Exhibits and Experiences
The Museum’s exhibits are thoughtfully designed to be unique, to arouse curiosity, and to engage the minds, muscles and imaginations of our visitors. We provide open-ended, imaginative play to all of our guests. Let your child be the guide and enjoy the journey because the learning will be meaningful and the memories delightful at one of the best places to take kids in Phoenix.
Art Studio: Creative Expression
In this creative workshop, visitors find an ever-changing array of hands-on art activities that help them make connections to the real world as well as to other exhibits in the Museum. Art Studio creativity includes gobs of glue, explosions of color, cutting with scissors to develop small muscles and fine-tune eye-hand coordination, and releasing the imagination in bursts of creativity. Here, art becomes the means to explore the world of art history, the sciences, math, language arts, and social studies. Children learn to work with others by participating in group projects — like painting the 10-foot tall rocket ship! — and they spend time working on individual activities that they can share with you. This is a no-fail environment where we acknowledge the creativity in everyone, no matter what their age.
BlockMania! What will you build?
Blocks are recognized as one of the most important play materials of childhood. Young children have difficulty thinking abstractly and blocks provide manipulation of concrete objects, as opposed to activity on a flat screen such as a computer. Located on the first floor, next to the wonderfully imaginative Climber, this beautiful space offers blocks of all sizes, shapes and colors, providing the raw materials for an amazing array of creative expressions. Whether engaged in a sprawling group project or intensely focused on building a solitary structure, children test their skills in eye-hand coordination, proportion, balance, symmetry, spatial awareness and patience! No doubt, it’s a place of towering possibilities!
Book Loft: Respite and Resource
Reading together is one of the most important activities a caregiver can do with a child as it nurtures a love of the written word and builds a foundation for literacy and later success in school. This space is more low-key than most – comfy and cozy to encourage children to snuggle in and read a good book. The loft space also affords a view to upper levels of the Climber and a closer look at the CD wall. Storytime with Museum staff or guest readers is presented every day in the Book Loft.
Building Big
Building forts, dens, lean-tos and other shelters seems to be a human instinct that is played out again and again during childhood. The exhibit provides a host of raw materials and found items that might represent columns, beams, walls and roofs – all typical elements of the construction industry. Building Big entices the boundless imaginations of children to creatively engineer their own personal forts or contribute to a larger cooperative building project. Alive with interactive play, the area hums with purposeful activity.
The Children’s Garden
Located outside the Museum’s Historic Entrance, the Children’s Garden is designed in a leaf pattern with seven planting beds full of seasonal vegetables, herbs and flowers. An interactive water pump will provide an easy and fun way for children to water the growing garden.
As with all exhibits at the Children’s Museum of Phoenix, the Children’s Garden provides educational benefits for children of all ages. Children will be exposed to hands-on, messy play in the garden where they will feel the dirt in their hands and the trickle of water on their toes while interacting with the garden components. Some of the activities in the garden will be guided by a program facilitator, however, children and their caregivers will also be able to explore the garden independently. As children explore they will learn plant names, and through discussions with facilitators, children will be exposed to rich vocabulary and content language.
The Climber
Towering above the Atrium floor, the Climber offers a bird’s eye view of the bustling activity below. Created from standard building materials, found objects, items out of context, and a little inspiration from some wacky imaginations, this climbing adventure is guaranteed to stretch the muscles, provide a feeling of perceived risk, and challenge all to climb to new heights.
Climbing this sculpture is like climbing a tree. Therefore, to ensure a safe experience for all:
- Children cannot be carried in backpacks, baby slings or in your arms.
- Purses, bags, water bottles, etc. cannot be taken up into the Climber.
- Shoes are required. High heels are not allowed on the Climber.
DramaRama
Places, please! Get ready for your grand entrance in this imaginative space where we provide the costumes, and you bring the creativity and story to the stage!
The Grand Ballroom
Balls go up, balls go down, balls go rolling all around – dropping, triggering, spiraling, bumping – flashes of movement and a myriad of sounds fill this action-packed room.
The Market: Role Play Paradise
Opportunities for role play abound as children bring the market alive with bustling activity. Much like real life, the market experience exercises the child’s physical, cognitive and social skills while providing opportunities to engage in group play, measure and weigh peas, and sample a tower of wonderful, food-related aromas.
Move It!
Encompassing the entire front yard along 7th Street, Move It! is an enticing outdoor exhibit space for children to do what they do best, learn through play and movement. Innovative in its design and repurposing of materials, the whimsical learning environment invites active exploration, robust imaginative play, physical activity requiring both fine and gross motor skills, and thought-provoking discoveries that lead to meaningful learning.
Noodle Forest: Not Your Everyday Noodles
Oodles of noodles suspended from above offer sensory immersion in a unique and engaging environment. A thick forest of textural delight awaits visitors as they navigate this unfamiliar yet stimulating terrain. The Noodle Forest is guaranteed to activate the senses and inspire the giggles.
The Park
Climb over, under, and through giant tunnels. Pop up and out of port holes as you travel from here to there.
Pedal Power
Pedal Power is a long, narrow space perfect for riding tricycles – and that is just what young visitors do here. Within the safe confines of the Museum, young visitors can learn to master the art of pedaling, test their sense of balance, and practice cooperative play as they stop and go on imagined roadways.
A tricycle “car wash” presents a unique experience as young drivers find their way through soft brushes, hanging strips and blowing fans. A mirrored tunnel excites children’s imaginations as they safely zoom through on an adventure to somewhere.
Pit Stop
Pit Stop invites visitors to “race to the finish” on three levels of racetracks. Children launch innovative racecars from the upper deck and cheer as they zoom overhead and down the vertical drop to the finish line. The child’s imagination takes over as he or she climbs into the modified racecar, revs the engine and takes off with tires screeching. A real motorcycle provides another means of “transportation” or just a cool spot to sit and watch the action. Of course, anything can happen and the car might be transformed into a rocket ship or a time machine at any moment!
Room for Threes and Younger
This gallery is for our youngest visitors and has many components designed to meet the particular developmental needs of infants and toddlers. Crawling under a tree, watching planes from the deck, exploring with the senses, engaging in simple role-play – this area is a visual delight for child and parent alike. It provides a warm and welcoming space for caregivers to spend time enjoying and learning about their little ones in the essential company of other grown-ups. And because there is so much crawling going on in this room, the Museum enforces a strict no-shoes policy so that the little ones can enjoy this room in an environment that is as clean as possible. We’ve even created a very special shoe wall to keep your shoes in while you play!
If you are visiting the Museum with a child age three or younger but have other children with you that are older, we also encourage you to visit our other exhibits which have infant/toddler areas designed into them so that the whole family can enjoy playing together at the Museum!
Texture Cafe
In the lively, child-sized Café, customers of all ages order up food for the imagination. First, choose your role: Maitre d’, chef, or maybe ‘regular’ customer. Then, use an amazing array of fabrics and materials to create the meal of your dreams. Whether choosing green velvet for a spinach salad or scraps of silk for spaghetti, children actively engage all of their senses, garnished with creativity, to delight their customers. Tables and booths, counters and stools, and a full-service kitchen with ovens, stoves, storage and utensils provide the framework for culinary escapades. Enjoy and bon appétit!
Whoosh!
Whoosh! captures the imagination and beckons children to experience the intrigue of sound, movement, color, and the power of air. This wonderful contraption is a freestanding jumble of connected tubes where children feed scarves in a rainbow of colors into the transparent, air-powered structure. The colorful scarves shoot up through the pipes at high speeds, to heights of 20 feet or more, and are released in a burst of energy from high above. In contrast, they gently float down slowly to land on or be caught by children.