Philly Kid Fun: Camden’s Adventure Aquarium
It’s not quite in Philly, but Camden, New Jersey’s Adventure Aquarium is pretty close. It takes us about 20 minutes to get there, and it’s one of my favorite places to take the kids in this weather. In the warm weather Philadelphia has so many kid things to offer, but in the winter our options are slightly more limited. I love that there are still a lot of fun things to do indoors though. My top two favorite places in the winter are the Please Touch Museum and the Adventure Aquarium. We have annual memberships to both.
Here are my favorite things about the aquarium, in no particular order:
1. There is a whole floor dedicated to a kid zone. There is a bubble in the middle of a fish tank that the kids (ok, and adults) can crawl to get to. Raffi, Ali and I can go in the bubble and watch the fish for what seems like forever. The kid zone has one area with musical instruments – like a giant drum with sticks – as well as a pretend boat and giant sculptures of frogs, a hippo, a shark, and more.
2. The Sting Ray Beach Club is a section that has a big pool for big sting rays and a small pool for baby sting rays and small kids. None of them have any parts that can hurt you, so you can pet them without fear. Raffi isn’t really into touching them yet, but he loves (gently) playing with the water and watching the sting rays swim.
3. At different times throughout the day there are a few different programs. We’ve seen the divers go in the tank with the turtles/sharks/fish/sting rays and both kids keep their eyes on the tank the entire time the divers are in there. I loved learning different facts about the animals as well as the divers. I think it’s pretty awesome that the divers are all volunteers.
4. The shark realm and shark tunnel are my personal favorite area. I could watch the sharks swim around for hours. Ali seems to love it best too as she likes to stand at the tank with her face almost pressed up against it. I love that neither of my kids are quite at an age to be afraid.
Leslie and her bump really enjoyed the shark tunnel:
5. Raffi had a lot of fun trying to find the little itty bitty frogs in the new frog exhibit. One time it took me almost 10 minutes to find one of the tiny frogs, and Raffi came up to the tank later and found it immediately. I couldn’t believe his little eyes could spot it so fast.
There are even more exhibits and things to do at the Adventure Aquarium. What I like about it most is that unlike all the other indoor kid things we do, the adults get a lot out of visiting too. At the Please Touch Museum it’s all about the kids, but at the aquarium I enjoy myself reading the signs next to each exhibit and tank.
I know some people are against zoos and aquariums, but I love them as a way for my kids to be introduced to animals.
Check out more Philly Kid Fun.