The Greensboro Children’s museums is just about an hour away from Raleigh, so we decided to check it out! My husband and I have been contemplating taking the family to Washington DC via Amtrak train to the Smithsonian museums. We wanted to do a short trip first to see how the kids would travel by train, and it just so happens that the Greensboro Children’s Museum is a nice half mile walk from the train station!

Side note: We did discover that traveling by train is nice with the family, but we are not ready to tackle DC with 2 kids under 5 years old!

From Raleigh to Greensboro you can leave at 6:45am or 11:45am. The train back to Raleigh on Friday departs at 6:57pm. Round trip tickets cost us $96 (it’s less expensive on Tues, Wed, Thurs and Sat when you can take advantage of kids riding for $5). Depending on the day you choose to travel, the return time to Raleigh can vary. We sat in family seating, which was very nice. The kids loved not being tethered down to a car seat, and the seats were comfy and reclined. It looks like you could fit a stroller in overhead storage but we didn’t bring one so I didn’t try it. There were outlets at every seat, which was extremely handy! I wish planes did this as well!

We incorrectly chose the 6:45 am train, putting us in Greensboro for a solid 10 hours with no car. We would have had PLENTY of time leaving at 11:45. We could have packed a picnic lunch for the train ride and been set to go. But we did find some fun stuff to do with our extended stay in Greensboro, starting with the Greensboro Children’s museum.

Greensboro Children’s Museum

The Greensboro Children’s Museum is not unlike Marbles in it’s set up but it definitely has unique aspects that make it different from Marbles and worth checking out (although perhaps not by train and for 10 hours).

       

I thought my kids would love the train and depot in the museum, but perhaps after taking a real train this part seemed a bit lack-luster. It’s definitely adorable and would appeal to many kiddos I imagine.

The cost to visit the museum is $10/person and members only on Monday.  A couple of things set this museum apart from others like it – the first is real, actual vehicles for the kids to explore. An actual ambulance, fire truck, mac truck and race car. I’ve never been anywhere else with real life vehicles and my 2 year old, vehicle obsessed boy was in heaven!

Outdoor Garden

The next thing that I loved probably more than the kids did, was the outdoor garden. There were a ton of plants, a mud kitchen, and an edible school yard (although it wasn’t open when we went, perhaps too early in the season?).

Separate Baby Area

They also have a baby area – 2 and under. It’s partitioned off from the rest of the exhibits, but not so high that you couldn’t keep an eye on an older child in a couple of nearby areas.

You will also find a Nonnie’s house, a construction site, a pizza kitchen and a grocery store. Unlike Marbles, you get to bag groceries in this store – which for whatever reason my kids really enjoyed.

Outdoor Play Space

There is also a brand new outdoor play space with REALLY high equipment that thankfully my kids were not adventurous enough to try. The outdoor playground offers pretty much no shade and got hot early on in the day. So you might want to start there first.

Couple of other things to know:

Food could potentially be an issue since there are no cafes close by. The museum has an area with vending machines that take credit cards and there were some healthy options available like raisins and protein bars. We brought our lunch and then ate dinner a couple of blocks away at an outdoor café in LeBauer Park. 

Across the street from the museum is pretty impressive public library. Just in case you are looking for somewhere else to go while waiting for your train.

So, is it worth the drive? Train ride?

Well I probably wouldn’t recommend the train ride as it just isn’t cost effective. But for us it was a way to check off 2 items off our summer bucket list, so if that is your goal then totally go for it!! Although you may want to take the later train…

See other NC day trips here. Thanks for reading!