20 Ways to Have Fun at the Pittsburgh Children’s Museum

One of the most impressive children’s museums we have ever visited (and our children aren’t even school age anymore!), the Pittsburgh Children’s Museum is a MUST visit for any family exploring (or living) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. We had planned on a quick stop during our recent week in Pittsburgh and ended up spending over two hours exploring all the exhibits .

The museum, which first opened in 1983, was housed in the original 1890 post office for Allegheny City and has since expanded into the adjacent former Buhl Planetarium. The popular MuseumLab opened next door in 2019, adding dedicated spaces for classes and workshops for preteens, teens, and adults. There’s now over 100,000 square feet of exhibit space throughout all three spaces and tons of weekly programs and events. The museum is consistently ranked one of America’s best children’s museums, welcoming over 300,000 visitors each year and creating tons of original traveling exhibits. It is a MUST stop for any family with children of ANY age when you’re visiting Pittsburgh!

Travel Tips:

20 Ways to Have Fun at the Children’s Museum:

1. Look out for the solar powered roller coaster above the main entrance sign to the museum
2. Walk through the garden outside the main entrance, which includes edible fruits and vegetables and other plants that native to the Pittsburgh area.
3. Squirm your way through Lozziwurm in the Backyard. The new play structure is designed to look like a long worm with several peepholes. The Backyard playspace also has water features and a musical swingset!
4. Create a project of the day in the Art Studio. Daily options vary from painting to sculpting to painting to printmaking- see the full calendar here.
5. Contribute to the latest textile scarf project in the Makeshop. A typical scarf can take a collaborative group up to three weeks to complete (with help from the staff) and are either displayed in the lab (look up at the “drying rack”) or donated to local organizations.
6. Stretch your limbs and climb up three stories in the Limb Bender.
7. Manipulate a virtual puppet in the Kindness Gallery. The Pittsburgh Children’s Museum has the largest collection of Lovelace puppets, as well as the original puppets used on the set of Mr Rogers’ Neighborhood and has several on display throughout the exhibits.
8. Compress a secret message into a token in the Kindness Gallery and leave it for someone to find.
9. Use a Rube Goldberg machine in The Garage, housed in the former Buhl Planetarium dome. The two story exhibit includes tons of experiment stations and a massive climbing structure inside the dome. 
10. Practice your aviation skills by trying to launch parachutes and kites in The Garage.
11. Race miniature cars down a 37 foot test track in The Garage.

12. Make music by tapping on stars to play various tones in Reach, an interactive mural that is also a musical instrument. 
13. Snap a photo in the wooden mirror that creates a reflection in the wooden tiles.
14. Bring a swimsuit and get wet in Water Play on the third floor- there’s everything from water tables to ice tables (yes, make your own ice sculpture!) to painting with water to a water vortex and more! The floor captures and recycles the water (which is treated with bromine so it’s safe for everyone). There’s also changing and drying areas.
15. Bring the toddler crew to the Nursery with smaller activity stations like the light wall, a seesaw spinner with bubble, book nook, wooden trains and blocks for building, and a padded play area. Plus a quiet area for nursing.
16. Step on the platform to make Lily fly. The giant brine shrimp (720 times larger than a real shrimp!) was created by artist Asia Ward as part of the museum’s Tough Art Residency and is made entirely of recycled plastic.
17. Listen carefully as you walk down the stairs from the second to the first floor- the Temperamental Stairs is a pressure activated staircase with changing sounds and commentary throughout the day (so go up and down more than once!)
18. Head to the Beans Sprout Cafe and look up at the four weather balloons, used in the last concert (Pearl Jam) at the Three Rivers Stadium in 1998 before the stadium’s demolition in 2000.
19. Look down at the 150 pound Foucault Pendulum that demonstrates the Earth’s rotation. The 136 pins that make a circular border around the pendulum have to be reset everyday, since a full rotation of the pendulum knocks them down every 10.5 hours.

20. If you’re visiting on the weekend with preteens and teens, be sure to head next door to MuseumLab. Housed in the former 1890 Carnegie Free Library of Allegheny, the space was renovated and reopened in 2009, inviting kids ages 9+ and adults to explore the interactive exhibits and register for a wide variety of hands-on classes and workshops.  See the full MuseumLab calendar and register for classes here. Note: Admission to MuseumLab is included with regular museum admission or membership; additional fees apply for classes and programs.  While visiting be sure to check out:

• Grable Gallery: With gravity defining chairs, table games, and an impressive art installation hanging from the ceiling 
• Studio Lab: Featuring rotating exhibits and interactive artwork
• Make Lab: Work with metals to create anything and everything from jewelry design to signs to furniture.
• the Gymlacium: A three story jungle gym made out of hemp rope by Slovenian artist Manca Ahlin, who spent two years creating the installation. There is a 48” height requirement. 

Looking for other adventures around Pittsburgh? Check out our features of the Carnegie Science Center, the Pittsburgh Zoo and Aquarium, the Heinz History Center, Acrisure Stadium, the Frick Pittsburgh Museums and Gardens and our full Pittsburgh City Guide. 

Disclaimer: Our family was given a media pass to explore the museum; all opinions expressed are my own.