200 W Island Ave, San Diego, CA 92101
Hours:
- Monday, Wednesday-Sunday (9 AM-4 PM)
- Tuesday (Closed)
Overview
The New Children’s Museum in downtown San Diego is an immersive, arts based experience that children and families will fall in love with. The interactive installations bring out children’s abilities to use their imaginations and creativity through interactive play. The most impressive part of this magnificent museum is that the exhibits are constantly changing and there is always something new for kids to experience each time they visit. An abundance of artists create different rotating exhibits that make this museum truly unique. Due to the constant change, the name “New Children’s Museum, couldn’t be more fitting. All activities within the museum are art related in some form and promote interactive based activities. Tree houses, climbing apparatuses, painting and drawing areas and sensory areas are just some of the things available for kids to do.
The museum consists of 2 floors with unimaginable experiences that children will not soon forget. The main floor of the museum also consists of a museum store and an excellent cafe with good food options. Street parking is available around the museum but can be hard to come by. A paid parking garage is available as well. Since the installations are constantly changing I won’t go into too much depth on particular exhibits right now, but I will describe below what exhibits were present when I visited and what I experienced. The museum also hosts book readings, toddler classes, special events, field trips and much much more.
Features
While some exhibits at The New Children’s Museum are permanent, many are temporary or rotating so when you visit things may have changed and some exhibits may no longer be around. Below, I will give a description of the exhibits that were present during our visit so that visitors can get a good idea of what to expect when they come to explore the museum.
Huge Play Town/Fort/Clubhouse
- A plethora of crawl spaces and climbing opportunities connect multiple rooms and hideouts. This is a truly phenomenal play space that kids will have a blast exploring. Hopefully it is still around when others visit because it is an exceptional exhibit.
“The Rain House”
- This cute clubhouse has a huge key hole that serves as the front door.
- Rain sounds emanate from inside the clubhouse. There are tables, benches and cushions on the inside for kids to relax and hang out, along with nice drawings and painting along the walls.
Colorful Net Climber
- This beautifully woven and colorful climber allows for kids to enter through small holes in the bottom and then squeeze through other small holes on the inside, before reaching a hangout space on the top of the climber.
Mini Obstacle Course
This small obstacle course is best suited for toddlers but is super cool. Kids can navigate through the short course while using a few small slides and utilizing the dress up area to switch outfits between turns running around the course.
Kitchen Exhibit
This is a fun and very artistic exhibit. A large sink with artsy water flowing from it and a large, creative array of fruits, vegetables and other foods adorn the exhibit.
“Cloud Clubhouse”, Massive Slide and Foam Building Block Area
A huge tunnel slide leads from the top of the stairs on the second floor to the bottom of the first floor. A Kidspace worker is stationed here and only kids over 5 are allowed on it. At the bottom of the slide is a tent play area and a large foam building block area. The back of this area was the highlight of the exhibit. An amazing cloud shaped playhouse is present for kids to climb into and then slide down the slide from the inside.
The inside of the cloud features an incredible clubhouse where kids will love to hang out among a padded play area, housed with bean bags and fantastic art.
Theater Exhibit
This was one of, if not our absolute favorite exhibit of the day. A main theater awaits as you enter the colorful space and are drawn in by an incredible mural along the theater.
Kids can walk behind the theater area to a clubhouse area with costumes to dress up and act out whatever they would like too on the stage. A small maze area leads back around to the front of the theater and a small room with a slide awaits along the way. There are light effects all throughout this exhibit and it’s pretty easy to lose track of your kids here, so it’s important to keep an eye on them. This is an exceptional exhibit and visitors should expect their kids to run around this area for quite some time.
Cafe and Gift Shop
A nice gift shop and a small cafe are located on the lower floor just after you enter the museum. There are a good amount of things to eat here, especially for younger kids. Scout elected to order a quesadilla in the shape of a rocket ship.
Scout’s Story and Visit to The New Children’s Museum
Our daughter, Scout, is now 2 and her cancer has officially been in remission for nearly two months. A lot of things proceeded Scout being placed into remission, such as surgery for her central line to be removed, scans, doctors visits and her end of treatment ceremony, which most of our family were able to come out and take part in. This would be our first chance to take a real trip and spend some time away from home with Scout since she had been declared cancer free. San Diego is only about two hours from where we live so we decided to take a short, three day trip.
After a fun packed few days, we decided to spend our last morning in San Diego by heading to the New Children’s Museum in San Diego. We arrived just as the museum opened and Scout was able to explore a bunch of the exhibits with little crowds. I was assuming that this Children’s Museum was gonna be pretty cool, but it utterly exceeded our expectations. We started on the 2nd floor and Scout loved the “Rain House” and the Fort play area. The obstacle course on the floor below as well as the “Cloud Clubhouse” were some of Scout’s favorite exhibits.
We had a truly amazing morning here and spent about two hours here altogether. However, spending the majority of the day exploring the museum is totally within question. As many of the exhibits rotate and change, you never know what you will stumble upon when visiting the New Children’s Museum but one thing that can be guaranteed is that your visit will be exciting and memorable.
July 19, 2023
Notes, Questions and Thoughts
Admission Prices:
- $18 (Ages 1-18)
- $20 (Ages 18 +)
- $15 (Seniors 65 +)
- $15 (Military with ID and Educators)
- $2 (Museums for All – EBT/SNAP/WIC)
- Free (Children Under 1 and Members)
Yearly Memberships:
- DUO = $115 (1 Adult and 1 Child)
- FAMILY = $175 (6 Named Individuals – 1 Must Be a Child)
- GRANDPARENTS = $150 (2 Grandparents and 4 Grand Children)
- SUPPORTER = $350 (6 Individuals Plus Donor Benefits)
- ENTHUSIAST = $500 (6 Individuals Plus Donor Benefits)
For more information on what each membership includes you may follow the link below.
The New Children’s Museum enlists different artists to create new exhibits in the constantly rotating museum. For a list of artists and exhibits that have been featured at the museum please visit the museum website at the link below.
Getting to The New Children’s Museum
Parking:
- As of summer of 2023 meter parking on the street is $1.25 per hour.
- Limited parking is available in the museum garage for $16 (non members) and $8 (members). Arriving early is the best bet for finding parking as the museum gets extremely busy as the day wears on.
