Discovery Center of the Southern Tier

Pretty decent mid-​tier, very homey children’s museum tucked in next to the Binghamton Zoo. It’s not a destination-​level attraction, but if you’re in the area, or a local, it’s an obvious win-​win for the under-​seven set (although truth to tell, both our older kids at 7 and 11 enjoyed it) and parents alike. We’ve been to literally a dozen or more of these over the child-​rearing years in three or four parts of the country, and while this isn’t the shiniest, it’s among the more relaxed and least forced.
By «Children’s Museum», understand this is not the full-​on adventure of, say, the Boston Children’s Museum, but one of those indoor play spaces with ostensible educational pretensions but which is really just a great place to get little kids a chance to explore something a bit nicer than what they have in the average Pre-​K indoor play space but which isn’t going to kill you as far as admission price like a theme park.
This is a bit of a hodge podge between «educational» exhibits, local culture (we like the little area on the Chenango Canal), stuff that was cool we had so we put it up (the jet cockpit) and the obligatory sponsored-​by-​the-​local-​business-​chain play/​pretend areas (the mini-​Weis grocery store, complete with working POS system so you can learn to be a grocery store clerk).
There’s also a single permanent exhibit space, currently used for a nice exploration of Bees, that was mostly ignored by the clientele on the Saturday we went, but if you go to the back of it you can see an actual bee hive through plexiglass. There is also a tortoise and an ancient blind rescue bunny to complete the live animal exhibits.
The snack bar area is just a couple of vending machines but features decorated chairs hung upside down from the ceiling. Don’t let the kids scoot by, there’s a lot to see in that room. The gift shop is very minimal and has for branded stuff only a build-​it-​yourself patch (weird) and some t-​shirts; the rest are just the kind of toys you find everywhere in science and children’s museums. The garden outside looks great but it was too cold and closed on the day we went.
Bonus feature: more seating for grownups than the average children’s museum, although much of it obscured or disguised as exhibits.
Downsides: parking is odd, on two single-​row tiers, one where you have to walk uphill to get to the museum, the other down (no doubt due to its having been perched on a ravine in the park/​zoo complex). My advice: just take the first spot you come to, you’re going to end up walking anyway.
All in all: about an hour to an hour of half of fun depending on your kid’s constitution and enthusiasm, and how recent naptime was. Family of four got in for $ 21.

This review is for the garden only, since the center was closed.
The children’s garden right outside the center is amazing! I has a storybook theme and is quite large. Tons of things for small kids to climb on and explore. Lots of little houses, small playground equipment and tables and chairs. Looks like it is setup for activities with a craft area and small arena, but no programming was going while we were there.
My daughter found the fountain and got quite wet, but it was a hot day so no biggie.
Great spot –highly recommend for those with small children.

I flat out love this place. We visited the storybook garden two years ago, and missed the Discovery Center that trip. I am so happy we got to see it this time. My children, ages 2 and 4, L-​O-​V-​E-​D it. There were so many things to do inside, we could have stayed here the entire day. The exhibits are extremely thoughtful and unique, including such things as:
(1) A full dentist’s office for kids to pretend, including a patient chair and exam lights
(2) An astronaut room, complete with a mock shuttle cockpit (even saw my husband get in this one)
(3) A carriage like what Cinderella rode in, full size, for kids to get in — there are even dresses in a trunk nearby for those who want the full experience.
(4) BUNNIES at the door — great big fat ones, huge, in a cage near the entrance
(5) A coloring nook for those that want to be artists
(6) A play structure that looks about 2 stories high for kids to run up and play in.
(7) A grocery store, mini sized. Very thoughtfully done, all at the perfect height for small children. One of my daughters spent about 30 minutes in this part alone (buying ketchup!)
(8) A huge bubble machine. You can stand on a pedestal, pull a string, and a giant bubble envelops your whole body before popping — how cool is that???

We were traveling from Maryland to Canada with 4 young children, and Binghamton NY was our half way mark. The town itself looks as though it was once booming and has suffered a decline, but it didn’t feel unsafe at all.
The museum itself is absolutely phenomenal! We got in free because they have reciprocal membership with the children’s museum in DC that we’re members of. Unlike some of those museums, ALL of your kids get in for free in Binghamton.
This place was great. It was very large and had a ton of fun stuff for our kids, age 6, 4, 2, and 1, to do. The Giant grocery store was definitely a highlight, with it’s kiddie size shopping carts, and the ambulance and fire engine were also exciting for my boys especially. We spent about 2 hours inside, and then another hour in the outside «story garden». If it wasn’t so hot, we would’ve been there longer.
I would definitely recommend this place to anyone with kids. The staff was also very polite and helpful. They even have a big bunny in the gift shop (which was reasonably priced, much to our surprise) that you can pet.