Considering exploration at the Pima Air and Space Museum? It’s unusually warm here in the southwest for this time of the year so I want to take advantage of the weather before it gets over 100 degrees! So on Friday night, my husband and I asked our son, who is a little over 3 years old, if he’d rather go on a hike or see airplanes over the weekend. He chose airplanes 🙂 Here in Tucson, we have the Pima Air and Space Museum, which has on display several military aircraft that have been retired. I’ve been wanting to take my son but wasn’t sure if my son was still a little to young to enjoy it. (I’m embarrassed to admit that even though I’ve lived in Tucson for several years, I had never been to the Museum before). It turns out that he’s not too young - the place is huge, and we didn’t even come close to seeing everything in the time we were there. My son absolutely loved it. As an added bonus, not only was my son’s admission free (children 4 years and younger are free), but my husband and I were also able to receive a discount on admission due to being Pima County residents.
Arriving at the Pima Air and Space Museum
Once we arrived to the main building, a greeter handed us a map and told us that there was especially a plane that children could sit in and pretend to fly. We tried to make our way there first, but quickly became distracted along the way, by all the other planes and helicopters. I took my son’s picture standing in front of an Army plane in honor of my dad and my father-in-law who both served in the Army.
Space Exploration at the Pima Air and Space Museum
We also made our way to another building which was primarily dedicated to space exploration. This was one of our highlights of the trip. When I was much younger, my parents took me and my sister to Kennedy Space Center on a family vacation. Space Exploration has always fascinated me, and I really wanted to attend Space Camp. So I was pleasantly surprised to see that the Pima Air and Space Museum had a special area devoted to space exploration. There was a giant globe encased behind glass - if you press the button, the globe will move around. My son was very fascinated by this. And wanted to know when he could go in a “rocket ship.”
Children’s Playground at the Pima Air and Space Museum
We also liked that the Pima Air and Space Musuem has a kids playground. My son had a great time climbing, and going down the slides.
On our way back inside the main building, we finally located the little plane that the greeter told us about. And was a great way to end our day at the Museum.
We also let our son pick one gift from the gift shop on our way back to the car. His pick? A space shuttle 🙂 (the space shuttle has since landed in my son’s teenage mutant ninja turtles lair, lol)
I told my husband that we definitely need to take a trip to Kennedy Space Center in the coming years - LOL. And maybe time it with a trip to Disney World 😉
Exploration at the Pima Air and Space Museum