I love Children’s Museums. I probably love them just as much as my kids do. I remember going to a certain one when I was little and I loved it. There is so much pretend play and learning that you just don’t even realize it.
Hi Friends! My name is Sarah and I am a Smoky Mountain mom. I have 2 small kids and love to blog and share about places, ideas, and things to do. We live about 2 hours from Chattanooga and I have had Creative Discover Museum on my list to do for a few years. Since it was my son’s 4th birthday weekend. We up and decided to go to Chattanooga. We stayed at The Druy Hotel and let the kids swim and have fun. We got FREE dinner and breakfast during our stay and had a great time.
Creative Discovery Museum has been open since 1995 and is a great place to take kids that are under 12 years old. They do have some parking behind the museum if you are lucky but there is a charge to it. They are located in downtown Chattanooga so plan to park along the street, in a parking garage and do a little bit of walking.
Once we made it inside we were greeted at the ticket booth. Tickets were $19.99 per person and kids 2 and under are free. They do offer military discounts and memberships. If you have never been like us, you can explore the museum first then see if you want to come back again. If so, then you may want to purchase a membership to come back again and again.They had a nice cafe and a gift shop you can explore
Tennessee River Play
My kids could have been in this room for a few hours. They have lots of water tables with boats, rivers, fountains and ways to collect water. They do offer 3 different size plastic cover ups for the kids to wear so they don’t get the, but it didn’t seem to help. My kid was still soaked. We did see they also had blow dryers for kids to dry off their hands and clothes. I would suggest bringing extra clothes with you just in case.
My older daughter had fun climbing and pretending to drive the boat. They had slides, climbing walls, and tunnels to play in. This is all in the same room so we started off in this area to play for a good 45 mins before we moved on.
The next area room was pretty big and had a lot of fun things such as dance floor, motion art and a fun creation station to make whatever art project you can dream of.
Toddler area ” Little Farmhouse”
Since my kids are small they could go play in the “Little Farmhouse” toddler playing area. This area was very big and plenty of room for little ones to play pretend, crawl and explore. They had a little house that you could do all the fun housework you see mama do such as laundry with real clothes, fix meals, wash dishes and clean. Then move over to working on the farm. Have the kids milk the cows, collect eggs from the chickens, feed the rabbits and pick food from the garden.
The Corner Clinic
After they are done playing on the farm, they can then go and see a couple of other rooms with different themes. Across the hall is the corner clinic. Where your kids can pretend the be the secretary and check you in then transform into the doctor by putting on costumes. They had a few things to check your real heart beat and weight. Dolls are provided over there to play pretend so you can have them lay on the table for a check up with lots of pretend accessories. They had eye charts, microscopes, and X-ray boards to discover the problem.
Next the kids wanted to go check out one of their temporary exhibits. This space transforms every few months and for the next 6 months this space is called
“Namaste India”
As you walk in, you can pretend to take a Tuk Tuk Ride. Pretend to be the driver or sit in the back and watch a video of your car weave through traffic in the streets of India.
As soon as we walked in, we could smell all the spices as if we were there at the spice market. They had India’s most popular spices to smell and you can practice block printing with stamps on colorful paper.
Then watch and learn the famous cricket sport on TV. They showed a real live game and you could practice in the other corner throwing the ball.
We then explored a small India family home with all the traditional art on walls, groceries in the fridge and how they like to decorate the home as well as the backyard where they may practice yoga and wash and dry their clothes.
We got to see Bollywood and see movie clips, try on colorful sarees, and their fun jewelry.
The Dhaba Restaurant we learned how to prepare traditional dishes and see what they like to cook with.
The India School Room Experience was to show examples of their school uniforms, language and make a fun craft on their desks.
The kids really enjoyed this area and leaned a lot about the India Culture and lifestyle.
The UnEarthed Room
You are greeted with a huge Dinosaur fossil. The kids loved playing in the sand digging for fossils, learning about volcanoes and playing with more sand. There is a lot of history and facts all over the room to learn more about the earth. In warmer months they have an open outdoor area to explore.
Once we realized we made it through just the downstairs area and needed to go upstairs, we took that time to get a snack and have a bathroom break.
Artspace
Once we made it upstairs, we were greeted with a fun theater room. Kids could put on costumes, change out the set, open and clothes the curtains while the other kids can be over the lights and sound booth or the kids could put on a fun puppet show for friends and family.
There is lots to do in the art area. They had a fun art studio, a tape room where you can rip off as much painter’s tape as you wanted and decorate the wall, make a fun stop motion movie with different scenes and tell a story with their figurines. Play with clay or build with their blocks.
Another fun room was the dance studio. You could hit a button and the mirrors would come to life and show all different kinds of dances you can learn and watch.
The music studio was a kid favorite. Play drums, strum on the guitar, sing and play the piano.
There were so many little rooms to go into the kids would get a little overwhelmed and only stay in some for a few mins then want to see what was next.
STEM Zone
They had build it area to build and put together your own creation with screws, bolts and different items you may need to build whatever creation you like. The kids loved the robots. Each has their own color and you control that robot to go pick up a ball and put it in your spot. It is much harder than you think. The kids also got to program a puppet to do a fun dance. You get to choose the moves it makes and the order it goes.
They had fun shooting rockets into space, shooting balls into targets and using a robotic arm to pick up blocks. There is a lot of learning going on in this section of the museum.
Outdoor Treehouse
Here is where you can go outside and go play and explore. The kids played out on the outdoor treehouse and swings you could use a rope to lift you up and drop you.
WOW! We did so much. This place was huge and has so much I didn’t even cover. Since this was our first time here, we stayed and played for close to 5 hours. I know the next time we go back, we will find more to do and go to what we enjoyed the most.
This place needs to be on your bucket list if you have kids and are in the Chattanooga area. It was definitely worth the 2 hour drive!
I hope this blog post helped you decide if you want to go check it out! Be sure to search the blog for other fun ideas such as
The Ultimate Childhood Bucket List
Explore Edventure in Columbia, SC
Our Full Guide To The Oak Ridge Children’s Museum
Enjoy your time!
XOXO
