ASTC Passport Program–We’re members! Are you?

ASTC passport program

Have we told your about our museum membership? We love our museum membership. I mean, we really, really love it. We try to go to to the museum in our town every week (Ha! like that ACTUALLY happens. It’s a good goal though.) And we’re always trying to convince our friends to get a pass and join us. In case you haven’t heard our spiel, here’s why we think YOU should become museum members. (And no, the museum is not paying me to say this; however, if they were to offer us a discount or referral fee, we wouldn’t turn it down! Hint, hint.)

1.) Okay, let’s start with the basic reason for going to a museum: it’s fun! And educational. But mostly fun. And not just fun for kids. Nate and I bought our museum membership when our first baby was just one month old. See me wearing her in Bjorn in the picture below? That’s at the COSI museum in Columbus, Ohio on Miss A’s one month birthday.

Now that she’s older, Miss A truly enjoys going to the “mumeum.” She likes to “run, run run,” play blocks, go wee down slide, play bubbles, make “mumic” (music), play (with) water, cook, and drive (the) tractor.

2.) It’s cheap. The initial cost for a family membership is $125 per year. But we’ve gone so many times that our average cost per person per visit is about $1. (Without a membership, it’s $7 per adult per visit.) We feel like this cheap fun is especially valuable on rainy days and during Indiana’s miserable winters and humid summers.

Sometimes we’ll just pop in for an hour or so. It really is the perfect way to break up the day.

3.) There are perks to being a museum member. A few weeks ago, the museum hosted an event called Silly Safaris. A crazy man called Amazon John brought in all kinds of exotic animals that the kids could see and pet. (My favorite was the python. Big Sister preferred the ginormous dog. The baby missed it all because she was snoozing in her car seat.) And it was FREE for museum members.

And today! Today was so much fun! Today we went to Tot Time. (Free with membership, of course.) Today at Tot Time they talked about the wild weather. Miss Abby read the tots a weather-related story, and then the kids got to do a science experiment. Daddy helped his big girl pour drops of “rain” (blue food coloring) into the “clouds” (shaving cream) and then we watched the rain go through the clouds into the “air” (a glass of water).
shaving creamAfter the official experiment, the tots got to play with, smush, and squeeze the shaving cream all over the table. How fun is that?!

(BYOS-Bring your own smock!)

4.) It’s good for the city. Some of you may remember the OLD children’s museum. It was, well, old. And small. And nothing to brag about. But this museum is new and big and awesome. I’m proud of our museum, and I’m happy to support the local economy in this way! Maybe if we all continue to support cool things like the museum, more kid-friendly, awesome businesses will come to Indiana?!

5.) And my favorite reason for being a museum member: your museum membership gets you free access into hundreds of other museums all over the country and WORLD. Now, when I mention this to local friends, the first thing they want to know is if the Indy Children’s Museum is included. Sadly, no. The Indy museum is not included. For a full list of participating museums, see this passport program list. But we have used our pass in several other Indiana cities (Muncie, for example), Illinois (Chicago), Ohio, Kentucky, Florida, Arizona, California and Bermuda! See Miss A in the big shell in the picture below? That’s from the Bermuda Underwater Institute. And yes, it was completely FREE with our museum membership. For anyone who ever ventures outside of the city, this makes for some wonderful and cheap travel fun.

What do you think? Have I convinced you yet? If so, let me know when you plan to go and we’ll meet you there!

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14 thoughts on “ASTC Passport Program–We’re members! Are you?”

  1. COSi is one of my favorites! We loved the High Wire Unicycle! What’s your favorite museum? I bet if I search your blog I’ll find a post or two about your museum adventures! 🙂

  2. I love using the ATSC reciprocity program. We are Great Lakes Science Center members and visited COSI for free in February on the way back home from a trip to Cincinnati! We probably would not have visited but the membership made it a no brainer. We love our zoo passes too (but the reciprocity program is not as good!)

    Great post!

  3. We’re ASTC members, and I’m excited to get a bit more use out of the program during our upcoming family vacation. Thanks for linking this post to Discover and Explore. I’ll be featuring this post on Tuesday. Excited to see what you share for our Zoos and Wild Animals theme this week.

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