February 9, 2012

I had to go to Beaverton yesterday, so I decided to bring Alex to the Portland Children’s Museum since it was “on the way.” We have a membership to the museum, so I try to go as often as we can.

We got to the museum just in time to watch Johnny Keener perform. Johnny does shows at the Treehouse storytime area every Thursday at 10 am and noon. We haven’t had a chance to see one of his shows before and just happened to arrive at the right time by chance this time.

Johnny came in, pulled out his guitar, and started with a performance of an audience member’s request, “the Cat Came Back.” Johnny’s performance had a fun rockabilly sound and really engaged the audience. He included the kid favorite Twinkle Twinkle and when a child pointed at the Clifford book and said he wanted to hear that, Johnny made a short spontaneous Clifford song, We really enjoyed the show and will probably check out another of Johnny’s shows some time in the future.

Johnny is available for birthday parties and events. I think it would be a lot of fun to book him or another musical entertainer for a party at Inflatable Kingdom some time.

After Johnny finished his half hour jam, Alex and I went to take a look at the museum’s current traveling show “the Wonder of Learning”. We ended up walking through the show pretty quickly. It seemed aimed more at adults, as it included a lot of written information and photos. It might be interesting to check out some time without Alex.

Alex and I headed over to the climbing wall and Alex went down the slide a few times, then I asked him where he wanted to go next. Alex picked the Dig Pit, which is probably his favorite place at the museum. He dug in there for about half an hour, then we went to the museum’s theater and grocery store. We finished in the Building Bridges exhibit and called it a day as I had a deadline.

We had a great time at the Children’s Museum and even though I would have preferred not to have to drive across town, I am glad it gave me a good excuse to get Alex out. Every time I go to the museum I am reminded of how much fun it is and I think I really ought to go more often. I noticed that they have a new exhibit opening on Earth Day and I am looking forward to exploring it. It is a planted maze made out of conifers located outside in front of the museum.

The Portland Children’s Museum is located across from the Oregon Zoo at 4015 SW Canyon Road in Portland. Admission is $9 for age 1 to 54, $8 age 55+ and military ID.

Related posts:

1. Kid’s Build at the Portland Children’s Museum Portland Children’s Museum is located right across the street from...
2. Portland Children’s Museum Lego Castle Adventure The Lego Castle Adventure is entertaining for kids of all...
3. Mo Phillips at Milagros The songs Mo Phillips sings are unique, even when he...