Please Touch Museum – Exhibition Review

Mark Walhimer Children's Museum, Exhibition Reviews Leave a Comment

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3 of 5 Stars, “A-Okay”

Posted: June 10, 2009

Please Touch Museum
Memorial Hall, Fairmount Park
4231 Avenue of the Republic
Philadelphia, PA 19131
(215) 581-3181
www.pleasetouchmuseum.org

Category: Children’s Museum

Admission Price: $15 Children and Adults

Size: 38,000 sq. ft. of exhibits

Wheelchair Accessible: Yes

From Please Touch website:

“Memorial Hall, constructed to be the Art Gallery of the 1876 Centennial Exhibition and first home to the renowned Philadelphia Museum of Art, is the new home of Please Touch Museum, the nation’s first museum for children ages seven and under (This is inaccurate, Brooklyn Children’s is he oldest Children’s Museum in the nation). Please Touch is a hands-on “first museum experience” for kids, with child-friendly exhibits that are both educational and fun. The museum has embraced the challenge of creating a contemporary children’s museum in a building that embodies the spirit of the Victorian age. The new museum offers 38,000 square feet of brand-new exhibits, the restored century-old Woodside Park Dentzel Carousel, on-site parking and a family-friendly restaurant.”

Really wanted to love the museum, was so impressed with the building, but in the end, was left cold.  There does not seem to be layering of information, it is “spin and run away activities”.  If you wanted to gain additional insight or find activities to do with kids they are not available.  Museums (including Children’s Museums) are keepers of culture, places for society to strive for the best.  By, including a McDonald’s Restaurant Exhibit Area in a children’s Museum is lowering the Museum to popular culture and without an ambition to find the best, popular culture becomes our best.


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