Hawaii Children’s Discovery Center
add photosAn interactive museum for kids that introduces them to various topics like how their body works, different institutions and business that make up their community, Hawaiian Culture and other countries. Art in the Park is a drop-in art program every Wednesday from 11am-12pm. The cost is $1 with Center admission and $3 if you are just coming for the program.
Exhibits include Tot Spot, Your Town, Hawaiian Rainbows, and Fantastic You.
6 Reviews for Hawaii Children’s Discovery Center
10
90 families found this helpful
"Fun, but costly"
This is a good rainy day spot. Parents and children will love exploring all of the different exhibits together. There is a ton of educational value here. The problem is that if you have toddlers or babies, they may not enjoy it as much. Strollers are not allowed so bring a front carrier for babies. Older children will have a blast pretending, learning, and playing dress up. The admission is a little high, so arrive at opening and take your time at each station. A great alternative to outdoor activities.
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0 families found this helpful
"Little to costly"
I wish I could go more often or could be a member for this place. Membership fee for family ( 2 adults and 1 kid) is $150, and I think it is too much. Since this place has a good educational items and kids love it, hopefully they give us a more chance to visit.
'10, '11
2 families found this helpful
"Fun local children's museum"
I'm not sure if I can add much beyond Travelpang's comprehensive review, suffice to say my 2 1/2 year old son loved this place. We met up here with friends who live in Honolulu and who have a 1 1/2 and 4 year old, and all the kids had a great time running around and playing in such a creative setting. We spent about 2 hours here - a bulk of the time the boys just played around a wooden train set, but more unique features were a well stalked supermarket, the auto shop (complete with tools that made sounds like at a mechanic's shop) and child-scaled vehicles like a bus and fire engine. Lots of costumes for kids to dress up and play as whatever they wanted to be.
I'd definitely get a membership here if I were local just to wear out my son before his afternoon nap. Staff was very friendly (and numerous) and everything seemed pretty clean. As a destination, I'm torn - we're visiting Hawaii, after all, but it's nice to have an indoor/rainy-day alternative.
1 family found this helpful
"Imagination Station"
The Hawaii Children's Discovery Center is a great place to take your kids to wear them out before nap time. It's great for kids over the age of 2 years. We have a son that's only 15 mos. who does enjoy the Discovery Center, but we really have to help him with all the activities. For example, there are big sized legos he loves to play with, but he can barely lift one at a time so we need to help him carry and stack them.
Our older son loves the dress up area where you can pretend to be a fireman, postal worker, judge, and many other occupations. There's also a great reading area with a big couch and fake fireplace that he can spend hours in because he thinks books are "treasures." (Really, he pretends books are his "treasures" when he plays pirates.)
My husband and I love how the Discovery Center presents a variety of information to our kids in a very fun and interactive way.
The only drawback that we can think of are the hours. If you really want to make use of the facility you need to go early. On the weekends it opens at 10am and closes at 3pm. Our boys still take naps, so we usually have to try to be there from about 10am-1pm before melt downs occur. Sometimes we wish we could go after nap time.
1 family found this helpful
"Imaginary play to the max!"
Our kids 6 and 3 had a blast at the Hawaii Children's Discovery Center. Unlike other Children's museums that I've been to, this one took on more of an educational approach utilizing lots of imaginary play. If your child is into imaginary play, you've got to visit the Hawaii Children's Discovery Center. I took off a star because there wasn't too many multi-sensory activities where kids could dig in gravel,play with water, or climb through a maze of tunnels. But both my sons insisted that this rated a 5.
"Fantastic You" is a section where kids get to pump blood through a pretend healthy heart and then one of a smoker. They can also enter the stomach and intestines. My kids whizzed through this section quickly. There wasn't anything that grabbed their attention for a long time. Perhaps they were a little young to really understand what they were seeing in the microscope.
"Your Town" is a miniature town complete with a mechanic shop, fire station, court house, post office, police station, grocery store, bank and a farm. My two boys loved this area because they could dress up in different costumes and pretend they were firefighters, a judge and so on. A child who loves pretend play would be in heaven in this area. Nothing particularly sensory, but the set was beautiful.
"Hawaiian Rainbow" focused on Hawaiian heritage and culture. I wasn't very impressed with this area. Our kids enjoyed harvesting pineapples and serving food in the airplane, but that was about it.
Our favorite was "Your Rainbow World". Each exhibit was a different country. Kids could pretend to eat sushi in Japan, buy and sell goods at the Sari Sari store in the Philippines, pretend to drink tea in China and so on. Each country had traditional clothes that kids could wear and a phone they could pick up that tells them about that country. The set for each country was wonderfully detailed. It's a fun way for kids to learn about different cultures.
At the Tot Spot, my three year old enjoyed fishing for fish, but all in all, the tot spot was a little of a let down. I wouldn't recommend this Children's museum with kids younger than 2.5.
The Hawaii Children's Discovery Center is a little west of Waikiki and accessible via public transportation. If you need a break from the heat and beach, this is a great stop with young kids.
1 family found this helpful
"Fun with the Family"
The center has state-of-the-art interactive exhibits that offer hands-on experiences. It’s great for kids of all ages. Don’t miss the chance to visit this fantastic facility, where you’ll feel what it’s like to walk on the ocean floor, visit with children in other countries, and learn about the physical properties of bubbles.
No strollers allowed.
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