As an active military-turned wounded warrior-medically retired- Veteran family, we have learned about a lot of different programs that are geared towards helping our wounded military members, our active military members, our Veterans, and their families. Each program offers different opportunities. One of these programs is called Blue Star Museums.
According to the
Blue Star Museums website, the program is described as a collaboration between
Blue Star Families , which is the actual organization that Blue Star Museums falls under, the National Endowment for the Arts, the DOD, and more than 2,000 participating museums throughout the United States of America. These museums offer FREE ADMISSION to military families from Memorial Day to Labor Day. This program has been in effect for a few years.
Every year, my family and I try to take advantage of this great offer! We absolutely LOVE museums of all kinds.
This year, we have not utilized the Blue Star Museum offer, however, we have visited several of the "Blue Star Museums" for free through other local military events in our area. We live in Wisconsin. The major cities that we are near are Madison, Milwaukee and Racine.
Our daughter and I recently attended a parent-child summer weekend camp (for military kids) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. While we were at the camp, which was operated by another military family non-profit, we were taken on a couple of museum trips as a group. One of the museums that we visited was also a Blue Star Museum, so I am writing my review on that particular museum.
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| The outside of the building |
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| The entry way |
The
Madison Children's Museum is very cool! It is an amazingly creative museum, which brings together science, technology, the arts, crafting, and physical play to encourage children to want to learn. Every child (and parent), who was on the trip with us, had an amazing time! There is absolutely NO POSSIBLE WAY to be bored at this museum! It has 2 floors of excitement, then after you have experienced all the fun you could possibly enjoy, you can take a trip up to the ROOF and visit their ROOFTOP garden and the animal sanctuary they have. Oh, and when you are on the rooftop, make sure you have your camera ready because you can see the state capitol building directly across the street, and it makes for some amazing photos! They also have a play area just for toddlers, which is always nice for the wee ones! There is even an ice cream shop and gift shop inside the museum.
The museum is not too far from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, so if you are planning a trip to visit the university, stop by the museum! Madison Children's Museum hosts many different events and "free" days (for all public) throughout the year. They even host a benefit that includes American Girl Dolls. They are open Monday-Sunday 9:30 AM - 5:00 PM (CST).
To find out more about the museum, check out their website by clicking the link above! Until then, check out the photos below of our trip there!
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| All the kids playing at the fountain |
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| Tot Playland |
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| Arts and Crafts room |
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| Really cool water fountain |
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| Really fun area with building type stuff |
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| Fun car to play in- Great photo op! |
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| Some of the fun and crazy stuff they had hanging from the ceiling |
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| The human-powered hamster wheel |
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| More imagination play |
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| This aircraft has a music maker inside of it. Kids can create their own music. |
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My daughter loved the arts and crafts room,
but she's an artist and crafter, so that is a given! LOL |
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The technology area were designed to be a blast into the past.
They even had a functioning pin ball machine. |
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| Play restaurant |
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| More techie stuff |
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| This is a tube slide that the kids can climb through and slide down. |
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| Fun photo op! |
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| Wall of tracks |
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| So much beautiful art and bright colors! |
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| Rooftop!!! |
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Such a beautiful view atop the roof top.
Look at the capitol building of Wisconsin behind us! |
collaboration
among the National Endowment for the Arts, Blue Star Families, the
Department of Defense, and more than 2,000 museums across America to
offer free admission to the nation’s active-duty military personnel and
their families, including National Guard and Reserve, from Memorial Day,
May 26, 2014 through Labor Day, September 1, 2014 - See more at:
http://arts.gov/national/blue-star-museums#!WI
collaboration
among the National Endowment for the Arts, Blue Star Families, the
Department of Defense, and more than 2,000 museums across America to
offer free admission to the nation’s active-duty military personnel and
their families, including National Guard and Reserve, from Memorial Day,
May 26, 2014 through Labor Day, September 1, 2014 - See more at:
http://arts.gov/national/blue-star-museums#!WI
collaboration
among the National Endowment for the Arts, Blue Star Families, the
Department of Defense, and more than 2,000 museums across America to
offer free admission to the nation’s active-duty military personnel and
their families, including National Guard and Reserve, from Memorial Day,
May 26, 2014 through Labor Day, September 1, 2014 - See more at:
http://arts.gov/national/blue-star-museums#!WI
collaboration
among the National Endowment for the Arts, Blue Star Families, the
Department of Defense, and more than 2,000 museums across America to
offer free admission to the nation’s active-duty military personnel and
their families, including National Guard and Reserve, from Memorial Day,
May 26, 2014 through Labor Day, September 1, 2014 - See more at:
http://arts.gov/national/blue-star-museums#!WI
collaboration
among the National Endowment for the Arts, Blue Star Families, the
Department of Defense, and more than 2,000 museums across America to
offer free admission to the nation’s active-duty military personnel and
their families, including National Guard and Reserve, from Memorial Day,
May 26, 2014 through Labor Day, September 1, 2014 - See more at:
http://arts.gov/national/blue-star-museums#!WI
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