I'm
not really sure why the owners decided to use the world Museum in the name,
since Stellar Children's Museum is anything but that. It's more of an activity
center, or better yet a learning center with a hands-on-approach to everything.
A
General Admission Fee of Rs. 300,- per person (adult or child) gets you inside
into an area divided into 8 zones each having different activities that provide
an equal dose of enjoyment and learning for children. During my visit with my
daughter, six of the zones, i.e.; Invent
It, Build It, Discover It, Live It, Create It, and Splash It, were operational. The Explore It section which requires an
additional payment of Rs. 100,- was still under construction and the Theater is only open during special
events which once again cost extra. Besides the above there is also a Cafe,
clean Restrooms and a Baby Room, and a gift shop which was yet to be opened.
The
Stellar Children's Museum (SCM) situated on the Second Floor of Ambience Mall
at the Delhi-Gurgaon Border Toll Plaza, is certainly a one-of-a-kind play area
in the Delhi NCR region. Staying away from the popular culture of
video/coin-games SCM emphasizes the importance of kids learning through
"active experiences". While Invent
It focuses on the power of wind and velocity, Build It gave me a chance to build a formula one car while my
daughter built herself a cardboard castle. Live
It is a lovely reconstruction of a society letting kids the opportunity to
role-play being a doctor or a cook or a school teacher. Each zone has its own specialty,
but there was no denying the fact that most kids were attracted to Create It and Splash It, since both these zones allowed them to have some fun
with water in their own unique ways.
Stellar
Children's Museum is a positive step towards getting children active again and
making them enjoy physical games. Being in an enclosed area makes it available
throughout the year, and for once I am okay with the idea of people having
birthday parties on location, which is the new trend these days. It is a great
opportunity for learning, but that certainly is not the only aim of the entire
setup. SCM works well for ages up to 8-10 years. While the really young can
simply explore the colours and the sounds, someone like my daughter who is 5
was able to play, experience, and understand most of the activities. The
science behind it all works well for the slightly older kids, between the ages
of 8 to 10, and that's when and where the real learning takes place.
While
at present the Stellar Children's Museum is an attractive diversion for the
kids from the done-to-death games and rides, there are a few recommendations
that I have for the place;
1.
Keep
on Changing: The problem with activity centers is that after a while they
become monotonous. I am aware that there are shows that happen from time to
time, but the main zones will remain the same over the years. Therefore, I do
hope that certain activities within the zones change after some time; else
people and especially children tend to lose interest in them. For now though, I
feel I can probably take my daughter a few more times.
2.
Admission:
I am not quite sure if there is a limit to the number of children and adults
the SCM allows before it stops further entry. When we visited the number of people
in the area was just right. Enough to make the place look neither deserted nor
overcrowded. While having a few children is always good, since the staff can
give more attention to every child, the worse would be over-crowding the place.
Another aspect to keep in mind would be not having birthday parties alongside
outside visitors, which in my opinion creates too much of a mess.
3.
Membership:
While SCM has a yearly membership scheme, I personally wasn't sure how
beneficial that would be to the customer. As a business it guarantees repeat
visitors, and advance payment, but as a customer limiting my kid to the same
place would not be advisable especially with her every changing mind.
4. Fee Structure: I had to come back and update my post since apparently the fee structure has once again changed, for the third time it seems. When earlier it cost an adult + child a total of Rs. 600,- to enter, the same will cost Rs. 700,- since they have increased the entry ticket for children to Rs. 500,- (up by Rs. 200) and reduced the fee for adults to 200,- (down by Rs. 100). I have to say I am a bit disappointed with this and clearly in the long run this will prove to be problematic. I would however add that the cost of 2 Adults and a Child will remain the same at Rs. 900,-
4. Fee Structure: I had to come back and update my post since apparently the fee structure has once again changed, for the third time it seems. When earlier it cost an adult + child a total of Rs. 600,- to enter, the same will cost Rs. 700,- since they have increased the entry ticket for children to Rs. 500,- (up by Rs. 200) and reduced the fee for adults to 200,- (down by Rs. 100). I have to say I am a bit disappointed with this and clearly in the long run this will prove to be problematic. I would however add that the cost of 2 Adults and a Child will remain the same at Rs. 900,-
Top 5 reasons why you should visit Stellar
Children's Museum
1.
Bonding:
It's a great place to spend time with the kids. Mixing a bit of fun with
learning, I would recommend the parents to go in themselves and enjoy going
through the different zones with the children and helping them maybe even learn
a bit in-between all the play.
2.
Variety:
The best aspect about Stellar Children's Museum is that it keeps the children
active and their minds working at all times. Whether it is role-playing,
building, or just simple water fun, children have various activities that they
can explore and enjoy. This variety somewhat adds to the fun as they go from
one area to another experience something completely different and new, thus keeping
them interested.
3.
Neat
and Clean: The entire place was clean and with hand-wash gels at every corner
it showed that the owners were concerned about the general cleanliness and
health issues, which we all are in case of children especially. It also shows a
certain interest on the part of the owners that goes beyond making money, which
is always good.
4.
Administration:
So far the administration at SCM was wonderful. I saw the owners run around
making sure everything was in order. The staff was trained and eager to help
and play with the children and explain the different aspects of the centre.
Provided they can keep up the same enthusiasm and interest, I think they have
something good going for them.
5.
Location:
As much as I would love to have a learning centre away from a mall, I am happy
to say that having it in the mall makes visiting it much easier. Furthermore,
it saves spending unwanted money on places that have games played to win tickets
which are exchanged for what can only be termed as junk. So, having SCM at
Ambience Mall is presently a good idea.
Details:
Stellar
Children's Museum
2nd
Floor Ambience Mall
NH-8
Highway, Gurgaon
Tel:
0124-4665373
This
is an unsolicited review.
Seems like a good place to take kids. I am happy to note you find it clean, a very rare phenomenon in our country.
ReplyDeleteI agree, so far they were paying good attention to cleanliness. Cheers!
DeleteHi Raghav,
ReplyDeleteFirst off, thanks for taking the time to review us on your blog. It’s pieces like these that give us feedback and keep us going strong.
I’d like to address a couple of your concerns:
1.The Stellar Children’s Museum is part of the Association for Children’s Museums (ACM). The ACM has travelling exhibits that move around the globe through it’s member Museums. Keeping that in mind, we designed the place to have two completely movable galleries (Discover It & Create It). So there’s a lot to look forward to. That being said, we hope to maintain the general theme of each gallery through changing exhibits.
2.The capacity of the Museum is around 300 heads at any instant. That number is very fluid though, since it would depend on the age of children inside. Currently we monitor the crowd inside and flag it to the front desk in case we observe any bit of overcrowding. This includes the footfalls from birthday parties. Regarding birthday parties, we still leave space at the café for general admission guests who want to grab a bite. In any case, the reserved space in the café is the birthday party hosts right only for a period of 45 minutes.
3.We believe that there is immense value in becoming a member. Members help create a community of parents who are like minded and come together to help their children benefit from the concepts and play at the Museum. A membership is beneficial not just from an economic point of view but also the value adds such as exclusive hours on Saturday mornings, first preference to workshops, discounts at the café and for hosting events at the Museum and invitations to special events.
4.The General Admission price was revised only once. When we opened, we ran an introductory price of INR 150 per head in order to encourage people to come and try the museum over a period of approximately two weeks. During the same period, we told each and every visitor that the intended price per head would be INR 300. I believe that this is the price that you paid for your entry. On January 14th, we revised our prices to INR 500 per child and INR 200 based on feedback that a blanket price on a child and adult was undesirable. As you rightly pointed out, the spend remains the same for a typical 2 adult + 1 child combo.
Cheers.
Thomas.
Thanks for taking the time to reply back Thomas. I'm sure your commen will help parents organize their trip better. Cheers!
Delete