Children's Museum of the Shoals, Florence

We love the Children's Museum! The kids have a lot of fun when they go here. We attended the Royal Tea Party in honor of Queen Elizabeth II today and everything was lovely! A beautiful tribute to the Queen. The employees were wonderful!

We were visiting Florence for the day and looked online for an activity that would entertain my grandchildren. The online description was engaging, so we decided to give the Children's Museum Shoals a try. The young ladies at the desk were friendly and gave us a quick overview. I signed up for the membership they recommended (which gave me a twenty dollar discount on our admission), and we entered the facility. First obstacle, the elevator was out of service, so my ninety-five-year-old dad had to climb quite a few stairs in order to watch his great grandchildren play on the upstairs level. Secondly, even though the desk staff mentioned that we were fortunate to have arrived after the departure of a large group of kids who had visited earlier in the day, I wasn't prepared for the state of disarray in the play areas. It looked like a daycare that had been overrun. Thirdly, I wasn't prepared to find so many items that needed to be repaired or replaced. There was a plastic cup that was completely split down the side, and there was a toy accordion that wouldn't work right and had exposed screws that would hurt your hand when you tried to play it. There was a guitar and a ukelele that had missing or broken strings. There was a plastic sword handle with jagged pieces sticking out of it where the missing blade had completely broken off. Loose jingle bells that had fallen off of jingle sticks were lying on the floor, and there was a miniature juke box that wouldn't play music and had exterior lights that were out. A small xylophone was losing its structural integrity and kept trying to fold in on itself, and there were no mallets to use on the instruments. In the small "digging room" on the first floor there were two devices where a child should be able to sit and control an extended metal arm to which was attached a claw bucket. The first device was intact but was beginning to lose its structural integrity, the second device was missing the second half of the arm that should have held the claw bucket for digging. There also appears to be something wrong with the pump that should keep the water flowing through the display in the river room. There is a model of a dam that wouldn't seem to work properly. Fourthly, even though the sign on the front door says that the facility has been disinfected, that's really not possible with cloth puppets and stuffed animals. There was a stuffed eagle toy that was wet with some unknown substance, so we quickly put it to the side to keep it away from my grandchildren. Puppets and animals made of rubber and plastic that would be appropriate for such facilities are available from school supply sources. Lastly, let me hasten to say that my grandchildren (a one-year-old and a four-year-old) had an entertaining and enjoyable time. There has been an effective use of space in the architecturally interesting building. I hope there is, or can be, an ongoing plan to clean and paint the exterior of the building and keep it stocked with sturdy, well-maintained toys and activity stations. Perhaps an Amazon wishlist could be created and advertised so that community members could make donations of needed items.

We love the Children's Museum of Shoals! There is so much to do for kids. It's well-maintained, clean, and the staff is so friendly and helpful. The annual membership is so worth it so you can come as often as you want. But even if you just get to come once with your kids, it's worth it!

Small, cute, and quaint. F St use to colder weather, the outside and water table sections were closed. We have Leonardo’s Children Museum in Enid and you could 4-5 of these in it. To be fair, we are blessed with Leonardo’s and biased. However, there wasn’t a lot to do at CMOS and cost us about $36, with the sections that were closed. I find comfort in feeling that a donation was included in the admission fee.

Always a good place to visit! We have a membership here and it is well worth the cost. Even if we just spend an hour here or more. They are located right next to a park so it's an easy trip to make with your kids. They have special activities going on for kids as well so make sure you pay attention to their calendar