Glazer Children’s Museum is a two story, hands-on museum located in Tampa, Florida. There are a lot of areas for kids to play and explore and all are hands-on. There’s a lot to do and this is definitely one museum kids will enjoy going to more then once.
When you first enter you will notice the Imagination Gift Shop and Tiny Bites Cafe on one side and an impressive and interactive water area on the other. The cafe had typical attraction themed prices for the Tampa/Orlando area, so we decided to skip it and eat out somewhere else. The gift shop was reasonably priced and had a nice selection of learning toys, games, and decorations.
The Kids Port water area is on the other side of the first floor and is a large network of child sized tables all connected with flowing water and this was one of the kid’s favorite areas during our visit.
There was a lot of various things for children to explore with their hands here, including toy boats floating around, a wave maker where the kids can use their arm force pushing a panel to make waves, pipes the kids can take apart and put together to get the water flowing however they see fit, and many other interactions throughout the whole water area. This area is one of the main attractions and kids will be sure to spend a good amount of time at it. One of the pipe connectors was broken in our visit though.
In this area there is also the Cruise Ship, an artificial sand play area right at the main glass windows of the building looking out at downtown Tampa. It’s a pretty view while the kids are playing in the rubber sand which has a unique feel to it, especially as you walk over it.
Glazer Children’s Museum Toddler Areas
Tug Boat Tots is a sectioned off area for toddlers on the ground floor where parents can watch them play in age appropriate area and still have full view of their older children using the water area. There is a small boat and a few other play things for the toddlers here.
The three and under toddler area on the second floor is a delight for youngsters. There are flower puzzles that stand up as if they are gardening, large soft blocks, and so many more things for little ones to explore. This was a real hit with our littlest one and the older kids wished they could have played in it too! (The museum staff try to keep it so only three and under are there so the smaller ones can play free of any rough housing. A few times we did have some much older kids playing rough in there, and the staff had to remind them it was for three and under only.)
Second Floor of Glazer Children’s Museum
The second floor of the museum has many smaller themed areas for children to explore. Among the many areas there is a firefighter section with a fun pole to slide down, just like the real ones! Our kids spent a long time here, endlessly climbing the stairs and going down the pole. There are also dress up firefighter outfits for kids to play pretend while they climb inside the fire truck.
The most impressive area on the second floor is the Water’s Journey climbing section. It’s a fairly large climbing zone for kids and it looks as if they are suspended directly in the air with only the netting supporting them which makes it fun for the kids. It goes up to the ceiling, and they can look down and see the water area on the first floor below them. There’s also an informational wall with the complete water cycle illustrated in a kid friendly way.
There are various career centered areas too. A veterinarians’office and doctor’s office sit together with lots of learning opportunities, especially in the human body sense. There is a life size skeleton x-ray to put together and a smaller but educational body puzzle complete with the layers of the body.
Whether pretending to sell to friends or buying from them in the Supermarket, there are rows of play food lined up on lots of shelves all waiting to be put in the child sized shopping carts. After that they can head to the play house or go and bake some pizza and share it with guests in their cafe.
The sports themed Get Moving area has a small rock wall to climb. It is only about six feet tall, but is long so kids can climb sideways. They have stomping and racing games too in addition to a virtual game where they can play as a soccer goalie and see themselves on the TV at the same time. The kids had a lot of fun with this game, but it was crowded and it didn’t work quite as well with six kids all trying to block the virtual balls all at once.
Near the Water Droplet Climbing area there is also a small front side mini airplane. This was rather disappointing and they spent just a few minutes at it. A model airplane in kid sized scale that they could have walked through would have been much more engaging.
The Art Smart section is more a collection of random items gathered together. There is a dance floor with disco lights where kids can boogie and see themselves on the big screen, a magnetic shape wall, art computers and a plastic pin wall. The pin wall was probably one of the kids favorite things. With kids on both sides they try to push the plastic pins to the other side, but that’s tricky when the kids on that side are pushing them back. It was just too much simple fun for even the adults to resist!
Throughout the whole museum there are reading corners set up. They are cozy nooks in most of the areas where a kid can sit down and enjoy a good read. Each nook has themed books, for instance the nook in the sports area had all sports themed books.
Glazer Children’s Museum Overall Cleanliness and Staff
The museum was very clean even though it was very busy when we went. There are elevators and stairs to get up and down from the second floor. Parts and pieces of a gear connector in the Engineers Workshop were broken and not working and the broken pipe in the water area were are two only disappointments we had. Other than that everything seemed to be in good working order.
The staff were courteous and helpful. Overall, Glazer Children’s Museum is definitely worth a trip for anyone with kids, especially if you live close by, and anyone visiting the Tampa/Orlando area may want to stop by on a day when a hectic trip to Busch Gardens isn’t ideal, or on an evening of a slower day around town. You could spend about three hours at the museum and have enough time to explore everything.
General Admission:
Children under one: free
Children: $9.50
Adults: $15.00
Military/Seniors: $12.50
Note that they also have a member’s plan and free Tuesdays (first Tuesday of each month, 4pm – 8pm.) If you go on a free Tuesday, make sure you get there at least 15 minutes before it opens. On the day we went the line was still backed up at 7:00 pm, but we arrived early and were among the first in line.
