Mint Museum Randolph

Mint Museum Randolph

The Mint Museum on Randolph doesn't really jump off the page as a place little ones would enjoy, however they have several activities for kids throughout the week, and S was intrigued by the many ancient tea pots (she's all about tea parties), the pictures (Is that baby Jesus?) and the clothing (It's a Cinderella dress!!) that we came across during our visit.

Discovering a museum with kids can seem daunting with so many "can't touches" around, but we used it as an opportunity to teach S about the rules of museums and explained why she couldn't touch it. She accepted the rules and was filled with wonderment with each thing she saw. E was regaled to the stroller but was still interested in all the different things there were to see.

We were able to talk about history of the things we saw, and how the relics were from a time before even Great Grandma Hodges was born - that blew her mind! We also re-named some of the art pieces and made up stories about what many of the items were, it was a fun exercise in imagination for my husband and I. Her favorite part was seeing the "coach" they used to carry members of the aristocracy in (we said it was a princess coach). They had a display of Mayan weavings. S and I sat down and tried weaving ribbons at one of the kid-friendly interactive areas of the museum.

My husband and I are both Bank of America customers, and they have a great program called 'Museums on Us' that allows free entry to museums across the country. In Charlotte for 2013 it includes The Mint Museum Uptown, The Mint Museum Randolph, The Levine Museum of the New South and Bechtler Museum of Art. It runs the first full weekend of the month - for more information you can click here to read about the program.

Parking is free and it has diaper changing areas in both the men and women's rooms. Several benches are located throughout the museum and I was able to sit and nurse E while Jim and S counted tea pots. They had two vending machines in case you forget to pack a drink for the kids or they need a snack. We went on a Saturday around 4 PM and it was very quiet, we only saw two other families the whole time we were in there. It's stroller friendly with two elevators allowing easy access to the galleries.