Port Discovery Children's Museum - The Kid Museum Full of Kid Fun

If you're ever planning a trip to Baltimore, MD and have children, you'll need to check out the Port Discovery Children's Museum. Port Discovery's main mission is to connect purposeful play and learning. We visited the children's museum in February 2012, while we were spending the weekend at the Inner Harbor area of Baltimore. I went to college nearby and lived in the city for a few years and have loved Baltimore ever since, and come back quite often. This was the first time we visited Port Discovery, and my three kids (ages 9, 7 and 4) absolutely loved it!

Research indicates that children who engage in purposeful play (play designed for a particular learning purpose) and structured activities acquire a range of skills and abilities that provide a strong foundation for later learning and development. The earlier we engage children in these activities, the more prepared they'll be in school and life in general.

Children actually get so engaged in what they're doing that they don't even realize that they're picking up valuable information and skills, while playing at Port Discovery!

Permanent exhibits at Port Discovery include:

• Adventure Expeditions - where you travel back to 1920's Egypt, and follow clues and a physical and mental obstacle course, that lead you to a lost pharaoh's tomb! Check out the video below right of my kids going through part of the fun obstacle course..
• Explorarama - where you learn about life on a farm!
• Harvest Hill - Barter, sell or trade produce at a roadside market!
• Kidworks - Climb, crawl, slide and jump through a 3-story urban tree house, crossing narrow rope bridges and tunnels! A total blast..
• Miss Perception's Mystery House - Solve baffling cases of the Baffield family. Pick up clues of the family characters.. Really an interesting house.....
• MPT Studio - Enjoy special performances and programs, including percussion, plays and karaoke!
• Nano - An interactive mini-exhibition involving nano-scale science, engineering and technology (check out the video of my son discovering nano magnets)
• R&D Dream Lab - Building, designing and painting.. Really cool lab, where imagination is everything..
• Royal Farms Convenience Store and Fill 'er Up Station - Learn to make healthy choices in a convenient store setting. Shop, fill up baskets and carts, and check out your items!
• Studio Workshop - The place to express the artist inside of you! Programs change 3 times a year..
• The Oasis - A quiet room where families can lounge and relax, read a book, solve a puzzle, take a nice break.. We really liked hanging out here..
• The Soccer Field - Play a game of indoor soccer!
• Tiny's Diner - A 50's style diner, where kids can "cook" and serve their parents while using math skills to figure out order totals..
• Tot Trails - For infants and toddlers, a great play area where they can learn about Maryland's history and heritage..

Port Discovery has visiting exhibits that also involve purposeful play and learning. The exhibit that was there when we were there in February 2012, was Adventures with Clifford the Big Red Dog. Clifford was actually there to take pictures with the kids. There was a conveyer belt that kids could put Clifford's dog bones on that filled his big bowl, a Post Office that kids could play a mail man and deliver mail to various mail boxes in the exhibit, a food shack where kids could pretend to serve food and handle a cash register, and other fun learning activities!