Children's Museum

Phoenix has an amazing program that connects local museums with the library system through the Culture Pass. If you have this in your area and you're not using it, you're missing out! **If you don't know what I'm talking about or you'd like to learn more, scroll to the bottom of this post for more info.**

Getting a pass can be competitive but with a little bit of planning it's totally worth it. Many libraries post in advance which passes will be available on what days. Our local Chandler library doesn't open until 10am and we live 2 miles away, so I can usually get lucky and head to story time 10 minutes early and still get a great pass.

This week we went to the Children's Museum downtown. Scotty loves this place and easily spent 4 hours playing happily. He loves the racecar tracks on the third floor, which we visited three separate times.
There is also a mini "car wash" for tricycles that he enjoys but I didn't get any pictures as I was busy pedaling us both around.

This time he decided he wanted to make me dinner, so he shopped...

checked out (he especially digs the cash register,
his dad would be so proud of his number punching skills)

and wok-ed it up, like he's seen his Papa do.

He made me pizzas, spaghetti, cereal, and chocolate milk. And he made me use a napkin while I ate it.

It's fun to see him grow into a little kid with a vivid imagination and sense of play, though he is certainly the most bossy chef I've ever worked with :o)

Of course, his other favorite exhibit got lots of attention:throwing rocks down the storm drain. It's hard to compete with that.

I'm tempted to just buy a membership but it's pretty expensive ($9 for everyone over 1 just for 1 day!). If they were open later I would totally get the membership and just hang out on days where Eric works later, but unfortunately they close at 4pm...

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**The Culture Pass Program: Through this program you can check out free passes to museums in the area, good for 2-4 people depending on the pass. They automatically expire in a week so you don't have to worry about returning anything and you can take the kids adventuring without the expense! Our program includes the Phoenix Zoo (which is awesome, we have a membership and go all the time), the Children's Museum, the Science Center (my personal favorite), the Desert Botanical Garden, the Museum for Youth (another goodie for little ones), the Heard Museum (focusing on /native American culture), the Natural History Museum, several art museums and a few other less known museums.

More Culture Pass Info

Chandler Public Library Culture Passes

Phoenix Public Library Culture Passes