Corning Museum of Glass, Corning NY

Disclosure: I was provided with tickets and other compensation from Traveling Mom to facilitate my review but as always my opinions are always my own.

I grew up in a family that traveled often so I have many great memories of traveling as a kid. As a result, I am always looking for educational yet fun places to take my kids–why miss the opportunity to sneak in some learning right? My family recently took a day trip to the Corning Museum of Glass and that definitely fit the FUN and the EDUCATIONAL requirement!

The Corning Museum of Glass, Corning NY is just a two hour drive from NEPA so it makes a great day trip for families from our area. The day we visited there were a variety of demonstrations happening including the Hot Glass Show, the Flameworking Demo, Glassbreaking Demo, the Optical Fibers Demo and Guided tours.With a little advance planning you can actually attend all the shows, and I think they really add to the educational aspect of the visit.

If you can attend the Hot Glass Show prior to doing a Make Your Own Glass project you will have an even great understanding of how the glass is worked and molded into beautiful glass pieces and trust me, the kids will think that both are really awesome! Admission to the Museum is $15 per adult but for kids 19 and under it is free so it makes it an affordable day trip option as well.

I highly recommend however that you pay the extra fee to do a Make Your Own Glass project. It really helps you understand how the art of making glass objects when you can actually get up close and personal with the molten glass. All four of my kids made glass ornaments and the glassworkers that helped them were so patient and so willing to answer questions that it was a great experience. In addition, I now have beautiful keepsakes from our visit! Making it even better is that you can have them ship everything to you the next day so no worrying about how you are going to get these fragile pieces home in the car in one piece!! How great is that?

During our day there we spent quite a bit of time in the Innovations Center, where there were volunteers stationed around the room with hands on displays including prisms and periscopes.

Grabing a snack or quick lunch is easy at the museum as there is a cafeteria on site that serves a variety of family friendly and grown up fare–from pizza, to stir fry, to sandwiches, salads and yogurt. It is fairly affordable, quick and good. There is also a large gift shop which is worth checking out. To be honest with you I tend to avoid gift shops while traveling because I find them to be money traps but I was pleasantly surprised to find a large, welcoming gift shop with both decorative and functional glass pieces at great prices. In fact, I wish that I had more time to spend in the gift shop because there were a lot of great gift items at great prices, such as glass decorations, ornaments, vases and more. We didn’t pick up any gifts but did pick up some great drinking glasses and glass bowls which are always needed.

All in all a day trip to the Corning Museum of Glass is a worthwhile trip for both adults and kids. It is fun, there is something for everyone and you get to have fun while learning. I can’t wait to go back!

Looking for some other great family travel destinations?