The name of the game here is play. According to the Please Touch Museum’s website, “Play provides the foundation for basic life skills such as building relationships, cooperation, negotiation and compromise as well as providing opportunities for children to find out who they are and what they enjoy doing. Play offers an emotional outlet, develops the imagination, creativity, and cultivates problem-solving skills.” (Please Touch Museum Website, 2009).
Please Touch Exhibits
Exhibits are set up in zones, arranged around a common theme. For example, the City Capers Zone includes a shoe store where kids can try on dozens of different shoes, a medical center where budding docs can don miniature scrubs and tend to tiny doll “patients”, a construction area complete with dump truck and “bricks”, and, perhaps most fun of all, a miniature supermarket, where little ones can fill up their carts with groceries, while another child “checks them out”.
Another favorite area is the River Adventures Zone, where an extensive kid-level waterway allows youngsters to splash around with boats, wheels, water currents, bubbles, and other wet fun. At the Roadside Attractions Zone, kids can root around in a real automobile, pretend to fill ‘er up, and explore part of an authentic Septa Bus. Recently added to the Please Touch family is the giant walking piano made famous in the movie “Big.”
Other fun things include a fully operational century old restored carousel, and extensive collection of thousands of toys manufactured after 1945, an Art Program Room where kids can get messy and creative , and thrice-daily story times. The Please Touch Museum is even available for birthday parties!
Exhibits for Toddlers
The museum also offers several exhibits strictly for the under three crowd. These areas are self-contained play areas that offer the smallest visitors the opportunity to play and explore at their own pace without the big kids, and gives parents the chance to relax and take some pictures.
Hours, Prices, and Amenities
The Museum is open Monday through Saturday from 9 to 5 and Sundays from 11 to 5. Conveniences include nearby parking, plenty of kid-friendly rest rooms, a coat room, and a nut-free café. Admission is $25 per person (under age one free), with a group rate of $120 per person. The real deals are the memberships. A basic 12 month membership for a family of four is $150 and includes discounts at the Please Taste Café and the Kids Store, free parking, and 8 free carousel rides.
The Please Touch Museum, with its focus on fun and play, is a surefire winner for families with young children visiting the Philadelphia area. Be sure to visit the Museum's website for more information, parent and teacher’s guides, reading lists to complement the various exhibits, and much more.
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