room was definitely my son's favorite! We've already been quite a few times since moving to Waco a few months ago, I think we'll get a membership soon. read more

The Mayborn has been one of the classic foundations of my childhood. In earlier years, my mother would take me and my two sisters to leisurely play and learn with friends. There are a number of steady exhibitions such as those of natural history, mammoths, and early Texas settlers' lives, as well as one traveling exhibit. The Mayborn is perfect for field trips and just spicing up lazy days. Admission is free for college students, and there is a quiet place to study just to the right of the lobby, where food and drink are allowed. The Mayborn is a very nice kids' museum with plenty of awesome features. read more

Wonderful small museum. There was a lot to see, filled with a lot of things for kids. I highly recommend taking the time to go through with the kiddies. Adults only in our party and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Price is very reasonable for a family, and they offer military discounts. read more

I went there on a field trip with my son's class. It is a really cool place to go. His class is special needs, and they all seemed to really love it! The museum has different rooms to play in, and there is a large outdoor area for eating a nice picnic lunch. They do not sell food there-you have to bring your own. It is easy to get to and there is plenty of parking. We enjoyed it and will definitely go back. read more

My four year old had a blast!!! This was a great museum and the price couldn't be better (unless it were free of course!). Definitely a must-see if you're in the area. read more

Very fun and educational me and my son love coming there. Definitely need to add more fun.stuff for kids. The same stuff does get boring after a few times read more

The kids area is wonderful and the "adult" part is amazing. We've been there 3 times with our 5-year old (since she was about 3) and she loves it every time. read more

My sister and I brought our children and had an enjoyable afternoon at the museum. That evening, we discovered that my two year old niece's beloved owl stuffy had been left behind. My sister called first thing in the morning. The museum staff were extremely kind and quick to return our calls. They were willing to mail Hoohoo back to her, since we live an hour and a half away from Waco. We can't wait to visit again! read more

Cool place for kids to play. Clean, nice big museum filled with a diverse offering of school-like kid things to do like dress up, animals, trains, science rooms, music room, classroom, history rooms, water, typical museum stuff too, etc. The kids play wonderfully together. Kids are just free to roam usually. It's the snobby parents that can be the problem, some don't or won't let their kids play with other kids. A Sad state of affairs. Give it a break...The kids are so carefree, excited, kind and playful - just let the kids be in their own world. I really like this place. The gift shop is quite overpriced and the stuff is kinda boring there. read more

Awesome museum! Went here twice during my Freshman year at Baylor, once with a class and the other with a friend/date and I got to say that the museum has a lot to offer, and was a surprisingly wasn't burying. The place has many sections with different themes and good information all presented in a cool presentable way. Also worth noting is the awesome wooly mammoth bones they had there! After all of these years I still remember those the clearest, which is spectacular considering I'm not a big mammoth fan. read more

This was nice surprise for my five years old ... We were looking for something like this dice we moved to Austin from St. Louis.

This museum is a very nice addition to the "Baylor community". It is unfortunate that every person that i interacted with, in the process of purchasing an annual membership for my great niece, was dismissive. My great niece is 3; i had asked if a physical membership card could be printed with her name on it, as the membership is a gift for her birthday. I was told it was impossible, that they do not list children on the memberships. I understand the safety issues related to a child being listed on a membership, however i feel as if a card with her name could have been printed and mailed to her for her birthday, especially after purchasing an annual membership (also planning to renew until she is no longer interested in visiting museum) and the fact that it is indeed a "children's museum". At any rate, although my great niece very much enjoys visiting the museum, i am personally disappointed with the individuals employed at this museum that i have interacted with. The membership department told me that they had mailed cards out to the adults on the membership, however after a week they have not arrived. This i feel is a lack of integrity, which is disappointing for a facility associated with a religious university. read more

I've been a member of the Mayborn for five years. A SERIOUS decline has been felt in the friendliness of the staff in the past several months. As the regulations became stricter in showing your ID as a member rather than them looking up your info as we did for YEARS, basic courtesy from the staff has majorly declined. IS it coming from the new management? Now the lines take a good 10 minutes just to show my ID, while holding our kids, because they only have one line open even for members! The benefit hour of being a member is from 9-10am on Saturday- the only day we DON'T need a benefit hour! Try 9-10 every day of the week when we actually need that hour after dropping off older siblings at school! Maintenance of the rooms is terrible as some of the equipment has been broken for YEARS! Signs are now irrelevant in rooms as they explain options that no longer exist. Even the new exhibit has a sign displayed "Coming Soon" yet its been MONTHS for the sign to remain up! If they are going to become more rigid on their members then they need to step up their game in benefits and maintaining and improving their rooms. They also need to act like they want people there! They start closing up and pushing people out at 4:55pm reminding you to "take your last potty break" as if talking to a toddler. They turn off lights and hover around you until you leave. AS I checked in I was reminded of the CLOSING time!!! When I asked why they were doing this they basically responded that people staying until 5 meant they were leaving at 5:15...REALLY???? They open at 10am!!!!! They are supposed to stay open til 5! I see employees running out of the building and leaving the parking lot before I'm even able to get my kids loaded into the car! It almost feels hostile now. They are acting like the very people that give them business have become problems. I for one am getting very disheartened by their attitude and will not renew my long-standing membership until I see improvement in the basic courtesy of the staff. They need to be friendly and helpful, not "watchdogs!" read more

It is a great place for kiddos and even fun for adults to see everything! There are multiple rooms with a variety of things to do. The train exhibit at Christmas time is one of our favorites and we love the discount for military. It is spacious and enough options for children to see and do! Highly recommend -- worth the drive if you live out of town like we do. It is also a great place for birthday parties ~~ with lots of fun for the children and little mess for the mom after the party :) read more

Pleasantly surprised by this science museum. Perfect for kids/families and not too pricey. Lots of different exhibits, with a lot of interactive things to do. read more

Three generations visited it. Three generations loved loved loved it!! Next time we will make it an all-day event. Worth the money at twice the price. read more

Fun place to go, museums are great, but honestly it's only fun once or twice with people you like. very educational though and they do a great job of organizing all of the different parts of the museum so that it's always interesting and fresh as you walk through. read more

This is a great family place in Waco! Very reasonably priced and there is a good amount for the kids to explore. The museum is very well done and interesting. read more