Portland Children’s Museum

We understand that you probably have one eye on our website and the other on a certain someone who's pretty eager to get to the Museum to explore, so we'll be quick. The Portland Children's Museum is the museum that doesn't act like a museum. You won't find any velvet ropes inside, and playing with and touching our exhibits is strongly encouraged. Our main exhibit is the imagination of the children who play here.

We're also so much more than a museum. In the same building you'll find Opal School and the Museum Center for Learning. Opal School is a public charter elementary school and tuition-based preschool where we focus on "playful inquiry," an approach that places the mind in its optimal state of learning. The Museum Center for Learning, on the other hand, is an ever-expanding research institute that guides the development of the Museum and Opal School curriculum. Lessons we learn here inform childhood-development conversations around the world. For over 60 years, Portland Children's Museum has inspired imagination, creativity and the wonder of learning in children and adults by inviting moments of shared discovery.

Don't forget your pennies! Stop by our Penny Press, near the front doors, to squish one lucky souvenir and take home a piece of the Museum.

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