Portland Children's Museum

Emily, Sofia and I made our first visit to the Portland Children's Museum yesterday. I've heard about this museum since I moved to Portland, but had never gone before—never had a little kid to take there before. Even as young as Sofi is (15 months) there was lots there to entertain her.

The big picture frame, where you stand to have your picture taken is pretty neat. It is made entirely from dried pasta and kitchen utensils, all painted silver. Can you tell Sofia was a little aprehensive. She didn't know what to expect. (you can also admire Emily's cute new haircut)

First stop was the "Baby Garden" with lots of soft surfaces and things to climb and crawl over that are not very far off the ground. Plenty to see and touch as well.

Next stop was the "Dig Pit", a room full of rubber "gravel" and foam "rocks". Sofi tried it first without shoes and did not like the feel of the stuff underfoot. Then she plopped down and started trying out all the different sizes of shovels for digging.

I think our favorite room of all was the "Grasshopper Grocery" complete with shopping carts, a nice produce section full of hard plastic produce, shelves of boxed foods and a bakery section. At the checkout counter you can pass each item over a scanner that beeps just like the real thing. Sofia was very careful about the produce she chose. She found the perfect carrot that she carried around for a long time.

Don't those fruits and veggies look real? They're not. Sofia goes to the grocery store with Emily quite frequently, so she knew exactly how this works. As she examined apples and plums it was pretty obvious that she has been observing how her Mom picks out fruit. She even sniffed one of the peaches!

It was a fun afternoon. If you have little kids visiting Portland I really recommend the Children's Museum. (Paula and Beth — your grandchildren need to go here!) There are a lot of other areas geared toward older children, so I know we'll be going back as Sofia gets older.

The Children's Museum is across the parking lot from The Oregon Zoo in the old OMSI building.