AT A GLANCE
Why go?
The Niantic Children's Museum is a hands-on, interactive museum on Main Street in the seaside village of Niantic, Connecticut, built for young explorers from about nine months to nine years old. Rather than looking but not touching, children here climb, build, pilot, craft and role-play across themed indoor galleries and an outdoor playscape, with the museum's educators encouraging curiosity in the arts, sciences and world cultures.↗↗
It is a compact, family-friendly stop that works especially well on a rainy or chilly day when the beach is out, and it rewards repeat visits because of its rotating events, themed classes and seasonal programs. Admission is straightforward, the galleries are designed to be climbed and touched, and staff go out of their way to make things easy for families with very young children.↗
What You Can Explore
The heart of the museum is its play-through-the-world exhibits. In the Imagination Room, kids can captain a fishing boat, build with giant foam blocks like a budding architect, or wander the global village that celebrates a variety of cultures. The Discovery Room leans toward making and tinkering: craft words and pictures on a magnet wall, build at the creation station, meet the resident museum animals, and try a classic pipe organ.
