Cincinnati Family Magazine

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March 19, 2024

Mom Report: Holiday Junction and Beyond

We always feel like superheroes walking up to Union Terminal, ever since learning that the Hall of Justice was modeled after it. This past weekend was no exception. We were energized and ready to check out the Cincinnati Museum Center for the first-time post renovation.

When we walked in, immediately both of my kids’ eyes shot up to the ceiling to take in the beauty of the mosaics and rotunda. They entertained themselves looking at everything while I got our tickets.

Our first stop was Holiday Junction. They loved watching the trains and hearing me sing, “Do you want to build a snowman?” Our family is not ready for snow yet, but my kids loved the magnetic snowmen and making them look as silly as possible. My kids also loved the interactive floor and moving the snow with their feet. I love any activity that promotes full body movement! Holiday Junction put us in the mood for the holidays; confession, we came home and put up our tree BEFORE Thanksgiving! (Gasp!) I also want to go back down to pick up a few things from the store as stocking stuffers!

Next, we went to the interactive public landing where my daughter declared, “MOM! I was just learning about the past and present at school! This is from the past!” Thank you, Cincinnati Museum Center for helping her extend her learning!

While at the museum, we also checked out the dinosaurs, which also helped me check off one of my daughter’s personal learning goals: She wanted to learn more about dinosaurs! Seeing a leg to scale helped her understand how big dinosaurs could really get, and placing her hand in a foot print was eye-opening for her. Both my son and daughter enjoyed all of the interactive screens to see the different parts and facts about dinosaurs and how our land masses have changed over time. My 5 year old said, “I really like the dinosaurs, they are really cool to look at!”

Other favorite highlights for my kids included the ever-popular ball area in the Children’s Museum (they could easily spend hours tossing and launching the balls) the water area (surprisingly they walked away dry!) and the woods play area! They also really enjoyed the STEM stations that were open and learning about how the aluminum foil helped them play a game of Pac Man. The LEGO’s were a huge hit for them as well! They enjoyed playing the “I spy” game, locating LEGO’s in the scene from the pictures on the wall and they even followed up coming home to build a LEGO city of their own. “I was inspired to make a LEGO-opolis at home!” said my 7 year old.

We spent three hours at the museum but could have easily spent three more. If you are looking for a great gift this holiday season, we recommend a gift of experience through an annual pass. I will be adding passes to our families Christmas wish list.

For more details on hours and pricing, visit cincymuseum.org

About the Author

Tina Pratt

Tina Pratt is the mom of two littles. She is a former PreK- 5 special education teacher that now works as a behavior coach. She enjoys being a tourist in her own town and finding ways to embed lessons into everyday fun!