The Magic House, St. Louis, Missouri, USA

Photos from the Magic House website: the original house to the right and the expansion below.

The Magic House came highly recommended to us by my cousin who remembers visiting when he was a child and now takes his kids there when they visit St. Louis. The Magic House is a sprawling, interactive children's museum. What began in 1979 in an historic Victorian home has expanded multiple times and now includes such fun things as a 3-story beanstalk to climb, a 2 story "twisty" slide, a replica Oval Office, a construction site and so much more. We spent almost 5 hours there and didn't come close to seeing everything!

In fact we hadn't even entered when the girls were stopped by this amazing gizmo of pulleys, tracks, springs, balls and other assorted gadgets. We stood and watched it work for 10 minutes- at least. "Which way will the ball go this time?" Brenna would ask. "Let's watch and see," was the consistent answer.

Upon entering we were drawn to the left and the Music Play - Play Music exhibit. The girls had so much funn with the strings and chimes that they didn't even notice...

...the 3-story Jack & the Beanstalk climber just behind them. This amazing climber is great for kids age 2 and up (younger if they are really steady). The leaves are large and carpeted for traction and they are layered just right for even the most novice climber. The beanstalk became the preferred method for getting from one floor to another in the "new" addition.

While on the top floor we tried to solve a mystery and the girls pretended to be worms. We didn't make it to the sunshine classroom, an outdoor garden exhibit.

Then it was all the way to the lowest level, via the beanstalk, where Caelan became infatuated with the air-mazement exhibit.

She was in charge of changing the flow of the air. With the flick of her wrist she could stop balls and scarves in their tracks or shoot them out a different exit. So much fun! We had to, quite literally, drag her away from this exhibit. But there was so much more to see!

We entered the kids' construction zone next. The girls wore hard hats for safety while Doug showed off his strength.

The girls built a firehouse, scooped rocks into cement mixers, worked with PVC pipe and sat in a real skid loader. Which was all very fun so it was difficult to get them to leave this area... But we needed to move across the hall to the Star Spangled Center.

It was here that I "signed my name" to the Declaration of Independence- after being asked if I still wanted to do it if my life were at risk (YES), the girls played judge and witness and Brenna had a photo op as President.

Wow... After all this activity were were hungry! There is dining available at the Picnic Basket Cafe (soups, sandwiches, salads, etc.) on site, but we chose to visit a St. Louis icon: Imo's Pizza, just 3 blocks away.

We returned to the Magic House full of energy and ready to explore more! Up we went to the electrostatic generator, played in the ball room, worked out in the fitness center, experimented with air power, created bubbles, gave great first impressions, explored the West with Lewis and Clark and created art and goo in the expericenter.

Our time was almost through so we went out to spend a few minutes in the amazing garden- complete with maze, an island surrounded by a moat, a mosaic hopscotch patio and a hop-skip&jump path.

You would think that with everything we did we would have seen it all. We didn't. And what we did see we could have spent much more time doing. The Magic House is definitely worth a stop if you're in the St. Louis area.

Just the Facts

Location: 516 S. Kirkwood Rd., St. Louis, MO 63122 Map It Here
Hours: Vary during the year. Click here for correct information.
Cost: $8.50 ages 1 and up. Look into membership if you live in the St. Louis area. Group rates are available.
Free Fridays! The third Friday of the month from 5:30 - 9 pm. Sponsored by Target.
The Magic House is on Facebook and Twitter!

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