Last week I renewed our Ann Arbor Hands On Museum membership after 9 months without it. We have found the membership very beneficial to have, especially when traveling. Last summer when we went to Chicago, we definitely got our money’s worth out of the Hands On Museum membership with reciprocal admissions to the Field Museum, Museum of Science and Industry, and the Chicago Children’s Museum. This year I added the Plus membership level which includes a guest with each visit, a free named caregiver who can bring your child, and reciprocal admission to Children’s Museums as well as science museums.
One of the perks of being a member is themed member nights through the year. Wednesday’s Member Night was celebrating Hometown Heroes. The Ann Arbor Fire Department was outside the museum with two fire trucks as was the University of Michigan Survival Flight (with their training ambulance, not a helicopter). Inside there was a team from Huron Valley Ambulance (by their ambulance display), the Huron Valley Humane Society, and a K-9 dog.
They also had special activities, like fingerprinting, “fire fighting” (drawing file on a transparency and spraying it off), testing heart rate, and more.
My daughter’s favorite part of member night was the face painting by Huron Valley Humane Society. They did a great job and were pretty fast. There was still quite a wait for face painting, but my daughter explored the bubble room exhibits with my parents while I stood in line. They also had temporary tattoos if you didn’t want to wait in line.
As always, they provided a snack. Snack was a small water bottle, fruit snacks, and a bag of baked chips or popcorn.
I am always surprised at how fast a 2 hour member night goes. We were definitely rushing to get to the store before the night ended. My daughter had brought money and wanted to buy something. She ended up purchasing a tiny shark and a tiny t-rex for $0.50 each, definitely a bargain.
