Corning Museum of Glass

Corning / Big Flats / Elmira

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1 Museum Way
Corning, NY 14830
1-800-732-6845
607-937-5371

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Corning Museum of Glass Description

Children visiting a glass museum may sound a bit like "bulls in a china shop," but the Corning Museum of Glass is a very kid-friendly place. It encourages kids to get involved, and with your blessing they'll be trying their hand at periscopes, designing their own glass sculpture (one lucky visitor each day has their item made by an in-house glass blower), and examining super-sized bowls of glass fruit (really!). The museum engages visitors with an artful combination of history and science. You'll all find yourselves saying over and over again, "Wow! That's glass?"

Kid Tips

Babies: Touring the museum's historical collection is a great way to calm your baby. Two onsite restaurants provide tables and chairs if you need to sit for feeding time. There are also plenty of benches outside to use in warmer weather.

Toddlers & Pre-K: Young kids love the live hot glass show (they'll be particularly fascinated by the cameras that take you inside the 2,100-degree Fahrenheit oven).

School-Age Kids: The audio tour ($3 per headset) particularly engages the school-age set. The special family symbols on exhibits indicate that there is an explanation of the art that kids will relate to. Some even offer a quick scavenger hunt-like activity to keep it fun.

Pre-Teens & Teens: The hands-on areas will best hold the attention of older kids. Head straight for the Innovations Center.

Planning Notes

You can take it with you.The Glass Studio lets all ages (for an additional fee) make something to take home using techniques like sandblasting (perfect for the under 3 set), fusion (the right amount of skill for school-age and up), or blowing glass (a hit with teens and adults alike).

Park and ride. When you exit the highway, the big sign announcing the museum is actually the off-site parking lot. Park there, wander around the Corning information center for a bit (great maps), and then hop on the free shuttle over to the museum campus. If you'd prefer to walk (about 5 minutes) it's the big building to the west directly across a major intersection.

Value pass. Consider purchasing your ticket to the Rockwell Museum of Western Art at the same time. The museums offer a value pass ($14.50 AAA members; $15.50 seniors 55+; $16.50 adults 18-54) that makes it cheaper to buy both tickets at once. Kids under 17 are free at both.

Take-aways. Some of the art projects can't be picked up until the next day. If you're not planning on staying in the Corning area, you can make arrangements with your instructor to have your item shipped.

The store is not as kid-friendly. Watch little hands in the Glass Market. Tables of trinkets are fairly close together, making it easy to down hundreds of dollars worth of collectibles in a single super-hero arm sweep. Consider carrying kids through the glass areas to safer purchases near the escalator and letting adults take turns in the glass area.

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