Tucson Children’s Museum: Wowing kids for years
Through its growth since 1986, the Tucson Children’s Museum has never lost sight of its original vision. They have always aimed to provide hands-on learning experiences for kids in a fun way. The museum has grown to17,000 square feet with 10 exhibit areas and an outdoor courtyard filled with fun educational opportunities.
Founded as the Southwest Children’s Exploratory Center in November 1986, the Tucson Children’s Museum was first located in a small space on Pennington Street. As the Tucson Children’s Museum grew, it relocated to the Historic Y on University Street and then moved to its current location in the historic Carnegie Library in 1991.
At the Tucson Children’s Museum, you’ll find many components that encourage kids to build, create, imagine, explore and discover. This is play-based learning at its best! As such, continue reading to learn more about this amazing museum for kids and their families.
Tucson Children’s Museum location and history
Located in the historic Carnegie Library, the Tucson Children’s Museum sits at 200 S. Sixth Ave. in Downtown Tucson, Arizona. This is what they call their “flagship location.”
The history of this historic site is quite rich. To explain, Andrew Carnegie offered $25,000 back in 1899 to construct the public library building in Tucson. This building now belongs to the Tucson Children’s Museum.
What the Tucson Children’s Museum has to offer
Their exhibits and programs are geared toward kids up to 10 years of age. They feature a Fiesta Room that offers a private party space for birthday parties. Also, the Museum is a great space to rent out for family or business events too.
As their mission, they provide fun, play-based, interactive, hands-on learning experiences for children and their families. Also, they inspire children and their families to reach their full potential through discovery, creativity and learning.
The outdoor courtyard is filled with components that encourage kids to build, create, imagine, explore and discover. And, they call this “play-based learning at its best!”
On average, many of their visitors explore the Museum for about an hour and a half. But of course, your time in the museum will be determined by how hard it is to tear your kids away from the exhibits!
Satellite location in Oro Valley
Children’s Museum Oro Valley is a satellite location of the Tucson Children’s Museum. It is specially sized for kids up to five years of age. This museum location provides fun, hands-on experiences for children with a focus on early childhood education. On top of that, it’s designed to stimulate curiosity and motivate learning through play.
Seven of the many museums in Tucson
Too numerous to go into detail, here is a list of museums to visit in Tucson Arizona:
- Tucson Museum of Art
- Connects art to life through meaningful and engaging experiences
- Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum
- Zoo, botanical garden, art gallery & classes, natural history museum, and aquarium
- Arizona State Museum
- Ancient and enduring Native cultures of the region through content-rich exhibits
- Children’s Museum Tucson
- Southern Arizona’s interactive museum for children
- Tucson Desert Art Museum
- Display art and artifacts of the Desert Southwest and surrounding regions
- Arizona History Museum
- Connecting people through the power of Arizona’s history
- Southern Arizona Transportation Museum
- Exploring the impact of the railroad on Tucson
