There are worthwhile things to do in Rochester, but my favourite place is the Strong National Museum of Play. The day before I visited, I spoke with a friend and told her that I value people who are able to make quick and mature decisions but also a child at heart. This museum isn’t just for children, it’s also for grown ups reminiscing about their childhood.
The first floor has a comic book area and a reading area. The comic book heroes are brought to life with life-sized figures displayed next to comic paraphernalia. The reading area with nooks and crannies for reading. It’s wonderful to see reading turned into a magical, imagination-filled activity. I spoke with another mother there who has a membership at the museum. She brings her two children there all the time while the husband plays arcade games upstairs.
There’s a giant Mr. Potato Head operable with a panel of buttons right at the top of the staircase on the second floor. There’s also a room on an incline somewhere on the floor. I found both those quite nice ideas.
The upper floor has lots of hands-on exhibits and a fully equipped arcade with imported and vintage arcade games. Visitors need to buy tokens to play most arcade games, but a few like Dance Dance Revolution and Pac Man are free to play. The first arcade game in the world was made in 1971 called Spacewar! by the same guy that made Pong. Unlike Pong, it was a flop.
I think I was looking at the world’s first jigsaw puzzle from 1766 when a little blonde boy no older than four came up to me and grabbed my left pinky. He looks up to me and I looked down to him.
“Do you want to see my mommy?” He asked.
“Sure.” I replied thinking he was separated with his mother. “Where is your mommy?”
He dragged me across the exhibition floor, through the arcade, and into a large play room for toddlers. His mother was there.
“He just wants you to play cars with him.” She laughed.
I obliged. We built wooden racetracks and let Hotwheels and Matchbox cars slide down them, many of which landed on the floor before they got to the end of the racetrack. I didn’t just pay to play with toys, I went in to play with toys with little children. What a delight!
Coming back down to the first floor via another staircase brings visitors to several more play areas. There’s a mini train, a full-size play supermarket, an exhibition on The Very Hungry Caterpillar, and Sesame Street. Sesame Street is awesome. I visited Elmo’s World, waved a Big Bird from the street, and rode a cab with Cookie Monster.
The back of the museum is built like a regular American street corner. There’s the facade of a brick building behind a mid-century diner, a merry-go-round, and two rope courses – one for those four feet and under and one for those over four feet tall.
Parking costs $5, pay it. The one-hour free street parking across the street won’t be long enough.
