Higgins Armory Museum

Whenever S is away at a conference, E and I have an adventure. E is now 6, so castles and knights are an area of interest for him, though not an obsession to the degree that dinosaurs and superheroes are. Still, worthy of interest.

So I’d been meaning to check out this museum for a while now, and since S was away, I looked at their website. They were having an even called Knightmare at the Higgins in anticipation of Halloween.

This is what made it worthwhile for a six-year-old, IMHO-that there were events in addition to the armor. Otherwise, it would be a lot of the same. “Look! Armor! It’s cool, huh? Oh, and more! And more! And more!” And they really do have a lot of armor. But because of the Knightmare event, they also had a costume parade he got to participate in. And we got to do a Halloween craft. They also have a room where we could do a rubbing, and try on helmets, and play with toys, and read stories. Interspersing these activities with looking at the displays kept the balance right, and we were happy for about 3 hrs. Had we gone on a non-event day, it wouldn’t have been as sucessful. Oh, and their gift shop is great-things for all ages and all budgets.

It’s about an hour’s drive from our house; we arrived about 11:40 and ate a preplanned “picnic in the car” before going in. That was a budget-motivated choice, but it turned out to be a wise one, too. I didn’t see any likely dining spots around. (Although it was pouring rain and I could barely see the building!)

Free parking too.

This is really cool!

I usually look on socialweb.net to find out what new exhibits or special programs they are offering at the Higgins and end up going about twice a year so that it always stays fresh and exciting. It would probably be fun for children to go more often, and in general is a great educational and imaginative experience! I just wish they had a better cafe area there—that would be inspiring!