Children’s Museum of Richmond

We love it… it is a huge play place for kids. I wish there were hands on helpers, to keep a flow to the activity centers. All and all not a bad place to pass a family afternoon.

They should rename it the Overpriced, Unsupervised Children’s Broken Toy Museum of Richmond.
$ 9 per person, children AND adults. Place was dirty. So many broken toys/​exhibits. No staff presence and so many unsupervised, misbehaving children. I had heard so many great things about CMoR. I really hope it was just a bad day.
IMHO, it COULD be great, if the place was maintained and supervised, but on the day we went, it wasn’t worth $ 27 for one toddler.

Very nice place for the children to do hands on activities and play. Each time I have been in there it has been congested, hard to keep up with your child.

I got lucky and caught wind of a deal! $.15 for a child’s admission on the 15^th of the month! So if you have been meaning to go; you have two more times (November and December) to make this deal.
I have two small kids so toys, games and interactive entertainment is a win with them. They played in all the areas with no rush from me (we were spending the day up there). If I let them play they will let me play.
They enjoyed all the activities inside. There were enough people there (considering the promo) for us to get blocked from view once and awhile. They played outside on all the equipment as well.
It’s nice to see the mix of objects that make you think, or work harder to see results with rather than just playing with toys. I like the make believe imagination theme. You can work at a bank, perform on the stage or drive an ambulance. Kids should be encouraged to try new things and to explore caves, examine dinosaurs and this momma was proud to see her daughter run to a kayak outside!
I think all kids need to make a pit stop at the children’s museum when in the Richmond area. $.15 on the 15^th and it also covers their other locations and Short Pump is open later!

We love CMOR Central! Lots of great activities for kids of all ages. It’s big enough for active kids to run around, no matter the weather. There are lots of engaging play stations.

Nice place to spend some time when the weather is not agreeable. Plenty of things to do even when they’re busy. As others have mentioned, some exhibits are a little worn down and could use some TLC but the kids don’t mind, and that’s the most important part.

Really disappointed. Everything seems like it needs a good scrubbing. Dust all in the toddler area. Outside they have an area boarded off because there are ground bees that have infested the sand box. There should be a sign about the bees. This could be a very dangerous situation for a child with a bee allergy. I brought this to the attention of the staff who replied that the boards were there to keep kids out of the sand box. Maybe getting rid of the bees would be an idea. I hope the new Short Pump location is better… If the Broad street location does not improve I will not be renewing my membership.

The downtown location is my favorite. It’s got something for all ages with a lot of space and variety, including outdoor sections (water, music, sand, hula hoops, etc). The best time to go is the afternoon after all of the daycare visitors are gone. They have added some snack food options, and there are plenty of bathrooms! I miss the interactive shadow exhibit, but the little town is always worth at least an hour of fun all by itself.

My step daughters love this place. They are 10 and 4. They always want to go back and run around for hours while we are there. It gives grown ups a good break and there are comfy seats around. I did think it would have actual art, but I guess that’s the difference between them and an actual museum. I didn’t like how adults have to pay even though it’s nothing there for us to do. Overall, we like it.

We’ve been to both CMoR locations (this one and the West End), and this location is so much bigger! The play areas were super clean and there is so much for our 20 month old daughter to explore. We purchased the yearly membership and cannot wait to visit more often. It’s well worth the money!

We drove down a short one night trip to Richmond from Alexandria, VA and ended up going to 2 of the Childrens museum one day! With a 2 and 3 year old, mixing it up was great and one admission ticket gets you in any or all of the 4 associated Richmond Childrens museums (We hit the Central one — and Short Pump). And at $ 7 or $ 8 for hours of fun it can not be beat!
* AND if you have a Bank of America Card — you can get in free on the first weekend of every month with a B of A museum pass program, for those who simply have a credit /​debit card with B of A!
The main Childrens museum was big, had a ton of stuff and my kids loved it. Lots of indooor and out door stuff to do, including a water/​splash area so bring suits /​and towels. My boys loved the tubes with air shooting out napkins thing, the real ambulance inside you could crawl in, water game, and the dinasours. But tons of other stuff. Easy way to kill a couple /​few hours and get kids minds going and bodies tired for naps ;o).
Seemed like would be best for those maybe age ²⁄₃ to maybe 8 or 9. Not sure the older kids would have as good a time, if above that range — and if smaller not as much there.
One thing I noticed when we went to the McDonalds across the street to eat — was the high, high amount of poor, toothless, scaries that were around asking me for money or sitting in McDonalds. Not the best area of town maybe, but the Museum itself and parking lot were nice and didnt seem like any issues. But just will point out of people, so when approached if at McDonals you are aware of the surroundings.
Short Pump Childrens museum was great for my boys too. Alot smaller, but had same tube thing, sandbox, playground, grocery store, car mechanic area, a real train they could ride on… and that area of town is very nice and high end mived use living area, with shops, food, etc. And a far cry from the Central area. Not the biggest place, but best for younger kids maybe 1 – 5 years old, but above that probably not much for them to do there.
And remember — one admission, gets you in all — and it was probably only 10 minutes to the big Central one from Short Pump. Hit them both abnd enjoy!

Very affordable way to have some fun with your children. There’s an area for children under 3. The apple tree and the vacuum tube thing continue to entertain my son and the cave area is cool. That said, it’s getting close to needing repairs. The water table area needs some repairs and the outdoor area is missing all of the sticks for playing the musical instruments and the sandbox is getting a bit nasty.
Don’t forget to bring a towel for the outdoor water play!

Would be a great place to open a museum-​oh wait. Last two times we were here-​random closings or late opening. That late opening was described to one adult as ‘the manager didn’t show up’ and another adult as ‘a systems problem’. Have you ever tried reasoning with a kid about not being to go play? The place is showing its age and needs a cleaning and paint facelift. Fortunately, the kids don’t care as long as they get in. This is the downtown location, btw.

$ 8!!! What a steal of a deal. My two-​year-​old played hard for a solid two hours, and was still upset to leave when it was time to eat lunch. We went on a Friday morning and it didn’t take long for the place to fill up. Lots of field trips, particularly with older kids. It was definitely not relaxing for my husband and I, but we were thankful to be a team of two. My little guy loved the tot farm area, ambulance, grocery store, mechanic shop, dino land, and the outdoor area (too bad it was mostly muddy from a big rain the night before). If only we lived closer and could enjoy this more! Children’s museums near us are more in the $ 35 per person range plus paid for parking. CMoR has a nice parking lot right out front, free of charge.

What a great find! My kids loved petting the horses. Later, they spent a happy 90 mins playing with the various exhibits. They loved the pretend banking center and medical center in particular. Reasonably priced.

APPPPPLE TREE. It’s several walls put together to make an apple tree with holes cut out for apples. There are tubes connected to the holes. Apples run from a machine that pushes up the apples and helps them fall down the tree. My five year old (almost six) spent TWO HOURS «picking» apples, and putting them in the machine. There are plenty of baskets for everyone even though it can get somewhat competitive to pick the apples. We went on a weekday when it was not tooo too crowded. One thing I liked is if you buy admission you can come back all day. So we went home and then came back. But I think we will invest in a membership (135 for the whole family) because there was a lot to do there and he really enjoyed himself. There is a huge pretend play area where you can run a café, be a mechanic, run a bank, etc. There’s a building area and the infamous «front yard» splash area (this was pretty disappointing, the spray wasn’t very high. There wasn’t that much to «splash» in.) But the museum seems to switch it up a lot and add new fun things to do. It was very clean, and I saw staff members coming by to disinfect things throughout the day.
There’s also a small cave to explore, a fossil area, so many little things that held his attention. He is very excited to go back!

My daughter (3.5) loves this place. Each time we visit, she has a new «favorite» area. There are areas that are designated for younger visitors (under three) but those little one could still enjoy several of the larger sections.
There is a very big arts & crafts room where all visitors are invited to create just about anything they can imagine. There is a tree house, caves, a fake TV newsroom, store, kitchen, bank, ambulance, mechanic area, and school room. Right now there is a race car area also — very cool for the kids. In addition there is a beautiful carousel for the kids to ride for $ 2.
CMoR has three locations, we have been to Short Pump and Downtown. So far, so good!

Fun and very interactive museum. This museum is on the «Museums On Us» specials from Bank of America when you show your card on the first weekend of each month. And it’ll be free!
My husband and I took my God Daughter and her parents here and it seems like she thoroughly enjoyed it. She’s 3 and was able to participate in many of the activities they had throughout the day. There were all kinds of craft activities that you can interact with the kids. There are even little smocks they can wear to keep themselves from getting too dirty (which is impossible… since there’s places for paint and glue and markers can still cover). There are crawl areas for little tiny ones. There’s a big carousel that my God daughter was obsessed with.
This museum was definately entertaining to all children ages 2 – 13 and their parents.

The name is definitely misleading… there’s no stuffy technical explanations or children behind glass… this space is all about kids learning about the world in a safe, fun way. My daughter is only 8 months old, but never fear– there is a whole space for children 3 and under, and within that space there is a section specifically for little crawlers. That area has toys that make noise, things to climb on, and a mirror with a bar on it so that kids can pull themselves up and be mesmerized by their own pretty little reflections.
Also in this section are little cars kids can get in and roll around in, there is a garden where kids can learn to plan and pick plastic vegetables, a storefront where they can sort, sell and pay for the veggies… plus a kitchen area, a playhouse complete with a sliding board… just a fun, miniature little world waiting to be explored!
The other mothers and I agreed that if there was a little coffee bar in this area, we’d have playdates here every week. As it stands, there is a private nursing room in this area, which is a very convenient perk.
Besides the lack of a coffee/​refreshment bar, my other hesitation about being a frequent visitor to this museum is the price. Kids under 12 months are free, but parents still have to pay… when my daughter gets older we may get a membership so she can come more often… And finally, the little kids area does need a good cleaning… perhaps some of the young women sitting up front gossiping could be cleaning instead?

Brought my 20 month old niece here and she LOVED it. I am not sure how much of a museum it is but more of a glorified playground, but it’s great for kids up to the age of 9 or so. There’s a pretend mechanics shop, bank, classroom, grocery store, apple tree, water station and more. There’s a fairly large arts and crafts section with their own smocks (memories…). There is also a baby/​toddler section. I was pretty mesmerized by the air pressured tube thingies.
You do feel a little creepy if you are standing around without a kid (as you should?). I think the price is a little steep for an $ 8 for each person and if I had my own kid I would definitely get one of the memberships. Also it’s kind of fun to watch parents/​adult chaperons who are either extremely tired looking or running around after someone. Can get crowded (stay at home parents and school field trips).