-
January 2024 by Taylor Bentall
Staff: 5 starsSpace/size of area: 3 starsPrice: 3 starsI read that this was a small space but it didn’t think it was just going to be one main room. Granted they fit a lot in. Overall, it was fun for an hour or two but we probably won’t come back but the kids had funny and that’s what matters. Reservations required, so you reserve online and pay when you get there.Pros:- Staff was awesome and attentive. They had some animals out and they let the kids pet them- Decent amount of interactive stations- Live animal section was coolCons:- With parents/grandparents watching kids this place can fill up and be busy/crowded very quickly- Pricing- for $40 for two hours I kind of felt like it was a a lot. I get it, but just my opinion, especially when they close in the middle of the day and it’s not big enough to even make a full day out of it if you wanted.- No hand sanitizer in any of the stations we visited. Don’t usually care but in small space it would be nice to have.- It’s definitely well loved and a lot of the areas are pretty worn.
-
December 2023 by Bettylou Sandy
Very impressive museum, perfect for young children and their parent to enjoy exploring and discovering something new! The live animal displays are well kept and appropriate surroundings for each one. The "little town" buildings representing old Manchester are wonderful for exploring and learning. Adults will enjoy the variety of historical items from Manchester history, which are displayed throughout the museum as well.
-
October 2023 by Alberto Grosmark
Good place for children exploration and play. May need more interactive games. Also it has a strange '50s ambience
-
March 2023 by William Ivey
Great place for young kids to spend an hour or two. Kids over five will get bored very quickly as the exhibits are really just places for small children to play at adult jobs along with some examples of local animals. Reserving a time is easy through the website as well as libraries they partner with. Not handicap friendly at all.there was snow on the ground when we went but the sidewalks and parking lot was clear.
-
March 2023 by John Appleman
My 2yo child had an excellent time. You could definately spend a full day of play here because of all the intricate work someone has put in. It's not a museum and isn't huge, but it has just enough animals to look at, and huge playscapes that any 1.5yr to 10 year old will be fully entertained. There's lots of intricate details, buttons to push and facts to keep an adult looking around also.
-
November 2022 by Anita Chu (anitahomeCT)
First time brought my 2 year 7 months toddler here. Reservation online was easy and was made the day before. Pay upon arrival $8/person. Only around 5-10 kids here so it didn’t feel crowded at all which is awesome.The place is small though, and my impression when entering was this is it? My toddler played for around 2.5 hours, going through the sections multiple times. The place is great for kids 5 and under, since most is through pretend/imagination play. There’s a bank, grocery store, classroom, farm, puppet theater, upstairs home, nature center, shadow room. There’s also an activity room with a stage for special events, for today it was crayons and coloring pages. There’s also some animals to see too. I enjoyed the old vintage themed items throughout, which can show kids nowadays how things were done back then.Overall great way to spend some time. We’ll probably check out other museums before coming back. Definitely enjoyed coming here for the first time!
-
November 2022 by Haley Sault
Overall since my last visit a few years ago it’s become pretty dirty and poorly maintained. Things are falling apart that wouldn’t be that hard to fix. It’s grimy and needs paint. The rooms have very little to entertain the kids long. It’s a shame that they don’t maintain and improve this place better. It has potential. My kids were entertained for about an hour which is ok but kind of poor for the price. It definitely is nice to have a place to take the kids when it’s cold but overall it was sort of disappointing. My kids liked the upstairs old time house part but the places below bored them. The cow didn’t work and the wash station above had no supplies so they didn’t care for that. They like the buttons they could press all over.
-
November 2022 by Elizabeth LaPlante
We used a pass from the library to pay half price admission, which was really cool. My kids (3, 4.5, and 4.5) had been there before with my sister, but my husband and I hadn’t been before. At first I was a little underwhelmed, but when we had to drag the kids away after 2+ hours of playing I started thinking about getting a membership for 2023.
-
November 2022 by Dook Dook
I used to volunteer here and I know everything there is to know about this place. The staff is amazing. Everyone has their own personality and is the kindest. The director always checks in on everyone making sure they have a good time. The museum is also very clean, I rarely had to pick up after visitors coming in because it was already picked up immediately.
-
November 2021 by Steven St. Onge
My 2 year old and I visited the Lutz museum on a Tuesday morning directly when it opened. Currently the museum has a limited amount of open slots available for entry due to COVID, but booking online was quick and simple. During our 2 hour visit, there were about nine other children ranging from 1-6 years old, which certainly made it feel as though there was plenty of space despite the very limited size of the museum.Overall, the museum was decent for anyone in the toddler range of age. There are several pretend areas such as a bank, food stand, old-time school, barn, and market. However there is not much to do in each of those spots. The museum also offers a very limited animal area with turtles, ferrets, chickens, and other small animals, but again, not a whole lot to see. Rounding out the museum is a large cafeteria styled room with an attachment to the “shadow room” where the children can make shadow puppets.For my two year old, she was easily entertained with these exhibits for two hours, but was becoming bored with the limited areas around 2 hours. it also seemed for the children five and over to be not as engaging of an experience. They often left much quicker than the other families with toddlers.If you’re looking for a 1 time, two hour adventure with a toddler, I would recommend a visit, but curb your expectations.
-
November 2021 by Rachel Harris
We've loved this place for like 30 years. Our little one was basically in heaven seeing all the beautiful animals and playing in the barn.
-
November 2021 by Fabio Rodrigues
great place for the kids to just run, and have mindless fun, however a couple years ago this place was better, the train no longer works, the upstairs the phone should ring the other phone downstairs, that no longer is the case nothing is working in this facility except for the shadow room. it was very disappointing to revisit this place.
-
November 2020 by Megan Campion
Two yrs old grandson loved it... & so did I!
-
November 2019 by Aaliyah Miller
For kids seven or younger this is a great activity for 1-2 hours. I love the kid's size storefront of downtown Manchester. Also some cool antique train sets.It's a great place for kids to learn through play. The Lutz has a small but cool animal museum. Check out Flemish the rabbit.Check your local library for discount passes. You'll save half off addmission.
-
November 2018 by Krystal Kane
We went for a birthday party and loved the museum. We’ve been looking at a museum pass for my son and had been considering Kidcity but we didn’t really love Kidcity for him at this age (to big and crowded at times, good for the occasional visit but not ready to make it our primary place). At the party my son was able to use most of the activities on his own (I can definitely play with him but not necessary) and I can see him from most places and don’t have to worry about him running off. It’s a great places for younger kids. The pass that we got allows us to visit other museums (providence Children’s Museum and Boston Museum of Science and many more) for free and then there are still more (Kidcity and niantic Children’s Museum and many others) that we can visit for 1/2 price.
