Please Touch Museum

Children’s Museums can be found all around the United States, and our family has visited many of them. Unfortunately, we’ll probably never return to the one that tops our list of favorites because it’s half a country away, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

The Please Touch Museum is located on one of the halls of the 1876 Philadelphia Museum.  Its historic building may be deceiving, but it’s name tells it all:  kids love going to a museum where they can explore anything and everything.

While a few of the exhibits at the Please Touch Museum are similar to those we’ve seen at other museums, most things there are unique.  Our kids loved testing their handmade foam airplanes and pedaling a flying machine, as well as entering the world of Alice in Wonderland.  It didn’t matter which section of the museum we were in, they found something they loved to do and it was hard to tear them away.

The museum is large, and although there were many people there on the Sunday we visited during the Christmas holidays, it did not seem too crowded.  We got lunch at the museum cafe, which is peanut-free and serves healthier-than-usual fare.  The only downside to our visit was the difficulty we had in finding a place to eat.

The Please Touch Museum is not cheap–admission is $15 a person age 1 and up–but there is a lot to see and do there.  The Please Touch Museum participates in the ACM reciprocity program, so that families visiting from out of town may be able to visit at little or no charge.

Our stop at the Please Touch Museum was one of the highlights of our Philadelphia trip; although we enjoyed the history we saw along the way, it was nice for the kids to have a day to just stop and play at a high-quality children’s museum.  If you’re in Philadelphia with kids, I highly recommend the Please Touch Museum.

Please Touch Museum

Memorial Hall in Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, PA
See website for directions.

Photo credit:  minnemom on flickr

Linda (minnemom) writes about family travel at Travels with Children.

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