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Best Valley Museums for Kids
October 30, 2024
Where to find kid-friendly, hands-on experiences in Tempe and beyond.
Gone are the days of keeping quiet and not touching anything at a museum. I remember going on field trips to museums when I was a kid. They were fun, but I wouldn’t exactly say it was the best day of my life. It was hard to relate to and nothing felt like it was designed with kids in mind.
Flash forward a few decades and there are both new museums to explore in metro Phoenix, and traditional museums that have put more thought into how children can experience their collections. While many items can’t be touched, they are interpreted in exciting new ways.
For additional activities and attractions for the entire family — including the The Phoenix Zoo, hiking information and popular dining options, visit our family fun guide. In the meantime, check out the top museums for kids in Tempe, Phoenix and Mesa:
Tempe
Arizona Heritage Center
1300 N. College Ave., Tempe, AZ 85281 | 480-929-0292
Formerly known as the Arizona Historical Society Museum, the AZ Heritage Center at Papago Park can teach the whole family about the contemporary development of Arizona. Learn about early settlements, life during World War II and the post-war housing boom. See a scale model of a copper mine and get an up-close look at minerals and gems. They also are home to changing exhibits.
ASU Art Museum
51 E. 10th St., Tempe, AZ 85281, Tempe, AZ 85287 | 480-965-2787
The largest of the museums on the ASU Tempe Campus, ASU Art Museum features rotating exhibits with national and international contemporary artists. The museum showcases contemporary art, especially art that makes a statement about our world today, created by regional, national and international artists — with a focus on Latin American art. It’s also home to the largest collection of Cuban art in the U.S. and an award-winning print collection. Art-making experiences for kids and families can be found on the museum’s website. Bonus: Museum admission is always free.
Gallery of Scientific Exploration
781 E. Terrace Road, Tempe, AZ 85287 | 480-965-5081
Another free museum on the ASU Tempe Campus is the Gallery of Scientific Exploration at the university’s School of Earth and Space Exploration. This gallery is dedicated to educating the public around earth and space with interactive displays, digital media and 3D planetarium shows (on a flat screen) in the Marston Exploration Theater. Entrance to the gallery is free; however, there is a small fee for Wednesday evening and Saturday afternoon the shows at the theater.
LEGOLAND® Discovery Center Arizona
5000 S. Arizona Mills Circle, Tempe, AZ 85282 | 877-526-3960
Who doesn’t love playing with legos? Located inside Arizona Mills, LEGOLAND® Discovery Center is where families with children ages 3 to 10 can enjoy a world of creativity, color and building fun in the ultimate indoor LEGO playground. Get hands-on with the thousands of LEGO bricks in themed build and play areas where kids’ imaginations can run wild with the endless possibilities that LEGO offers. Kids (and adults too) will be endlessly entertained by two LEGO rides, a 4D Cinema, massive, large-scale models, building areas and a Model Builder Academy.
SEA LIFE Arizona Aquarium
5000 S. Arizona Mills Circle, Tempe, AZ 85282 | 877-526-3960
Dive into SEA LIFE Arizona Aquarium for all kinds of fishy fun! Located inside Arizona Mills, across from LEGOLAND Discovery Center, it’s the perfect outing for family fun. Discover thousands of creatures, walk through the amazing 360-degree ocean tunnel and marvel at 30 incredible displays.
Tempe History Museum
809 E. Southern Ave., Tempe, AZ 85282 | 480-350-5100
This free museum is quite a gem. It explores the history of Tempe in four themed areas: Surviving the Desert, Building Our Community, College Town and Living Together. There’s also an area called Kids’ Place where children can play in a miniature Sun Devil Stadium, climb on a police motorcycle and hear music from bygone eras. There’s also an area with changing exhibits that relate to Tempe’s past.
Phoenix
Arizona Science Center
600 E. Washington St., Phoenix, AZ 85004 | 602-716-2000
The Arizona Science Center is a marvel with an IMAX theater, the Dorrance Planetarium, touring exhibits and permanent collections of scientific interactive displays. Learn how the human body works in the All About Me space, take a ride on the SkyCycle, explore the human brain at the W.O.N.D.E.R. Center, feel what it’s like in all types of weather conditions in the Immersion Theater. Your kids will learn so much and they’ll just think they’re having fun.
Children’s Museum of Phoenix
215 N. 7th St., Phoenix, AZ 85034 | 602-253-0501
This place is a paradise for kids. It’s large, so plan to spend the whole day here. Appropriately housed in a historic school house, your experience at this museum will start with the Schuff-Perini Climber, a place where kids can climb, slide and crawl through a tower built out of building materials and found objects (like a flying bathtub). There’s the Pit Stop where kids can race toy cars down three levels of tracks, Pedal Power where bikes and trikes can be driven through a pretend car wash, the art studio with a rotating variety of craft projects and the Noodle Forest, a place where kids can wander through hundreds of foam noodles suspended from the ceiling.
Desert Botanical Garden
1201 N. Galvin Parkway, Phoenix, AZ 85008 | 480-941-1225
Can a museum be outside? Yes, when it is a living museum like the Desert Botanical Garden. The Garden has more than 50,000 plants from arid climates around the world including Sonoran Desert gems like Saguaro cactus, cholla and mesquite trees. The Garden hosts numerous events throughout the year that kids love such as the summertime Flashlight Tours, Butterfly Walks, the Chilies and Chocolate Festival and the Great Pumpkin Festival.
Hall of Flame Fire Museum
6101 E. Van Buren St., Phoenix, AZ 85008 | 602-275-3473
Explore the history of firefighting through exhibits that include restored fire trucks, fire gear and more. The collection, which dates back as far as 1725, includes items from around the world. The museum is also home to the National Firefighting Hall of Heroes, a gallery dedicated to honoring firefighters who’ve made the ultimate sacrifice in the line of duty. The children’s play area and a real fire truck for hands-on learning are big hits with the little ones.
Musical Instrument Museum
4725 E. Mayo Blvd., Phoenix, AZ 85050 | 480-478-6000
The Musical Instrument Museum will allow you to explore cultures from around the world through music. Their collection includes a variety of musical instruments and performance videos from every country. Every single one. Guests get a headset that is programmed to play the music from each display. There’s also an “Experience Gallery” where kids (and their parents) can play instruments and an “Artist Gallery” where you can see instruments played by legends such as John Lennon, Elvis and Taylor Swift.
Mesa
i.d.e.a. Museum
150 W. Pepper Place, Mesa, AZ 85201 | 480-644-4332
The i.d.e.a. Museum in Downtown Mesa is a place where kids of all ages can use their imaginations by combining art, science and technology with hands-on fun. The HUB is a gallery with activities such as creating music and making artwork out of recycled materials. There are changing art exhibitions, with children’s curiosity in mind, in the Whiteman Family Exhibition Gallery. And, in Artville, toddlers can play with foam blocks, Legos, puppets and participate in story time.
Arizona Museum of Natural History
53 N. Macdonald, Mesa, AZ 85201 | 480-644-2230
Affectionately known locally as the “dinosaur museum,” the Arizona Museum of Natural History has the largest collection of dinosaur fossils in Arizona. On their Dinosaur Mountain exhibit, they even have a simulation of a flash flood, where water rushes down and the dinosaurs become animated. One of my daughter’s favorite activities is panning for gold in their outdoor courtyard and visiting the territorial jail cell. They have rotating gallery exhibitions that focus on Arizona history.
