Air and Space Museum and Hampton Carousel

We headed to Hampton for a cold Saturday morning visit this weekend. Saturdays are "Stem Saturdays" at the Air and Space Museum. I won't lie- air planes are not a huge interest of mine. Neil finds them much more interesting than I do. By this I mean I find them boring. But.. we had head about the Space Rangers and Engineer It playground, so we decided to check it out.

The playground was advertised as a stem playground with lots of connector pieces to build things. Either we missed the playground from the advertisement, or this was it, and it didn't look like what we saw online. Not sure. Either way, R enjoyed himself here.

The Space Rangers section was really cute. There were some other little people around, and the kids got to be an astronaut and try things they would have to do. There were several hands on things here, and I think that if R was older he would have enjoyed it even more.

 

We also checked out the STEM tables, which were listed online as "for any age." There was a coloring table, but other than that everything was way too old for a toddler. I did ask if they had any events for little ones, but the lady told me that they don't have anything regularly scheduled. They sometimes have events like cookies with santa, but that's it.

We walked around and looked at some of the exhibits.

*A heads up about this exhibit, once you go inside, you're in for about nine minutes. There is no leaving the room. If you've got a little one that this might scare, skip it.

Hours:
Monday- Closed
Tuesday-Saturday 10:00-5:00
Sunday 12:00-5:00

Ticket Prices:
Children 0-2 Free
Students 3-18 $15.50
Adults $19.00
Seniors $17.00

I think that the ticket prices are a little high. Maybe I'm just cheap and don't realize how expensive things are. I'd also like to see some events tailored to little guys. They are a member of the ASTC, but keep in mind that you can't use these until you are 90 miles away from your home. Super annoying.. .

My favorite part of the trip was the carousel. Hampton's carousel is of only 70 wooden operating merry-go- rounds in the United States. It was built by folk artists in Germantown, Pennsylvania in the early 20th century. It was part of the Buckroe amusement park from 1920-1985. in 1991 it reopened in its current location. This spot is a DEAL. It's only $1.00 to ride. You can also buy a 25 ride pass for $20.00. The people who worked there were friendly and took pictures for us. They even let R pick from a little prize basket and take home a goodie. 

The carousel is open April-December, Tuesday-Sunday 11-8. Closed on Thanksgiving and Christmas.   I'm hoping once R is a little older he will like the carousel more. I love the old school charm it has.