Categories: Parenting

Top Pennsylvania Children’s Museums

Top Pennsylvania children’s museums are found in the state’s major cities and in the Great Lakes Region of Pennsylvania. The goal of most children’s museum’s here, as in other states, is to give kids a chance to explore their own interests, develop their own responses and exercise their imagination. To accomplish such goals top Pennsylvania children’s museums make use of interactive exhibits and attempt to minimize standing and looking while maximizing hands on activities. The desire on the part of children and parents to return again and again to some facilities marks such sites as the top Pennsylvania children’s museums.

expERIEnce Children’s Museum, Erie, PA The directors at the expERIEnce Children’s Museum in Erie, PA make it clear that they want children to do two things at their museum to have fun and to learn. They believe that it is precisely through experiences that human beings, even wee ones, learn. To provide all manner of experiences that are helpful human development is the goal of the more 50 museum exhibits open to young people. Without a book and with only marginal assistance children will find in the expERIEnce Children’s Museum opportunities to learn about art, science and human relationships and most of the time they will be totally unaware that they are in the process of learning because they are also in the midst of having a great time.

The age range of the offered activities is considerable. Some exhibits like the Air Sorter and Air Toss machines may seem a little beyond younger children who are just as happy enjoying face painting, presenting their own puppet show or shopping at a pretend grocery store. The Museum is open 10 a.m.- 4 p.m. Tues.-Sat and 1-4 on Sunday during the summer and it is closed on Mondays. During the rest of the year the museum is closed Mondays and Tuesdays. Admission is $5 per person. Visitors will find convenient eateries nearby or you may plan to bring a box lunch and use the outdoor courtyard at the museum.

Please Touch Museum, Philadelphia, PA It is the children’s museum of Philadelphia but because of what children are allowed to do in this museum its official name is the Please Touch Museum. For young people in Philly it is wonderful to finally find that a place where they can go with their parents and feel totally at ease about touching just about everything they see in an effort to discover and learn. When you go to the Please Touch Museum you are not going to look at inanimate objects and then move along. You are going to actively become engaged and that’s what kids like best about this top children’s museum in Pennsylvania.

In addition to lots of interactive exhibits like “Alice in Wonderland ” and ” Move It ” your little ones will especially enjoy a story area and a theater that have presentations perfectly geared for even the youngest participants. Members admission is free of course otherwise Parents and children are $10.95. General museum hours are 9 a.m.- 4:30 p.m. seven days a week. Directors advise that the museum experiences peek traffic during rainy days and in the mornings.

The Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh,PA With twenty five years of experience behind it, the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh is ready to meet our kids and offer them a most enjoyable day. The teaching philosophy at the Children’s Museum is to allow kids to learn by playing with “real stuff. To this end the Children ‘s Museum of Pittsburgh invites your kids to step into real places that look and sound familiar like the garage, the attic, the theater, the nursery and other areas of discovery. Once inside your kids will be free to examine, to try, to put on, to test out, to learn and of course to have fun.

Beyond these permanent exhibit areas the Children’s Museum also includes special exhibits that are on location for only a limited time. This means that each visit to the museum is likely to be just a little bit different as your children return to favorite rooms but also explore the new temporary exhibits too. Beyond its regular visitation schedule the museum provides a number of special programs for youth and a summer camp. You might also wish to consider holding your child’s birthday party on location. The Museum is open Monday – Saturday 10a.m.- 5 p.m. and Sunday noon- 5 p.m. Admission is $9 for adults and $8 for children. You may want to consider taking advantage of Thursday discounts when all admissions are $7.

Children in Pennsylvania have a variety of good children’s museums from which to choose. Many return to these museums in Erie, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh because of their convenience and because of their great exhibits.