Yesterday, we visited the Hands On Children's Museum in Olympia. It was our first visit with her wheelchair. The fact that we stayed four and a half hours is a testament to the accessibility of the museum. While not everything was accessible, there were plenty of things a two year old in a wheelchair could access. Here's a look at the museum from her perspective.
Our first stop was the restroom because it was time to cath. With no place to put the diaper, wipes container, and catheter, I attempted to use the top of the hand dryer as a shelf. My bag of diaper supplies slipped into the dryer enough to set it off, scaring Evanna with the loudness of it. I had to scoop her and our stuff up, calling on Josh to grab her wheelchair so we could try a different bathroom.
The second bathroom had the hand dryer located in a less awkward location. I utilized the tiny ledge of the changing table to hold supplies and held the wipes container under my arm while doing the actual cathing and diaper change. But at least we got the job done.
While I locked up our bags, Josh took Evanna to the first play area that consists of a pretend garden, store/bakery/butcher, a pizza counter, a house with a kitchen as it's single room, and an antique delivery truck. She could reach some things in these areas while the pizza counter was a tad high.
Big brother helped her get into the truck to drive, which she loves to do.
The next area we visited was this water play area. Almost all of it was out of her reach but watching other people get balls out of the water, put them in the tubes, and pull the cord to send them flying was fun. If someone fished the balls out for her, she might have been able to reach the holes in the tube to put it in with a stretch, but we didn't try it. The pull cord was low enough but they are a kid favorite and difficult to get a turn on.
Under the boat is a really cool pretend sea aquarium but the doorway was too low for her chair to enter. The solution would have been to get her out of the chair so she could crawl in, but she wasn't interested this trip. The boat itself had a ramp to the first level, which had a steering wheel. The bow was accessed via three stairs, and the upper level was accessed via a flight of stairs, so those couldn't be easily reached.
This water table is very popular. It's not accessible at all because of the height and the fact that she can't roll her legs under it. (Tacoma has a water table with areas you can roll under, and I think OMSI in Portland has one in their under age 6 room.) We did have success later with some out of the box thinking and an accommodating manager.
This table with magnetic shapes kept her interest and mom's anxiety busy for a while. Magnetic toys scare me with her programmable shunt.
The community helpers room was mostly a dud as the firetruck and helicopter were only accessible via stairs. The police car could be entered by a child who could transfer, and the ambulance had a space a couple inches wider than her chair that she could push straight into and back back out of. Big brother took her for a tour, though, and let her drive the firetruck.
This giant light bright was located behind the ambulance and was fully accessible accept for the higher rows that she couldn't reach. We got stuck here for a while as she happily played. This activity was great for hand and arm strength and hand-eye coordination.
Next we headed outside where it was chilly but not too cold. There are multiple sizes of tricycles and helmets to use on the loop. She enjoyed racing Josh. There is a hill (up and back down) that she needed help with but could provide good practice with getting up hills and controlling speed back down because it's not too tall or too long. You can see the hill in the next picture.
I forgot about the gravel pit and didn't bring in her freewheel. Without it, she can't roll into gravel. I would have let her out of her chair to dig, but she didn't show interest in it.
She loved going up the miniature lighthouse and looking down over the outdoor exhibit.
Unfortunately, the only way up is these steep stairs. I carried her up this time, but my right arm felt like it was going to break off by the time we got back down. The stairs were steep and narrow, and I didn't feel comfortable letting go of the handrail so I could switch arms or hold her with both.
There is a little dirt path past a Sasquatch and under a tunnel. The first part is slightly downhill, windy, and narrow. Her chair was fine on it, but an adult might find it too narrow. The ground was compact and easy to roll on.
Back to the loop...we discovered that making big brother pull her was even more fun than racing.
These musical benches were fun too.
Sand is one of Evanna's favorite things, so we got stuck here for quite awhile. Most of the sand area would be difficult to access by chair, but we parked it and played in the area closest to it
Back inside, we visited the water table again. They had sturdy, wooden risers for smaller kids. Looking at them, I decided to put two of them next to each other to make a platform wide enough for her chair. It was better but not quite high enough. A staff member went to get a manager to help us out, and he okayed me adding a second level of I was comfortable with that. So I grabbed the red riser from the water table in the background. It added the height she needed to reach to the side. (That wheel looks awfully close to falling off, but it wasn't that bad. She was stable.)
We decided to try standing. That was even better, though I was stuck sitting in a hard, wet wooden platform while I stabilized her. I sacrificed our changing pad to stay dry. They had rubber bands for holding boat parts together (the kids build the very simple wooden boats) and no latex allergy warning. I'll be calling the museum to verify whether they are rubber or latex free. If they are the former, I will explain the dangers of having them in the water without a warning. If they are the former, I will sing them praises for considering those with allergies and suggest a sign letting parents know they are safe.
Next up was the train table which she could roll under and reach the front half of the set up while mom's magnet anxiety was on full alert.
We didn't have time to do much upstairs. Besides the stairs and elevator, there is a tree canopy climber for the kids to climb up. A tube slide offers a fun way down; between her age, size, and low muscle tone I feel the slide is too big to let her go down at this time.
Upstairs is a toddler play area that would be a safe place to crawl. No shoes are allowed but I keep hers on because her special needs. There is also a large crafting room with various supplies, a small vet clinic (a bit tight for a wheelchair, especially if sharing space with other kids), a theater, a camping set up, a tree house (up some stairs but a small lower area at ground level), and a construction zone.
The room in the photo is my favorite because the acoustics make it the quietest room in the whole place. On one wall is a network of tubes and soft balls and scarves for sending up the tubes. While she had trouble getting the balls and scarves into the tubes due to the dexterity required to open the stiff door and get your hand far enough in to get the scarf into the airflow, the openings were within reach. There's also five foot tall pin art thing that you can put your hand, arm, face into. The lower half is plenty low enough; I just don't recommend letting your kids stick they face in it during flu and cold season as some of the pins WILL go up your nose, collecting and depositing whatever germs you or the previous people had to share. Ick.
Anyway, that's the Hands On Children's Museum. If your child is in a wheelchair, I say bring them. They'll have fun even if they can't reach everything.
One piece of advice: I strongly suggest you visit on a weekday when school is in session if at all possible. Another option is their once a month special morning of play, which is two hours before opening on a Sunday for those with sensory needs. If you absolutely cannot do that, visit on a weekday during the school year on one of the early release days, teacher in-service days, or minor holidays. Avoid weekends, Christmas and spring vacation, and summer; it's crazy busy then and you'll find yourself frustrated trying to gain access to exhibits for your sweet wheelie among the crowd.
