jersey shore children's museum

I bring the children I babysit to the Children's Museum regularly. It is located on the second floor of the Hamilton Mall. It costs $8.00 to get in, and for some reason they do charge for the adults, also. There are several different play areas on two floors. Upstairs you can find a small area for books, a construction section, and also an area to play firefighter, complete with real equipment. Downstairs there is quite a lot to do. In one room you can find a bank, a post office, and a tv news studio, and in another there is a play grocery store, a music area, and a hospital. There is also another room for toddlers, which is a nice touch. If you follow a hallway you can find an arts and crafts area. The kids I babysit were lucky enough to be there when they had materials to make your own little lighthouse, which they were very proud of. The museum really is great fun for young children. The kids I bring are 3 and 4 years old, which seems to be the perfect age group for the museum.

We were staying in Wildwood and not having good weather, so I went searching for indoor activities the kids would like. I came across the Jersey Shore Children's Museum which is about a 45 minute drive from Wildwood. We are a fan of children's museums and have visited several of them in different states, so we decided to give it a try.This museum is in the process of expanding, so its current location on the second floor of the Hamilton Mall is small and limited. The size, however, did not stop my girls from thoroughly enjoying themselves. There were various hands-on exhibits available for them. There was the country store where they could select groceries from the shelf, put them into their basket, and then "check out" (there are even Shop Rite aprons for whoever volunteers to be cashier.). To make cleaning up easy, there were color coded stickers on each item so the kids could easily return the items to the proper areas (frozen foods, personal care, dairy, etc.). There are also laminated shopping lists, coupons, and play money. In this room are also Legos and a Lego wall, musical instruments, and a medical area. The medical area had scrubs for the kids to dress up in, a stethoscope and blood pressure cuff along with wooden toys that kind of acted like MRIs for small bears. There was also a dentist's chair, and X-ray light with real x-rays the kids could hang up and examine, plus a large foam skeleton puzzle. Other interactive areas included a construction site (toy construction vehicles); an area for building with PVC pipes and working with tools; firefighter gear and fire engine toys; a library; a news desk with a video camera and microphone that broadcasts the child onto a small TV; a bank; a large velcro tic-tac-toe board; a toddler room with blocks and other age appropriate toys plus a puppet theatre; and a small craft area.The area my girls spent the most time in was the post office. This area is complete with old button down postal shirts for the kids to dress in, a mail bag, laminated envelopes with velcro in the upper right corner, a basket of stamps with velcro backs (so you can put them on the envelopes), packages, a scale, a mail box, post office boxes, and other accessories. There are mailboxes at each exhibit, and the laminated envelopes are addressed to the grocery store, medical center, bank, etc. so the kids can "deliver the mail." It's really cute!This was the smallest children's museum we have visited, but that does not mean it lacked in creativity. Both of my girls enjoyed it and asked to stay even longer. We spent maybe 2 hours there playing with our girls and acting as "post master," "patient," and "cashier." We all had a great morning of imaginary play and a nice lunch in the mall. Overall, the museum was a great morning of fun for all of us on a rainy day! I hope the museum succeeds in expanding and adding more exhibits.