Sacramento Children's Museum
add photosThe Museum is designed for ages birth to eight-years-old to allow children to "learn-by-doing"!
The Museum’s exhibits are carefully designed to nurture children’s imaginations, build their confidence and competence, and encourage them to test, tinker, laugh, create, and wonder!
All of our exhibits and programs are aligned to meet the California state curriculum standards, and are accessible for individuals with developmental, hearing, physical, social/emotional and visual challenges.
2 Reviews for Sacramento Children's Museum
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"Both my kids loved it!"
Gadgets, costumes, boats, and paint. . . What's not to love?!
I took my children there last week on a rainy day (as a consolation for no zoo). Happily, they did not miss seeing their much loved animals at all that day! My daughter, age 7, especially loved the art area where children are encouraged to paint on the glass wall. She also had fun with my 3 year old son in the physics area dropping balls down elaborate ramps and jetting colorful scarves through intricate, clear tubes. The scarves are poofed out the top tubes where they drift back down on the excited kids below.
They also enjoyed the dress up areas, water play stations, and pretend town features. I loved seeing them have such a great time with so much to explore in a fairly compact area so that I didn't have to worry about them getting away too far from my sight. The teacher side of me also really appreciated all of the valuable learning opportunities provided entirely through hands-on play. So much fun!
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'11, '12
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"Channel Your Child’s Inner Picasso"
The Sacramento Children’s Museum (SCM) officially opened to the public on August 25, 2011. The 7,000 square foot facility hosts an exciting and enriching environment in where children learn through exploration and hands-on activities.
SCM strongly believes that play is an essential part of a child’s “work.” Imaginative, hands-on environments provide children with a gateway for opening up their minds to developing new abilities, building confidence, and making connections between their dreams and real world experiences. The museum has several exciting interactive areas for exploring, playing, and learning:
• In “Waterways” children experiment with the flow of water, race boats, and create whirlpools.
• In “Airways” children and adults interact and explore how various objects are affected by air currents.
• “My Neighborhood” encourages role playing and celebrating unique family traditions and cultural awareness.
• “Studio of the Arts” features hands-on art projects.
• “Baby Bloomers” is for babies and toddlers to enjoy safe exploration.
• In “Raceways” visitors will have a ball playing with velocity, gravity, motion, friction, and acceleration.
From the moment my son (age 3) and I walked through the door we were both in awe. This place is a toddler’s dream come true. Every exhibit was amazing and news worthy.
We visited the “Airways “exhibit first. A huge network of clear tubes covers an entire wall from floor to ceiling. Children insert scarves or yarn balls though a waist high tube which then gets sucked up, spit out the top, and falls back down to the children. We easily spent 20 minutes between this exhibit and the adjoining Raceways.
At Raceways my son dropped ball after ball down hot wheel loop de loop tracks. Visitors to this exhibit come away understanding such mysteries as why people don’t fall out of a rollercoaster when riding upside down.
Next we visited “Waterways”. Waterways is a large room with many water activity tables. Waterproof aprons hang from hooks along the walls to keep children dry. Use them! I didn’t immediately put one on my son and within 5 minutes he was soaked from neck to waist. Lesson learned.
My favorite part of waterways was an activity table with an infant seat built into the table so babies can splash in the water! What a great idea!!! As a safety measure the floor of this room is covered with a rubber mat to keep children from slipping on wet floors. Word of caution – my son fell anyway (in sneakers) but did not get hurt. Next time we visit the museum I’ll put his water shoes on for maximum traction.
We then migrated to the Studio of the Arts exhibit. Art Aprons hang from hooks along the walls here too. Kids will get messy, so use one! My son channeled his inner Picasso with tempera paint on the huge plexiglass wall. The art studio provides opportunities for self-expression and creativity. Children can work with a variety of materials including recycled materials, clay, fabric, feathers, paint, rocks, glitter, and more. The art studio is included in the cost of admission.
Last but not least my son played dress up. In the main dress up area there is a wide variety of occupational dress up costumes such as a police officer, a firefighter, doctor and postal worker. There is also a small side room full of actual fireman clothes and gear! While my son played, I sat in a chair against the wall and watched him try to unsuccessfully elbow his way into a game of dress up between two girls. He got shot down but a nearby felt board map of the United States helped him forget his woes.
Some areas we didn’t visit but admired:
Baby Bloomers is a space separated from the rest of the exhibits and is specially designed for babies and toddlers. Young children can be on their tummies gazing at themselves in the mirror, walk up carefully sized steps and over rippling bumps, play peek-a-boo, dress-up like a lion, or even explore the realm of physical knowledge by rolling, kicking and tossing a variety of balls in the ball pit. Adjacent to baby bloomers is a clean and quiet changing room with everything a mom could need or want during a diaper change. There is even a rocking chair for mom’s who need to go into the room and close the door for breast feeding!
World Market allows kids to sort fruits and vegetables, stock shelves, and help others checkout at the cash register. This exhibit offers children a fun, role-playing experience, as well as, helps them develop knowledge about nutrition, sorting, measuring, counting, and cooperation. Items in the super market will include grown locally foods, as well as, foods from around the world.
I’ve bragged about this museum many times to friends and family. If you live in Sacramento or are visiting with children you should make a point to visit. Your toddler will thank you!!! I can’t wait to return and am considering this location for my son’s next birthday party.
The Sacramento Children’s Museum provided my family with complimentary tickets for this review. The Sacramento Children’s Museum did not request that I express any particular point of view and my reviews always reflect my honest opinions.
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