We've been to children's museums in cities all over the world on our travels, and this is the best one we've experienced. It's well maintained, easy to navigate, and each area is creatively and thoughtfully designed. It's like a wonderland imparting feelings of whimsy and splendor that others could learn from. The staff is helpful, friendly, and visible. Unlike other children's museums, where the staff act more like security guards, the team here is all about helping the kids maximize their experience. My kids loved the art room and working with clay. I appreciated the nearly screen free environment and plentiful seating for tied parents. This is a must-visit for parents with young children.
This is not a children's museum like you get in other cities. This is a "Art Museum for Children". Another review commented on the amount of text re: the artist of an exhibit being excessive. Spot on observation. This place is great for art and seeing a children's setting from an artistic setting. It is not a traditional hard play children's museum you would see in many parts of the USA. Recommended for older kids 4-7 I think. Mine at 2 was too young.
What was nice about this is it is Art focused. You get a different perspective than in any children museum I've ever been to.
I took away a star due to maintenance. The maintenance of exhibits needs help. A kid doesn't know what a typewriter is let alone one that doesn't work. The main slide was out of order. The upstairs toddler area was not clean and the carpet in it was on bare concrete, no pad. So when my kid fell, as kids will do it was just like falling on concrete. The treehouse thing was a wild experience very fun! BUT someone needs to get in there with a pin head and hammer because there are exposed nail heads inviting issues.
I took away another star due to the exhibits... e.g. the blowy thing of air... not enough air to blow anything up the tube. Kids would walk up to it, stick in a scarf and sort of look at it like "what the hell" because it wasn't working right. A whole area at the bottom was just closed.
Finally, I took away a final star because of the screens. I'm trying to keep my kid from screen time when possible. But there were entirely too many screens at this place. The ratio was off. Dark room with a screen, kid goes to that. Might as well hand over the ipad.
One note of danger. The typewriter thing... the ramps. They are drastic off the sides. My kid took a BAD fall from that. They need to get proper ramp wings installed on those ramps. No reason to have a 4" drop like that. (see photos)
Frankly, my vote on this with smaller kids is pass and go to the Field Museum up at Balboa Park. More teaching, more educational, better maintained and more interactive. This is art. If you kid is doing art at 4+ it is worth it. But in general, pass on this. Your time would be spent better doing 2x the time up at Balboa Park.
A great place where children can let their imagination soar and explore their artistic side. The museum has three floors with different activities for children of all ages.
There's an outdoor area for making clay figures that you can take home. We visited the Artopia zone (accessible at certain times) where the children can draw and craft; that day they could make their own gingerbread house with lots of accessories and everything needed for the craft.
All the walls in the museum have beautiful, positive messages!! On the ground floor, there's a slide that leads down to the next floor. There's also a Sprouts café, which has a healthy and fun variety of food for children and adults.
I recommend buying tickets in advance on the website to be able to enter directly.
I wish they had some science activities for children.
KKeeganTem 2026 · Google
★★★★☆Our 3 year old really enjoyed this place! There were lots of things for him to interact with. I've been to a few children's museums over the years, and what I really appreciate about this one is the art elements infused throughout the space. Most of the play activities were art pieces and encouraged kids to interact with them which is a cool way to engage kids early with art.
On the downside, I was concerned about my son's safety at times. There are several structures that are seriously dangerous for toddlers and no signage stating as much. The woven structure kids can climb in is also a bit of concern for the younger kiddos when bigger kids are running and barreling around without a care and you can't get in there easily as the adult. Just some food for thought if you have younger kiddos.
This place was really exciting to my toddler she loved climbing on everything and I appreciated the no food and drinks in the playing area due to allergies. My kid doesn’t have food allergies but I love the consideration for others. My only con would be that it was really hot inside and they had no ac . Just big fans blowing in some rooms. But anyways it was worth it to go. The lady at the cafeteria was very nice and had amazing customer service as well!
Great museum! My kids have fun for hours, one of our favorite places to go 🙂
This location is fun! It was $45 which is more then I remember paying before for my toddler and I. Overall it was fun.. we love the ability to climb and run a muck!
Got here close to opening on a Saturday morning- no wait and not super busy. There were some cool things for my two kids to do (ages 2 and 5), but I agree with other reviewers who note the dark vibes and demonic symbols ALL OVER, but especially in a few specific exhibits. WHY is that necessary for a children’s museum? I had seen the reviews and was cautious about going, but wanted to give it a shot. Several exhibits are dark- and one is flat out scary — I think even my kids were feeling the bad vibes. My kids had an okay time but I had a pit in my stomach the whole time