Thank you to the Strong National Museum of Play and the Rochester Museum & Science Center for hosting our family’s visit. All opinions are my own.
While planning a trip over the Fourth of July to visit my uncle in Amherst, Massachusetts solo with three kids, I knew that I would want to split up the nine hour drive from Cleveland. A few weeks before our trip, I heard an advertisement on a local radio station for the Strong Museum of Play in Rochester. I am not one who is easily swayed by advertisements of any sort, but we love museums, and one with the words “strong” and “play” really piqued my interest. Even though I’d never actually been to downtown Rochester, I thought to myself that the next time we drive through New York, we’ll have to check it out. Because Rochester is roughly halfway between Cleveland and Amherst, our visit to the Strong occurred much quicker than I ever imagined. We also planned a stop at the Rochester Museum and Science Center, and our five hour visit to Rochester was an ideal pit stop. There are a surprising number of things to do in Rochester with kids for families driving across the New York turnpike or otherwise visiting the city. We would definitely stop in Rochester again.
Museums in Rochester, New York
#1: Strong National Museum of Play
The Strong National Museum of Play is located in downtown Rochester and regularly considered one of the country’s top children’s museums. It’s definitely our favorite. The Strong Museum opened in 1982 and was initially based on the personal collection of Margaret Woodbury Strong, a philanthropist who was an avid collector of toys. The Strong features 100,000 square feet of exhibit space and the most colorful museum exterior that I’ve ever seen. With so many exhibits in this enormous museum, make sure to pick up a Strong Museum map at the front desk.
The Strong National Museum of Play exterior
Field of Play Exhibit at the Strong Museum
We started at the Field of Play exhibit, which includes hundreds of creative play activities and artifacts. The kids particularly enjoyed the drag racer simulator and the rock wall.
Drag racing
My kids really have never met a rock wall they haven’t wanted to climb. We have a tiny one on our back yard playset. The rock wall at the Strong was distinctive because the holds consisted of letters, numbers and animals.
Climbing the Rock Wall
There was also an exaggerated perspective room that made me feel nauseous, but my four year old dragged me back into it several times. Of course, parental supervision in the room was required. My boys have never had more fun with a puff of air than directing one through a cannon at a target. I honestly think my kids could have spent an hour in this exhibit alone. But, we knew we were short on time and had so many other things to see.
Directing a puff of air at the target
Can You Tell Me How to Get to Sesame Street Exhibit
Although my kids have never been regular Sesame Street watchers, they know all the characters. We were excited for the Sesame Street exhibit, and I couldn’t resist a photo opportunity with the 123 Sesame Street stoop. Even though the doors did not actually open, my four year old daughter was excited to stop by. This exhibit includes many Sesame-themed opportunities for imaginative play, including the Cookie Monster Foodie Truck.
The iconic 123 Sesame Street stoop
Wegmans Super Kids Market Exhibit at the Strong Museum
The Wegmans Super Kids Market exhibit was a realistic grocery store recreation. As we entered, the kids were instructed to get a cart, pretend to be shoppers and pick five items. Then, they transformed into the check out clerks to ring up their items and when they were done, they got to restock their items. While the kids were shopping, I remembered my sister raving about a grocery store exhibit she visited at a children’s museum a few years ago and wondered if it was at the Strong (it was!). I did not remember her museum recommendation and am pretty sure that she did not describe the museum with the words “strong” or “play” like the radio advertisement.
Checking out the produce
While our kids have played at many mini-grocery stores in other children’s museums, botanical gardens and science museums, this Wegmans one upped every other grocery store exhibit due to its realistic size and its cash registers that printed accurate receipts.
Accurate receipt
National Toy Hall of Fame at the Strong Museum
The National Toy Hall of Fame was established in 1998 and moved to the Strong in 2002. As we entered the National Toy Hall of Fame, I felt as if I was walking into one of the Toy Story movies. It was hard to pry my daughter away from the Big Wheel-powered ramp. I think the big wheel I had as a small child looked very much like this red and yellow model.
Big wheel at the Strong
The National Toy Hall of Fame inductees include iconic toys like Clue, Jack-in-the-Box, playing cards, hula hoop, LEGO, paper airplane and my favorite, the cardboard box. The exhibited toys on the second floor were more of a walk down memory lane of favorite toys from my childhood and many were foreign to my kids.
World Video Game Hall of Fame at the Strong Museum
The World Video Game Hall of Fame opened at the Strong in 2015, and currently, 24 games have been inducted. The Strong also includes eGameReveolution, a giant video arcade room featuring historic and current video games. I purchased a few dollars’ worth of tokens, and not surprisingly, my kids loved trying out the video games.
Winner!
My daughter’s video game experience is really minimal, but she played several rounds of Space Invaders, each with a little more excitement than the last.
Intense game of Space Invaders
Another walk down memory lane came with the Pong exhibit. Pong was our family’s first video game. My brother bought it at a rummage sale in the mid-1980s, and we connected it to our console television in the center of our living room and played for hours. Pong was one of the earliest video games and simulates table tennis. Players use knobs to move their paddle in a game that reminds me of Brick Breaker that I used to be addicted to on my Blackberry. It’s only a matter of time before my iPhone X looks as much as an antique as Pong does now, right?
Pong
Other Exhibits at the Strong Museum
My kids fully explored the Imagination Destination, and my daughter particularly enjoyed the role playing opportunities. All three got involved with constructing a shingle roof. One History Place gave them an opportunity to step back into the 19th century, and my son played on the parlor piano. Fairy tales and children’s literary classics came alive in Reading Adventureland. My daughter excitedly identified each of the scenes in the Fairy Tale Forest and then took off to explore the shipwreck of Adventure Island. We ended our visit with a ride on the Elaine Wilson Carousel.
Aquarium
The Strong Museum With Older Kids
While much of the Strong Museum is geared for kids eight and under, older children and adults appreciate the National Toy Hall of Fame and World Video Game Hall of Fame. My nine and eleven year old boys would not have spent so long on the first floor if their four year old sister was not with them. They followed her through the museum and played with her, but with slightly less exuberance than she had. My older kids and I thought that the enormous and colorful picture window was pretty impressive, but my daughter was much more interested in playing. We highly recommend a visit to the Strong.
Colorful picture window
- The Strong Museum Hours: The Strong Museum is generally open Mondays through Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Fridays and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. and on Sundays from noon to 5 p.m. In 2019, the Strong Museum is closed on October 25, November 28 and December 25.
- The Strong Museum Tickets: As of July 2019, Strong Museum admission costs $16 for visitors age two and older. Children under age two are free.
- The Strong Museum Parking: Free parking is available in an adjacent surface lot.
- Time Spent at the Strong Museum: We spent two and a half hours at the Strong Museum and would have stayed longer if we had not planned to visit the Rochester Museum and Science Center on the same day.
#2: Rochester Museum and Science Center
We proceeded from the Strong to the Rochester Museum & Science Center, a science, natural history and local history museum under one roof in downtown Rochester. It was very easy to travel from the Strong to the Rochester Museum and Science Center. Both have free, adjacent parking lots, and the drive between the two museums was only about five minutes. Visiting these two museums on the same day is a great way to combine imaginative and scientific play. We arrived about 90 minutes before closing and made sure to explore as much as we could.
Rochester Museum & Science Center exterior
The Rochester Museum & Science Center is a member of the ASTC Travel Passport Program. Like many science centers, there are many hands-on exhibits that my kids had fun exploring. We started in the AdventureZone exhibit on the ground level. My sons found the second rock wall of the day.
More rock wall fun
My daughter immediately headed to the puppet show area and started planning her performance.
Puppet show
Wholly Mammoth skeleton
The Rochester Museum and Science Center is unique because it combines a natural history, local history and science. There is not only a taxidermy exhibit featuring a gigantic wholly mammoth skeleton but also several exhibits that focus on the local history of Rochester and Western New York.
While museums often consist of a series of dark and windowless rooms, the Rochester Museum and Science Center has two large exhibit areas, the Patricia F. Hale Hands-On Gallery and the Reidman Gallery. Each gallery features large windows on three sides. The natural sunlight made the space naturally cheerful, and we returned to these exhibit areas several times.
Science fun
The kids gleefully darted from one exhibit to the next, trying to fit in as many science experiments as they could.
STEM learning
The kids’ favorite part of the Rochester Museum and Science Center was the Inventor Center, a hands on “maker space” where my three kids worked together to construct a car to deliver supplies to people trapped in a mountain pass. The kids planned, built and then enhanced the car and managed to pass the challenge just as the Inventor Center was closing.
The finished vehicle
We did not have enough time to visit the adjacent Strasenburgh Planetarium, but definitely have that on the list for our next visit to Rochester. The Rochester Museum and Science Center is a great place for hands on science and history learning.
Strasenburgh Planetarium
- Rochester Museum and Science Center Hours: The Rochester Museum and Science Center is generally open on Mondays through Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and on Sundays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and closed on July 4, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day.
- Rochester Museum and Science Center Tickets: Rochester Museum and Science Center admission costs $15 for adults, $14 for seniors and college students and $13 for children ages 3 to 18. Kids under three are free.
- Rochester Museum and Science Center Parking: Free parking is available in an adjacent surface lot.
- Time Spent at the Rochester Museum and Science Center: We spent only about 90 minutes because of closing time.
Where to Eat in Rochester
#1: The French Quarter
We all really worked up an appetite with our museum exploration. We left the Rochester Museum and Science Center when it closed at 5:00 p.m. and headed straight to French Quarter, which was advertised as the best Cajun and Creole food in Rochester. My husband and I have visited New Orleans several times, including an April 2019 trip to Jazz Fest. While my kids have never been, we drag them to Cajun restaurants when we travel, and enjoyed a delicious meal at MudBugs in Sanibel this Spring. It’s no secret that we all love Cajun and Creole cuisine. We also loved the authentic New Orleans architecture and the bright red door.
Arriving at the French Quarter
Because it opened right as the Rochester Museum and Science Center closed, we were the first diners, but four or five other tables filled up while we ate. Our meal was tasty and served quickly. We were back on the road by 6 p.m. headed for our final destination of the evening, a hotel near Oneida, New York.
Traditional New Orleans architecture and art
#2: Tom Wahl’s
On our drive back from Amherst, we stopped again in Rochester for lunch. My parents suggested Tom Wahl’s for wahlburgers, gourmet hamburgers. While I don’t eat beef, my kids almost always enjoy a good cheeseburger but had one too many over our long weekend and opted for chicken instead. It was better than the average food court option! We stopped at the nearby Lands’ End Outlet before getting back on the road for home.
Home of the Wahlberger’s
Rochester With Kids
Our visit to Rochester was planned as a pit stop on our road trip to Amherst, Massachusetts and was an unexpected surprise. The Strong Museum and the Rochester Museum and Science Center both offer fun, hands-on learning enjoyable for both parents and kids. We would definitely recommend a trip to Rochester with kids!
