Glazer Children's Museum Tampa

Imaginative Fun Lasts All Day at the Glazer Children's Museum in Tampa, FL 

As parents, we are always looking for fun things to do with our kids and when we find something that is fun for all of us and keeps our little guys entertained all day long it's a parent's dream come true!

Recently we heard about the Glazer Children's Museum in Tampa, Florida. You may have heard about it already and not even realized it - the museum was featured in a video by American children's entertainer, educator and YouTube star Blippi (We included the video at the end of this blog!)

The folks at Glazer Children's Museum believe that today we are raising the "Imagination Generation." They know how important imaginative play is for young, growing minds and they want kids to be able to explore the world around them when they come to visit. That's why they created a huge 3-story building packed full of hands-on, learning-through-playing entertainment ideal for children ages birth to 10.

Our children love going to museums - especially when they're made with kids at heart - and the Glazer Children's Museum in Tampa is the best one we've visited yet!

Keep reading for more about the Glazer Children's Museum, photos from our recent visit, what we loved about the Glazer Children's Museum and why we think your family will love it too!

A List of the SUPER FUN Play Areas at Glazer Children's Museum:

• Artsmart: Come explore the amazing world of art in Rooms to Go‘s Art Smart! Paint, dance, and innovate today!

 

• Central Bank: Explore the basics of banking and commerce through fun interactive games at Suncoast Credit Union’s Central Bank. Learn to earn and save money with simple math, matching, or physical activities. Then spend your money to power a train, launch a rocket, and light up City Hall.

 

• Cruiseship: Climb aboard GCM’s Cruiseship docked at Gasparilla Island! Become a captain, sailor, and explorer as you set sail or dig for buried treasure.

 

• Farm: Pop into the Farm, as GCM’s red barn always needs farmers! Young farmers are invited to be a gardener or help tend the farm as they can milk a cow, ride a tractor, play with farm animal puppets, and tend to the chickens in the coop.

 

• Engineers’ Workshop: Visit the ideal workshop for young inventors, Engineers’ Workshop! For the little ones, design a Tampa Bay train route or build with blocks and giant LEGOs. For the older kids, create a design a LEGO design on the LEGO wall or fold and launch the perfect paper airplane.

 

• Firehouse: Take on the life of a firefighter as you pretend to save the day in a safe, kid-sized Firehouse. Put on your safety gear and slide down the fireman’s pole! Simulate driving a firetruck through the streets of Tampa Bay, sounding the siren and lighting the lights.

 

• Forts: What can sheets and pillows become? Let Forts inspire imaginative play! Construct an epic fortress and reading spot today.

 

• Gadget Garage: Innovate and collaborate in GCM’s new robotics lab, Gadget Garage! Explore the art of gadgets and robotics today.

 

• Get Moving: Take on physical challenges that test your strength, endurance, and speed. Tackle a mini climbing wall, race a variety of animals, and more!

 

• Global Cafe: Celebrate worldly cultures in Global Cafe! Join in a drum circle in the West African Drum Hut or learn about Japanese culture and traditions inside the Japanese Pagoda.

 

• Hospital: Paging all future doctors and nurses to the Museum’s St. Joseph’s Hospital! Can you identify the sounds the body makes? How do you create a balanced meal? Find the answers to these questions and more.

 

• KidsPort: Explore the KidsPort’s huge water table where you can navigate cargo through a shipping channel just like Tampa Bay. Become a dockworker, harbor pilot, or engineer as you learn how water moves. You can even make a storm inside the Museum at the Bays News 9 weather station! The possibilities are endless.

 

• Light Cloud: Use touch sensors to create ever-changing light and soundscapes that whirl around this high-tech work of art, while learning about mixing the colors of light and sounds. Send beams of color throughout the installation, each triggering its own sound. This 3D segmented multi-ring structure was designed by artist Ivan Toth Depeña and sponsored by Raymond James.

 

• Ocean Sandbox: Move and shape the sand to create the ocean’s topography. Using your hands, sculpt mountains, islands, underwater channels, and caves to see our augmented reality marine landscape come to life with ocean creatures, treasure chests, and more! Sponsored by Tampa Bay Water.

 

• Pizza Place: Become a chef, server, or restaurant guest in the Pizza Place. Create your own sandwich or pizza, ring up an order, or just sit back and enjoy a meal with a great view of Curtis Hixon Park.

 

• Publix: Visit the Museum’s Publix Supermarket where children make all the buying decisions. Shop with your mini shopping cart, work the register, bag the groceries, and restock the shelves. It’s your store!

 

• SMALLab: Work together to solve puzzles, create stories and character plots, learn about the world, and paint digital masterpieces in this innovative, motion-capture technology that gets kids up and moving. Learn more about our SMALLab Experiences today.

 

• Tugboat Tots: Toddlers ages 3 and under are invited to sail into Tugboat Tots. Explore a tugboat, fish for local species, and enjoy stories under a comfy oak tree canopy.

 

• Twinkle Stars Theater: Lights, camera, action! Stop by GCM’s Twinkle Stars Theater to perform or direct the perfect dramatic tale. We have tons of costumes for your little actors and actresses, plus sound effects and lighting to match!

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• Vet Clinic: Play the role of a veterinarian and help some animals in need at the Museum’s Vet Clinic. Look at x-rays and investigate your animal patients’ charts to determine the purrr-fect treatment!

 

• Water’s Journey: When you climb through Water’s Journey, you become a drop of water taking the journey through the water cycle! Evaporate from the aquifer to the clouds, and then flow back down. You might even encounter some animals and insects that call our Florida watersheds home! Sponsored by Tampa Bay Water

In exchange for our review, we were given admission for our family to spend the day at the Glazer Children's Museum in Tampa.

Here's what we loved about the Glazer Children's Museum and why we think your family will love it too:

The Glazer Children's Museum has 3 levels of family-friendly fun! Each floor is packed with activities for families and little ones to enjoy and explore.

The first level has a large area with water play, sand play, a weather activity area where you can make it rain (expect to get a little wet!) a music area, and also a dining area with a Subway restaurant for when the family is ready for lunch or a snack. Our little guys loved Light Cloud and KidsPort - they spent several hours happily playing here!

The second level is packed with tons of interactive play. This is where the majority of the themed areas mentioned above are located. Each themed area has TONS of things to interact with and we loved that Glazer Children's Museum didn't skip on any of the details - every area is carefully thought out from floor to ceiling and designed to look like a child-sized, hands-on version of the real thing. 

Our little ones spent most of the day on level two and had a blast finding more and more things to interact with as they visited and re-visited each area. For example, at the Farm there is a robotic cow that you can actually milk and in the Twinkle Theater you can add sound effects, special lighting and change the backdrops to enhance the performance on stage! Our little guys especially loved the area called Get Moving which is the perfect place for energetic little boys like ours because there is a racing zone, rock climbing wall and much more (I'll save a few surprises for your visit!) 

On the third level there are several craft and hands-on creating stations where you can sit down and use the provided materials and supplies to make a fun piece of art together. This large area is also the Traveling Exhibit and Event Hall, so keep an eye on the Glazer Children's Museum website for upcoming special events and activities that are coming up!

A few things that as parents we especially appreciated about the Glazer Children's Museum:

We were so happy to see the Subway Restaurant inside GCM and that it had plenty of available seating when we all inevitably got hungry during our visit. The prices were reasonable and there were even special kid-friendly items on the menu such as ICEES, hot dogs and peanut butter & jelly sandwiches!

Although our energetic little guys took us up and down (and up and down and up and down) the stairs most of the visit, we did check out the elevator and were very pleasantly surprised at how spacious it is - which means there's plenty of room for multiple families to comfortably fit and as a result, a very short waiting time to get on the elevator.

We also loved that there were plenty of restrooms available on each floor and every floor had diaper changing tables. The restrooms were all clean and when our little guy (who's currently potty-training) had to use the restroom, we never had an issue waiting in line because there was always plenty of restrooms available.

Our family had such a wonderful time visiting the Glazer Children's Museum! We literally stayed there until closing time and our little ones were still begging to stay. We highly recommend the Glazer Children's Museum - it's all day long family-friendly fun!

Hours & Ticket Info:

HOURS
Open 7 Days a Week
Monday-Friday 10am-5pm
Saturday 10am-6pm
Sunday 1pm-6pm


GENERAL ADMISSION
Children Under Age 1 Free
Children Ages 1-12 $10
Adults $15
Active Military, First Responders, Educators, and Seniors $12.50
Members Free

PLAN YOUR FAMILY FUN VISIT TO GLAZER CHILDREN'S MUSEUM

View GCM's Calendar of Events

Visit the Glazer Children's Museum website

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Do you love Blippi? We do too!
Check out this video from Blippi's visit to Glazer Children's Museum:

Glazer Children's Museum Was Made For ALL Kids to Enjoy!

AUTISM FRIENDLY:
The Glazer Children’s Museum is partnered with the Center for Autism & Related Disabilities at the University of South Florida to provide support and optimize the museum experience for children with autism and their families. As a certified Autism Friendly business, they strive to create a unique and fun learning experience for all children to enjoy. 

ADAPTABILITY BOX:
All guests deserve to have a comfortable, fun-filled time every time they visit and the items in the Adaptability Box help with just that. Upon arrival, please feel free to ask Guest Services about how you can use any item in the box during your visit.

Items include: Experience Book to guide you through the museum, Universal Quad Cuff to help aid in grip and grasps, Sensor Covers to help control the loud noises of the bathroom toilets, Fidget Toys to help stay focused and relaxed, Noise Cancelling Headphones to help with symptoms of sensory processing, Visual Timers to help teach the concept of time and moving from one activity to the next, and Weighted Vests to help feel relaxed and calm.

WHEELCHAIR-FRIENDLY:
All Museum restrooms are wheelchair-friendly, have handicap stalls and changing tables. Restrooms are located near the elevators on all levels. Restroom toilets operate on a sensor, but please feel free to ask Guest Services for a Sensor Cover to help control the loud noise.

All themed areas and most exhibits in the Glazer Children’s Museum are wheelchair accessible. A limited number of wheelchairs are available upon request at Guest Services in the lobby.

VELA CHAIRS: 
The Museum offers VELA chairs to assist guests with special needs to help them enjoy our programs and exhibits with ease. VELA chairs are located near the main staircase in the Museum lobby at can be used at no cost. Please feel free to ask Guest Services how a VELA chair can be used throughout the Museum.

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