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Please Touch Museum
Since 1976, Please Touch Museum has been the Children’s Museum of Philadelphia. Over three decades and more than two million visitors later, Please Touch Museum has grown into one of the nation’s premier children’s museums by becoming experts in play.
The mission of the museum is to enrich the lives of children by creating learning opportunities through play, laying the foundation for a lifetime of hands-on learning and cultural awareness.
Located in historic Memorial Hall — a National Historic Landmark built in 1876 for the Centennial Exhibition celebrating the country’s 100th birthday — Please Touch Museum aims to bring together the past, present and future through six interactive exhibit zones across 157,000 square feet, including four areas specifically designed for children 3 and younger.
Kids and their grown-ups will also delight in riding the meticulously restored 1908 Woodside Park Dentzel Carousel, originally built in Philadelphia and after more than 40 years in storage, returned to its hometown in its own 9,000 square-foot glass pavilion on the east side of Memorial Hall.
One of the lasting museums from the tourist upgrade of Philadelphia that coincided with the 1976 Bicentennial celebration, Please Touch Museum® filled a gap in the city’s cultural scene. Other museums in the area certainly have sections for children, but Please Touch Museum’s current home not only offers four toddler areas, but also exciting exhibit components for older siblings (for ages 7 and up) including the “Centennial Exploration” exhibit, exploring the history of Memorial Hall and the 1876 Centennial Exhibition. Opened in 2018, the Creative Arts Studio invites kids and their grown-ups to participate in hands-on art programming such as sculpting at the permanent clay station, mural-making, cardboard structure building and more.
Please Touch Museum aims to bring together the past, present and future through six interactive exhibit zones. — Photo by J. Fusco for Visit Philadelphia
Each nook and cranny has a different theme — from the fantastic to the practical.
The city’s award-winning children’s museum is fun-filled, totally hands-on, and so delightful that adults are entertained as well. Each nook and cranny has a different theme — from the fantastic to the practical.
In Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, kids can play croquet with the Queen and sip tea with the Mad Hatter.
Kids can take the wheel of a real bus and sail a boat on a mini-Delaware River; in Nature’s Pond, the youngest visitors (age 3 and under) can discover animals nestled among high grass and a lily pond, or enjoy stories and nursery rhymes in Fairytale Garden. Please Touch can also serve as a first live theater experience for young children — daily Please Touch Playhouse performances are original and interactive.
In The Supermarket, kids take control: They can stock the shelves with plastic recreations of popular products and produce, load their cart and ring up the order.
In The Supermarket, kids can stock the shelves with plastic recreations of popular products and produce, load their cart and ring up the order. — Photo by J. Fusco for Visit Philadelphia
Please Touch Museum tends to be busier on rainy days. You may want to schedule your visit on fair weather days. Mornings are also a busy time with most school groups visiting during this period. Afternoons are a great time to visit the museum as well as Mondays when groups are not scheduled.
Buying tickets in advance is recommended. Tickets for the Please Touch Museum can be purchased online in advance of your trip via the Please Touch Museum website.
The Visit Philly Overnight Package — booked more than 190,000 times since 2001 — comes with free hotel parking (worth up to $100 in Center City Philadelphia), overnight hotel accommodations and choose-your-own-adventure perks.