ECHO, Leahy Center for Lake Champlain

I took my family here when we took an overnight trip to Burlington. There is so much to see and do. This place is packed with opportunities to learn for people of all ages they had a science of flight exhibit where kids could make and launch paper airplanes. It was incredible how much you could learn about the lake and what lives in it. I highly recommend taking kids and making a day or two of a trip here.

This place was AMAZING! We took our 16 month old here and the area for kids to play and discover was so fun for his age group! Would love to go back again when he is older and can appreciate some of the cool experiences geared toward older kids.

We had a great time at the Echo center. Though, it was geared for much younger folks, we thoroughly enjoyed checking out all the different exhibits and seeing the animals. It was a shame the look out deck was closed for the season, however the views were still amazing! I very much liked the exhibit about the legendary Champ!

Such a fun museum. We were there for hours! Something for everyone. Love the variety of activities. Location overlooks the beautiful Lake Champlain and there is even a deck with Adirondack chairs so you can sit outside and take in the view. We ate our snacks out there. A must do activity! My 5,7 and 9 year olds can't wait to go back.

We had a fantastic time! For a smaller center, this was incredibly interactive. Great experience for all ages! The kiddos had a wonderful time. It was very educational and there was plenty of areas with a vast variety of activities. They also had plenty of seating available for senior citizens to take a break. I would highly recommend!

We had a lot of fun here. It is small but had a lot of activities. There are fish that live in Champlain lake, frogs and turtles. There are science activities to do and pretend play. We played for 2 hours and could have stayed longer. It was a great place to go when it was raining.

This was a cute little aqua center. It's mostly geared at children, but if you're an adult in the area I think it's worth checking out. There section I enjoyed the most is the lake where they teach you about the native species in the lake and some of the invasive species that are particularly problematic. There's also several kinds of fish, turtles, frogs, salamanders, and a snake. Next to this section upstairs are also some fun science experiments you can do which include floating ball mazes, a topography map, water and flashing light, and a rotating table. So, there's plenty to keep your kids busy here for several hours. They also have a rotating exhibit and there are several movies you can go watch as well.

We bought tickets ahead of time for viewing the solar eclipse. What a wonderful, well-run little museum! During the 2017 eclipse I worked at a different, larger science museum near totality, and we were a hot mess: here they had timed ticket entry and excellent crowd management. The staff were really helpful and kind, the exhibits were top-notch, and we got the best view we could have hoped for!

On vacation, we went to a children’s museum without knowing it was geared for kids. I wondered why the rep at the desk asked us if it was “just two adults” but didn’t figure out the interactive exhibits were for kids until we took a tour!

We saw all the coolest exhibits first because she suggested the best way to see everything before closing time. She was right about the which exhibits were best and that we’d see everything.

I was surprised that the exhibits included prompts to think about the world and our place in it. It helped me understand rain erosion by an interactive exhibit that reminded me of the Silly Sand I played with as a kid. I spent a lotta time playing there.

My husband and I played the drums, saw tons of turtles and frogs, climbed to the top of the building and hung out on the upper deck that overlooks the bay. We discovered a statue that we didn’t see on the ground because this building blocked our view. We took pics of the statue and pics of us with the bay in the background.

We had a great time and are so glad we didn’t miss this museum. We are so grateful to the rep who welcomed us, checked on us, and knew we’d love discovering the museum. She was so right!

We try and go here each year on summer break as it is a bit of a drive from us but always a great time. Hands on science that the kids love to explore for hours. We also get a discount pass from our local library which makes it a very affordable day trip. Can be very busy and a little chaotic, even during the week, but we haven’t had a problem being able to explore everything we want to.

Absolutely amazing place with so much to see, for the young to adults. Grab a map and figure out what’s your move. I found myself having to stop the kids from just running up to an exhibit and touching everything and if it would interact in any ways, and if not then they’d run to the next thing- there is a some of reading involved so you know the instructions before you can do the actual activity for most of them. So, I had to call them back, read the instructions to them, then it was actually a cool thing to do. I have two kids ages 4 & 6. They just wanted to physically do everything without really knowing what they were supposed to be learning about and I tried to explain few things from science prospective. So, adults, keep up and get engaged along with them so they know how to complete the activities and maybe learn something from them.
they have indoor water activity a lot of other play activities including slides and play areas. The aquatic animal exhibit is also awesome. A mesmerizing view of the lake Champlain from this place is so great that you can’t compare with anything else. If you visit this place in the evening he can probably get a chance to take the sunset pictures from upstairs which is breathtaking. There’s a cafe and gift shop. So much to do and see, could be an all day thing if you want to get your money’s worth.
if we visit Vermont anytime in filter, this is gonna be our first thing to do for the kids and for ourselves.

My kids loved it. And me too! We have a number of similar museums in Bay Area, and I was very happy to see the exhibits we haven’t seen before. We spent entire day with the break for lunch, and there still were things my kids haven’t covered (I have 3 kids of various ages😀). Highly recommend for the visit.

Beautiful place with very nice view for the water. Good for relaxing and taking pictures ❤

ECHO was so fun! The staff is so engaging and eager to share. There was so much to see and do, we spent about 2hrs there as adults but plan to spend longer if you are with kids who can play with more of what there is on offer. We loved seeing all the different animals but I think the goofy sturgeons in the lake room really captured our heart the most!

We were worried about accessibility but had no problem navigating every single thing in a wheelchair. No missed opportunities! However, we were disappointed as this day had been advertised by ECHO as a masked day at ECHO which was important as one of us is immunocompromised, however we only saw one staff member and no other patrons in a mask. In the future, if you intend to offer masked days, please consider that you put folks at risk by not giving them the accurate information to keep themselves and their loved ones safe.

For what it is, a smaller museum geared mostly towards children, I found it charming and fun. I thought seeing the sturgeon was really cool! We went to a short presentation on local frogs and how to identify them, and I learned a few new things. Again, geared mostly to small kids, so a few areas got skipped on my trip, but not gonna take any points off for that because if I had kids, I'd definitely take them here. Fun little science experiments on the upper floors too.

If you're visiting Burlington with kids Echo is definitely a must! They always have new activities and it's relatively cheap admission; Sometimes even free! They have so much to do and see and it's located right on Lake Champlain so the view is fabulous. They have a great gift shop on site too! We go very often and have an incredible time everytime we go! Heading back in April for some fun! If you go on a week day it's usually pretty empty, but the place is so big it doesn't ever feel packed.

Stopped in to pass some time before our flight. This is a great business to bring kids big and small. Lots of fun exhibits. They have short movies showing often, interactive experiences from natural ecosystems to IT. Their rotating exhibit was Dragons and Unicorns when we went. Very cool place and I highly recommend it.

This was the second time visiting. The first was about 6 years ago. Can confirm that this is a great place for all ages. Lots of hands on activities (again all ages) and great science tools (loved the microscopes with larger display screen) to educate with fun! The exhibits provide information on Lake Champlain and animal life within. Also has a beautiful setting right on the lake. Go to the roof deck for great photo ops!

We have a annual membership and we bring the grandkids there. It is always a fun time with them enjoying the place. Each time different things catch their interests.

If you have kids, definitely go. We went with kids ranging in age between 10 to 17 and they all loved it. Most of the exhibits are very interactive and the live animals are always fascinating. Its quite small, but its packed with lots to do. Younger kids will love it too. There's a discovery room with a microscope and some other interesting things to do. There are 3 floors of exhibits (there's also an elevator) lots of places for parents to sit and observe kids. There is also seating outside on a little balcony/ patio which is quite nice. Masks to be worn at all times. There are hand sanitizer stations, but if you have your own, better use that