6 Washington St, Dover, NH 03820

The whole drive to get here is easy up until you’re one minute away. There’s this weird round about thing and some one ways here and there. If you can find street parking great but this is an area to park closer, easier than parallel parking and more likely TO find parking. Parking price depends on how long you choose to park at the meter.

If you find this parking area you walk up the stairs and the museum is there. I’ll get into in a minute but I want to point out a few things “on your walk to the museum”. There is a playground with a splash pad. A giant field for lots of energy burning running. A beautiful river walk is very close by, we haven’t actually walked it but you can see the entire thing so it doesn’t seem long at all but it’s very pretty. The walk up the stairs and the “hallway” at the top have some pretty cool graffiti artwork. To the left of the museum is a ginormous outdoor stadium. I’m not sure what’s put on there but when not occupied sending your kids up and down the stairs and around the circular stadium can really burn some of that energy before or after the museum. All of this free but I’ll talk more about the playground stuff more later.

Okay let’s get back to the actual museum. It’s $12.50 for children 12m and up and adults. There are two time blocks to choose from and you must reserve your time before arriving. Check-in is a breeze and fast the times we’ve been. The don’t allow strollers so where you put your coats you can also store your stroller here. A small detail I love about this storage area is the wall hooks. Yes. The wall Hooks. There not regular hooks, they use every day things as hooks. For example, rain boots, bathroom sink knows, utensils and much much more and my daughter likes picking one out.

The first exhbit is a big, yellow submarine. Inside is three big screens that make make it look like you are driving the submarine. There’s an outlook post but you can’t see anything through it. A sound guessing game is along the back of the submarine. Kids listen to a whale sound and press a button indicating which whale makes that sound. While not a lot to do inside here, my daughter is obsessed with it. If I ever lost sight of her I knew to look over and find her there.

Across from the yellow submarine is a darkened room that focuses on light. So there’s a big square black board with round lit up buttons and you spin them change the color. Likewise is a table with a white light underneath and you turn knobs to change the color and hue. You can add some blocks with clear plastic sides that show off your light creation. On the floor are games projected from the ceiling. You use your feet to complete the games. They are easy games for younger kids. The toddlers just like stomping to change the screen.

Behind the sub is an aerialexhibit. You can make your own flying vehicle out of supplies nearby. You send your craft up a ladder and it falls from the top. There’s an air machine where kids can throw scarfs through and watch them fly in the air. A small corner of a captains view is here too. Though there are lots of buttons and handles and what not they don’t do anything so interest fades fast here.

A few steps from the room is a pretend play post office. It looks like an old time post office with wooden posts on the counter windows. There mailboxes here and throughout the museum. The small details at the museum can’t be beat. In the post office hangs a list of time zones and a clock in/out spot for your little postal worker. The toddlers love the bells at each window. Space is plentiful and parents can easily fit inside (or out depending on what part you’re playing).

Across from the post office is a ramps and race track sort of set-up. Kids can manipulate ramps and roads to send toy cars down or balls. This area was previously soft blocks building and each exhibit was occupied at any given time by half a dozen kids.

The next exhibit is a veterinary office. Again the small details matter and the designers of this museum knew it. This the best pretend play vets office I’ve seen. It has see through windows so you can see your little vet go to work on some very sick stuffed animals. There’s an x-ray board for each animal. Each animal has a sheet of paper with details about them and their names. There’s supplies for performing a surgery and a wash station. A headset connected to a small pretend laptop sits on a table for the dr. Parents can easily follow their kids in this room if it’s not crowded with kid vet docs. There’s an exit door near here that leads to an outdoor sensory play patio. I’ll talk about that later but let’s complete the inside downstairs.

There are small cubbies across from the vet office. One hold building blocks so you can build your own dinosaur. Two other cubbies hold shark teeth and dino bones. The last cubby has some optical illusions and a couple soft pillows.

Across from the cubbies and to the right of the vets office is the dinosaur area. You’ll find a giant t-rex mouth which makes for a great photo op! There’s some other types of dinosaur skeletons around which you can compare your own body parts to. There’s two ipads that show case information about different dinosaurs. You pick which dino to learn about by placing a special piece of paper underneath and it displays on a small screen in front of you. There’s this fossil type rock here with crayons and paper on top. You take the paper find a Skelton on said rock and use the crayon to rub over it and have some art to take home. Lastly in this area is sand table with very fine sand. Projected onto the sand from the top of the pretend cave it’s in, is land, water and dinosaurs walking and flying around. Moving the sand around changes what you see in the sand. This is usually elbow to elbow but when it’s not my 17m old really just like to throw the sand and they ask you don’t do that (obv!).

The next exhibit room is the craft room. I love this craft room. I don’t know when they change their themes on what art and materials are out but it seems to change often and it’s always someone influential. There’s a table with nuts, bolts, screws and some other tools that I have no clue what the name is. There’s metal blocks on this table and kids I guess are supposed to build/stack with previously mentioned tools. The magnet is very strong so watch for pinched fingers and the bolts can fit I’m mouths but they’re on the bigger side. My son likes banging the tools on the table making a delightful sound (kidding! It’s loud and obnoxious but hey fun is what we’re here for and it’s fun for him). Another interchangeable section is in the craft area and the times I’ve been it’s been a puppet show and this latest time a turtle shell game.

Around the bend are grocery stores and kitchens. They showcase foods from all of the world. Each section here represents a different country and culture. Again, small details. They’re really great. Across from the stores is a boating and river section. In the boat there are soft brick to build with. There’s a sail thar you have to crank a wheel for it to go up and down. Kids can sport a yellow boat jacket and hat, should they want to captain the ship. The river section allows kids to dress as a beaver and make their own dams. A small tree house with some stuffed birds and fish is nearby with stairs to climb up. This is another favorite exhibit of my 4yo.

Outside that area is a small pretend train car. It has two benches for parents to tide along as their kid steers the train. Beside this is a weaving station where kids can practice their fine motor skills. I’ve never seen many kids at it and my kids have had no interest.

Across the way is a music and sound exhibit. On the wall are big, bright shapes that make different sounds. As you touch these a monitor displays some stats about the sound created/made. Kids love this area for the sounds but don’t seem to care for the information on the monitor.

Two more areas downstairs and one is, ya know those pin press things, where you push your hand on a cluster of small pins and see the shape on the other side? Well it’s a giant one broken into four sections. This is MY favorite because it’s oddly satisfying. Kids like it too because there’s always someone there. The last exhibit downstairs is a ball runway. You make a path for balls to drop and roll down. There’s a crank that send the balls up on a tiny white ball roller coaster and down the path your child made.

Walking up the ramp to the second floor, you’ll find local art on display. Again, I’m not sure how often this changes but it’s been different each time I’ve gone. There’s really on three exhibits up here, the point of interest being the toddler and baby section. It’s for 4 and under and inside are wooden car tracks with endless possibilities to build a cool track. I’m talking it takes up three, maybe even four wooden tables. On display behind fiber glass is a roller coastr built by what I can only assume is some type of kid toy (like pegs and sticks). Kids are memorized by this for a round or two. A cool wall of different light switches occupies another wall and the toddlers love it. We usually have to wait our turn for it. There’s a small climbing structure and small slide. My 17m old used this now less than a dozen times. There’s a few puzzles on the wall but I don’t see much use of them. Remember details here. Like I said they thought about them when creating this space. If you see the tree, which you will, look closely they have little pretend caterpillar cocoons. Maybe I’m a sucke for these small details but it’s so cute. Off to the side is very small baby area. Not much on the floor play wise but that’s to be expected of a non crawlers area. There so foam blocks and baby books. There’s little puzzles on these walls too. On a sign in a very small corner designates that corner for nursing. Although I nursed through the museum.

The other two exhibits up here are cool too. There’s a cave room that is only lit by a black light. Before going in grab one of the lasers on a key chain hanging up. Go inside and use it to draw ancient scriptures on the wall. There’s some plastic tubing you can move to different holes in the wall with a color illuminating from them to change the color of the tube.

The last exhibit inside is the king/queens castle. The windows are see through but kids can use the shapes cut out to stick on the window to tile their castle. This can use up a lot of time if you’re looking to do that. There’s a thrown in the middle with a robe and crown so you can really play the part. A fireplace that needs to be repaired is on here. To repair you match velcroed shaped bricks to the shape in the wall. A similar activity is on the floor, where you match rug cut outs to the shape. A puppet show prop is near the thrown in case your highness needs some entertainment.

Im gunna travel back here to the sensory patio I mentioned. I wasn’t able to see this the first time we came as it was pouring outside. Anyway, I was immediately impressed. A giant paint board is to the immediate right. There’s no spill cups filled with paints and some paint brushes. The board is self is a sheet of plastic so you can paint over and over again. There’s different stations and different activities on the tables. At our visit there was a giant ice cube with dinos inside for kids to rescue using a sucker bulb thing to then squirt warmer water onto the ice. Other tables included a bug sorting game, an ice cream shop using cotton balls and pom poms. I’m sure this changes as does everything inside.

It’s redundant to say again: details but DETAILS. In the hallway of the bathrooms are small mirrors with different occupations cut out so your kids can go down the line and “try” each outfit on. The bathrooms are very convenient. There’s a regular size toliet and a toddler size. There’s also a changing table and diaper genie to dispose of soiled diapers.

There is a S.T.E.A.M room right next to the front desk. I forgot about this room because it’s honestly for older children. Mine want to look around but they don’t ever do anything here. Now this is the end of the museum, technically, but remember all that extra stuff I talked about it the beginning, specifically the play ground and splash pad? I’m going to talk about those now because in my mind it’s a great addition to visiting the museum. We did this after our walk through of the museum.

I think the museum is WELL worth it. There is so much to do and so many small details that I appreciated so much. The museum is very environment friendly and you can read about it on small plaques thought the museum. This goes the same for the bathrooms there’s a sign in there indicating how they use water responsibly. You can easily spend 2 hours here and all ages can have fun. If you only want information on the museum stop here as I’m going into the outside playground, technically not apart of the museum.

The playground is huge. The sturcture in the middle is for the more brave kids who aren’t afraid of heights. My 17m old went to the first level and that’s it. There really isn’t much to this sturcture except looking down from above and climbing. There are a few different ways up and down.

Theres a music section where kids can bang on different unconventional drums, like pvc pipes. This is covered by a tent and has one table underneath.

There’s a ropes course which I think is for older kids. My 4yo didn’t attempt it at all but I saw some kids on it. There’s two metal slides small enough for toddler but big enough for young kids. Be aware they can be hot in the middle of the day. There’s a giant sand box with a giant fish statue in the center. There aren’t sand toys but little one will like the sand. There’s another shaded table here. A giant walk on boat where kids can play with their imagination is here but again can be very hot midday. A swing set takes the entire length of one side, with plenty of different and regular swings.

The most populated area is the splash pad. There isn’t much to it, just a six or seven spouts coming from the ground. The water stays on for a minute or two then shuts off. To activate again you press a button on a poll. You’d think this wouldn’t be a big deal but every kid wanted to be the one to press it. There are porta pattys in the parking lot.

Around the parking lot is the river walk and having not walked it I can’t say how long it is but I know it circles around and it’s nice too look at. Across from the parking lot is a huge field with a few picnic tables scattered. Bring a ball and your kids can run, get sweaty, burn energy, hop in the splash pad and return to the field or playground to do it all again.

Technically it isn’t apart of the museum but in my head it is because it’s a great after activity. I highly recommend your museum trip include these areas for more energy burning fun.