


Mission
We build brains.
Please Touch Museum is here to change a child’s life as they discover the power of learning through play. Our Museum is where lifelong learning begins, curiosity is encouraged and every child is always welcome.
Museum map
Explore Please Touch Museum before you visit.
Main Floor

Exhibit Details
Rocket Room
Learn about our solar system and the properties of flight through an exhibit that puts you in mission command. Practice STEAM literacy, fine motor skills and sequencing.
- Launch a rocket and see how much force is needed to send it sailing through the spinning rings.
- Take charge at the Mission Control console.
- Glance up at our planetary neighbors hanging from the ceiling.


Roadside Attractions
Step into our Philadelphia neighborhood and get creative while learning about many of the things we encounter every day. Practice gross and fine motor skills, STEAM literacy, collaboration, decision-making and communication.
- Navigate your way through the city in the driver’s seat of the SEPTA bus.
- Assemble your own cars at the Please Touch Garage.
- Invent your own unique flavors at the Bassetts Ice Cream Stand.
- Search through the gallery by controlling the Helicopter Camera high above the city.
- Concoct a tasty creation at the City Park food stand.


The Kids Shop
Continue to play at home by stopping in to The Kids Shop, offering toys, games and more designed to help children learn. All proceeds support Please Touch Museum.


Woodside Park Dentzel Carousel
Take a spin on our glimmering carousel built over 100 years ago and make new friends with the horses, cats, rabbits, pigs and goats that call this piece of history home.


Please Touch Garden
When the weather is warm, step outside the Café and into the Please Touch Museum’s urban garden. Have a seat on the patio in this urban oasis or take a stroll through the cornstalks, pepper plants and tomatoes that will soon make their way into the kitchen upstairs. Practice environmental science, health and wellness knowledge, classification and fine motor skills.
- Smell the herbs and try to guess which is which.
- Observe how much the tomato plants have grown since your last visit.
- Run through the Canopy where the colored ceiling casts interesting patterns on the ground.
- Outsmart your friend in a good-natured game of tic-tac-toe.


Please Touch Museum Café
Stop in for a bite and choose from a variety of healthy menu items and everyday favorites for every hungry belly, including snacks for special food allergies and dietary restrictions.


River Adventures
Discover the properties of water as you play in our pint-sized Schuylkill River. Practice STEAM literacy, environmental science, fine motor skills and creative thinking.
- Float a boat down the river and learn about buoyancy.
- Pump water through pipes, tubes and passageways and see the effects it has.
- Switch the locks and dams to adjust flow.
- Explore the sights and sounds of the marsh in Nature’s Pond Toddler Area.


America to Zanzibar: Muslim Cultures Near and Far
Explore and celebrate modern and historic Muslim cultures from the Greater Philadelphia region, our country and the world. OPENING FEBRUARY 2
- Buy, sell and trade spices and design clothing through imaginative play in the global marketplace.
- Experience the everyday lives of Muslim American families.
- Discover world-class objects and artifacts on loan from the Free Library of Philadelphia and the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.
- Experience performances and art demonstrations by Muslim American artists, musicians and storytellers.
- And so much more!
America to Zanzibar: Muslim Cultures Near and Far was developed by the Children’s Museum of Manhattan.


Happy Camper
Get away from the city and get in touch with nature on a camping adventure. Practice communication, collaboration and environmental sciences.
- Roast a marshmallow around the campfire as you take turns telling stories.
- Find out who is awake in the forest at night.
- Gaze up at the twinkling stars in the night sky.


Adventure Camp
Get in touch with science in our indoor tree house. Practice STEAM literacy and fine motor skills.
- Move the magnetic gears around the Gear Wall to ring the bell and turn on the light.
- Analyze insect specimens.
- Tap out a message in Morse code.
- Peer through the periscope.


Imagination Playground
Step into the world of giant blue foam blocks where the possibilities for play are endless. Practice STEAM literacy, collaboration, fine and gross motor skills, creativity and problem solving.
- Construct something new and unique every time you visit.
- Build a structure with Magnatiles on the light table that glows as it grows.


Wordsworth's Cottage'
This calm space is great for relaxing and taking a moment to ease up on the activity while still learning. Practice communication, literacy and collaboration.
- Read a book while sitting beside the fireplace.
- Host a tea party around the rustic kitchen table.


Hamilton Hall
What can you find under the magnificent glass dome at the center of Memorial Hall? It’s the Statue of Liberty’s torch! Of course, unlike the real torch, which was displayed nearby during the 1876 Centennial Exhibition, this torch was made completely out of toys by “junk sculptor” Leo Sewell.































Lower Level

Exhibit Details
Healthy Me: Market + Bimbo Bakeries USA Bistro
This kid-size city puts kids in charge and lets them learn through role-playing and decision-making. Practice fine motor skills, health and wellness knowledge, collaboration and communication.
- Select your ingredients for dinner and find them in the supermarket.
- Assemble and serve a tasty sandwich in the Bistro.


Cents and Sensibilty
Fill up your piggybank with exploration, curiosity, and discovery at Please Touch Museum with our brand-new exhibit: Cents and Sensibility Fun with Money presented by PNC Bank. This brand-new exhibit, the Museum’s first permanent exhibit in over a decade, will get you and your children puzzling through ways to earn, save, spend and share in 2019!
- Dollars and Cents Scale – What coins add up to make a dollar? Develop different combinations with interactive money to find the perfect balance!
- Money Maze – An expansive puzzle allows visitors to move their “money ball” through the maze and learn about the concepts of “Spend, Save, and Share.” Will you make it to the end or spend, spend, spend?
- Investment Plinko – Watch in anticipation as your investments gain or lose money with this hands-on game where visitors place imaginative coins at the top and wait to see where their investment will land.


Healthy Me: Children's Hospital
This kid-size city puts kids in charge and lets them learn through role-playing and decision-making. Practice fine motor skills, health and wellness knowledge, collaboration and communication.
- Scan a doll on the x-ray or MRI machines in the hospital.


Healthy Me: Front Step Toddler Area
This kid-size city puts kids in charge and lets them learn through role-playing and decision-making. Practice fine motor skills, health and wellness knowledge, collaboration and communication.
- Tend your urban garden.


Wonderland
Take a trip down the rabbit hole into a world where nothing is as it seems. Practice communication, critical thinking and gross and fine motor skills.
- Navigate the hedge maze on your way to the Mad Hatter’s endless tea party.
- Paint the roses red and watch as they change color before your eyes.
- Find the shrinking hallway as you wind through the Hall of Mirrors.
- Play a game of croquet with flamingos and hedgehogs.
- Travel into the pages of classic children’s stories in Fairytale Garden Toddler Area.


Centennial Exploration
Memorial Hall wasn’t always the home of Please Touch Museum. This architectural masterpiece was built for the 1876 United States Centennial and World’s Fair. Explore the unique history of Memorial Hall and West Philadelphia and see how this event has affected your own life. Practice STEAM literacy, historic awareness, fine motor skills, classification and collaboration.
- Locate Memorial Hall in the massive historic recreation of the 1876 World’s Fair.
- Set up a wooden train set that can span half of the gallery.
- Ring the bell in the locomotive of a train.


Creative Arts Studio
Our programs provide a welcoming, friendly introduction to the Museum and begin to instill in young visitors a love of discovery and learning, encouraging future cultural experiences. All programs are informed by current research and best practices in the fields of informal learning, museum education and early childhood education.


The Playhouse
The Playhouse at Please Touch Museum invites children to exercise their imaginations and enter new worlds. Inside the theater, visitors experience theater in engaging, interactive and unexpected ways. In addition to ongoing theater productions, we’re dedicated to bringing diverse performers from Philadelphia and around the world!






















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