Leonardo's Children's Museum(59)

ENID

On the outskirts of the downtown area in Enid sits a museum that was first imagined by Enid Residents Owen and Helen Garriott. These two started the Enid Arts and Science Foundation in 1992 and have contributed to things like the museum that help engage the community with artistic and scientific endeavors. One quick story about the kind of people Owen and Helen are. Owen was an astronaut. Like an actual spaceman. You can see some of his work with NASA at various museums around Oklahoma like the Oklahoma History Center in OKC and the Stafford Air & Space Museum in Weatherford.

So one trip, Skylab 3, that Owen took into space, he and Helen decided they should play a prank. When I heard someone tell me this story, I thought "I already like these people." Owen had a tape recorder that he recorded small bits of Helen talking. He was able to get his recorder stowed away and it went into space with him. One morning, NASA ground control radioed up to the astronauts to see if they had slept well and give them the itinerary for the day. What NASA heard next had everyone but a couple of people in on the joke gobsmacked and scrambling. Owen played the tape of Helen speaking into the communication radio. The whole control room paused! HA! NASA replies with "Who is this?" Owen, playing the well planned recording of Helen continues the joke. "Oh, this is Helen. Owen's wife. I just thought I'd bring the boys a home cooked meal." The astronauts were losing their minds with laughter while the control room was losing theirs with panic.

So Owen and Helen have adventurous hearts and they continued that sense of fun and light-heartedness with Leonardo's Children's Museum and Adventure Quest. The museum is a two floor adventure land of science, theatre, animals, art, tinkering, and trade skills. The bottom floor has the entrance to a two story climbing area with tubes, nets, and crawl spaces. There is also a room that has some furry friends, fish, and crawling things. There's no touching or petting, but kids get to look closely and observe. Rounding out the first floor is a small theatre area with costumes and a stage and an area for tinkering with some of the museum staff.

On the top floor there are spaces for a medical office, a hearing center and other great play rooms. There are also some separate rooms so you can book a birthday party and let the kids roam around in between opening presents and eating cake. The staff at Leonardo's was very kind to let me snoop around and take photos. Luckily for me it was early in the day and I was able to take pictures without getting any kids in the shots even though there were quite a few running around having a blast. After I finished getting photos of the cool museum, I headed across the street to the Castle known as Adventure Quest. It's the largest community built wooden playground in the world and it's right there in Enid. It's an enormous wooden structure where kids can roam and climb and get all of their energy out while having a great time. If you're in or around Enid and you have kiddos, take some time and visit Leonardo's Children's Museum and Adventure Quest.

200 E Maple, Enid

580-233-2787

Entry Fee: $11.99/Cash, Add service fee for cards. Kids under 1 are free. WIC & CHIP card holders are $3, Military 10% discount, and the last two hours of the day are half price.

Hours: Wed to Sat-10:00 to 5:00, Sun-1:00 to 5:00

https://www.leonardos.org

Jonathan Elmore ©2025