Virginia Discovery Museum

Dingy, depressing and dirty are the only words for this place. It is so far from a museum is laughable. There is a room with a dirty pile of teddy bears. There is a fake Panera. There is a box of blocks. There is room with a ship.
There is nothing inspiring or science based. There are no windows in the front part. There is nothing to excite young minds. And it’s hard to share joy and learning as a parent in such a depressing place.
Tear it down. Start over. Look at the THINKERY in Austin, TX for inspiration.

This museum is good for a couple hours of fun but is very small. My 3 year old most enjoyed the imaginative play area (set up like a little city) in the very back. The rest of it he just blew through in no time.
I was hoping it would be worth getting a membership, as its the only museum anywhere near us, but we just didn’t feel it was worth coming that often.

My 5 and 2-​year old boys love this place. It’s not a large space, but big enough with a variety of activities that keep them occupied for hours.
You can enter and exit if you want to grab lunch somewhere and return. And the annual membership seems reasonably priced if you live in the area.
We look forward to returning here whenever we are in C’ville!

We have visited here several times and enjoyed every visit! Worth the money, safe and educational play for the children although definitely geared for for the younger set — toddlers and up to age 5 or 6. Older children will not be entertained for long. Friendly staff and clean facility.

my 15-​month old son love this museum. It’s a safe and fun place for toddlers so I can take a rest and watch him play for a while. Everyone I met is friendly here.

We LOVE this place! We just had our son’s second birthday party their and it was fantastic. We did it on a Sunday and we had the entire place to ourselves. Katylen is the one who you speak to when setting up the party and she was super helpful! Lindsey was actually there the day of the party to help with everything and she is AMAZING!!! So sweet, nice and helpful! She had everything set up when we arrived and I had brought some additional decorations and she was so helpful in setting them up. They also had such nice goodies bags made for all the kids which included a return pass to the museum! After the party was over Lindsey took care of cleaning up so we just gathered our stud and left! Overall, we were incredibly impressed with the museum and would recommend it for just a visit or a birthday party!!!

We drove 60 miles to Charlottesville to try out the museum, walk the pedestrian mall and get donuts at Carpe Donuts (must stop at!) because we were tired of driving I-​95 to DC and Richmond. We were very happy with our decision.
Our children are 16 mos and 3 ½ years and our family of four spent close to 3 hours at the museum. We only left because our toddler was finally exhausted and getting cranky.
There’s so much to do. Our kids really loved the vacuum tubes and the cars — our 3 yr. old built cars and then them both races them down a ramp. The log cabin and garden is wonderful and dress up/​play pretend space in the back kept them busy. The train tables were a hit as well. As I said, lots to do!
Its only $ 6/​person and we got a Groupon that made our total $ 12 for all 4 of us! But, its totally worth $ 24 for a family of 4.
I’d say its good for the 10 and under crowd but perfect for 1 – 6 yr. olds.
We will be back!!!

A nice but small children’s museum. They have all the standards for a children’s museum: toddler play area, barn/​farm area, physics area (this one has cars down a ramp), music area (with different lengths of PVC pipes), and a mock city area for kids to pretend they are grown-​ups.
It is located at one end of an outdoor pedestrian mall, and is a great stop after shopping in stores with a lot of «no touch» items. Also, if you live in the area and have a child between 1 – 4 you should seriously consider becoming a member. Its a kid safe zone with lots of toys, and great for a change of scenery.

As a parent, all you need to know is this: The Virginia Discovery Museum is a great place to let the kids run around and play play play!
We took a family trip to Charlottesville, VA and decided to walk around the old town area. The monkeys were a bit cranky after being in the car for almost 2 hours. As we walked around, the wife spotted this museum and we happily stepped inside to give the boys a fun break.
Unlike other kid’s museums, parents must also pay. Initially, we thought this was a bit unfair as we’re just sitting there looking after the kids… but after seeing how new and well kept the museum was, the extra money we paid seemed well worth the expense. The inside of the museum is quite large with many activities and rooms to keep kids occupied and busy.
From the entertaining vacuum tubes to the large «Panera» play area in the rear of the museum, everything was well kept, clean and super entertaining for our boys. I myself was fascinated by the beehive exhibit which had a live beehive inside the museum with a tube leading outside. Real bees busily flew to and from the hive with visitors having a unique view (via clear plexiglass) of the inner workings of the beehive.
We easily spent 2 hours at this museum and the boys were finally happy to «do something fun» after their long car ride. If we’re ever in the Charlottesville area, we will happily return here.
Oh yeah! If you park at one of the old town garages, bring your parking ticket. They validate parking for up to TWO HOURS! Wahoo for free parking! :-)