McKenna Children's Museum, New Braunfels

My biggest complaint is the lack of structure or management of the place. Either signs or management staff people (not the teenagers cleaning up after people’s brat kids) need to be posted in each area that once a child leaves that area he/she also leaves the equipment, props, etc. that go with that area. I saw 2-3 kids that wore the white medical smocks and the aerospace helmets the entire time (2 hours) they were at the museum, both inside and outside the museum...thereby depriving other children the ability to experience or use the limited amount of 2-3 pieces of equipment. Additionally, children need to be prohibited from taking the pretend money from the two bank vault teller positions to the grocery store next door to pay for the groceries. When that happens, there is no point going to the bank teller stations. The grocery store is supposed to be an electronic checkout…not paying for groceries with bank cash. I saw very few parents having their children put the groceries items back in their proper place after check out so the next child could once again select the grocery item. Two fishing poles were insufficient for the number of children at the outdoor water chutes…again kids do not share. The outdoor building blocks need an overhead shade structure. Not a single kid used that venue as it was in the sun in 100 plus degree heat. I realize that the parents should control their children’s activities; but, in this, my child is entitled to everything world we live it, it is just flat wrong. It left a bitter taste in our mouths (2 grandparents and 2 grandsons, age 4 and 2) when they NEVER were able to wear or use certain prop equipment at the museum like the aerospace helmets, smocks, and fishing poles. From a management standpoint, a repair person needs to be onsite to immediately fix any malfunctioning equipment. Where there is only two of something and one breaks, it creates a logjam at the remaining working one. It appears to me that someone built the museum, turned it over to teenagers to run, and just wanted to collect the admission fees and not perform any management function whatsoever. Shame on them!

I took my daughter (5 yrs old) and a few of her friends here for a play date... and they loved it! I agree with some of the past reviews. The employees are not the greatest, but the kids don't notice and have a great time! They could use a few more items in the "Doctors' Office" and the "Camping" area, but it was still a fun afternoon!!!

My 2 and 3 year old loved the musuem. We stayed there for at least 3 hours and the entrance fee was reasonnable ($5.50 per person). There is a mini grocery store, mini bank with an ATM machine, a mini kitchen, some water games outside, etc. There is also a nice cafe with healthy food where you can eat inside or outside, We will go back for sure.

The McKenna Children's Museum is nice for kids, is very modern with plenty of hands-on exhibits even though overall it is kind of small. The Museum offers some other activities but getting the workers to start on time is often like pulling teeth, they are often late or will just skip their scheduled activity altogether, which is surprisingly unprofessional considering how modern the museum seems. It is still fun for the younger kids even if the Art or Garden Times are missed.

It's a great place but I have to say compared to other Children's museums it needs a little work...there are some great exhibits but not enough to play with...like the camping set up...there's a tent and canoe what about a fishing pole, some food to cook, camping gear? There are some really unusual exhibits like the screens where you stay and it looks like butterflies are landing on you, there's a place to put your picture in a newspaper article, a bank machine that toy money comes out of it! The water table outside is AWESOME and my son loved painting the car outside. I would recommend it...my son had a blast. I just felt it was lacking some effort.

It was very nice and clean there. The workers were nice and always had a smile. My child enjoyed it so much she didn't want to leave. Me and my husband even had fun playing there to. Fun for adults and kids.

At first I didn't think my 11 month old son would have anything to do in there...but I was amazed at how creative they got with this one! His own section....we LOVED it...cant wait to go back!