EXHIBITS
What will you find when you step inside the Modesto Children’s Museum? Here, you’ll discover a place where children become the hero of their own stories; where you can climb, splash, build, create, grow, and imagine together in ten colorful exhibit areas…
FIRST FLOOR
SECOND FLOOR
COLOR STORY TRAIN
“All aboard” on this sleek, sensory, high-speed transit car powered by imagination. Set course by choosing a color on a bubble-powered engine, then follow the matching story-line through the train to read visual stories as they overlap and connect; take to the controls to mix colors on collaborative color wheels and paint with light on a digital board; play with reflection in a “merge mirror”, and leave your mark on a touch-based, tactile wall!
CHANGING COLOR
Our "Changing Color” exhibit is a carousel of color, where a new hue will occasionally take center stage in a rotating collection of experiences! This year, immerse yourself in a vibrant landscape of yellow, becoming a bee as you buzz through an almond orchard labyrinth collecting pollen, then hum back to the hive to rest in a cozy comb and process nectar in a workshop of ramps, tubes, and gears!
TALL TALES STAGE
Become the star of the story on the Tall Tales Stage, a central performance space right in the center of the museum’s two-story Atrium! You can set the stage with a projected backdrop, suit up with a collection of costumes and props, or participate in cooperative projects – part of a rotation of interactive experiences focused on performing arts!
ADVENTURE CLIMBER
Embrace your inner hero and take to new heights in the museum’s iconic two-story climber! With two different paths to explore – each with its own unique obstacles to climb, crawl, and swing through – this swirling vortex of color is a living laboratory to grow independence, with an unforgettable reward at the top: a multi-story slide back to the museum’s Atrium!
LIGHT LAB
Tucked away behind the Tall Tales Stage, the Light Lab is a prismatic playground where you can explore the properties of light, color, and shadow. In this darkened space, reflective walls create the illusion of an infinity mirror while you control a digital kaleidoscope fill the ground; a wall of prisms refracts white light into a stunning spectrum; and translucent magnetic tiles can stretch up the walls, creating a colorful mosaic!
WATER LAB
Get set to get wet (or grab a poncho) in the Water Lab – a hands-on liquid laboratory. Here, you can follow water’s journey from the mountains to our valley and onward to the ocean; experiment with flow, manipulating water wheels, tipping buckets, dams and valves; play with Tule fog as it clings to the water’s surface; feel the force of water firsthand in a swirling vortex; and experience water’s unbelievable properties up close!
Little Rainbows
A special area set aside just for the littlest learners – from newborns through 3-year olds – Little Rainbows is a gated garden of touch, sound, and sight experiences developed just for growing minds. Toddle across a soft-touch rainbow crawler, mix colors on a glowing light table, snuggle up inside a sensory cloud, and let in a new world of experiences!
VALLEY PROUD
Live out our region’s agricultural story in Valley Proud – an imaginative, just-right-sized grocery store stocked with products produced in the Central Valley! Become a grocer as you sort and group to stock shelves; fill a cart by following a shopping list; or share your family’s culinary traditions and food stories in a perfectly-sized play café – it’s all yours to explore!
AIR LAB
Experiment with the invisible force that shapes our landscape – air! In this ode to the Altamont Pass, you can send propellers spinning, balls rolling, and scarves soaring. Experiment with flight in a wind column; navigate a wall of intertwined tubes to follow air’s flow, and balance balls on columns of air as you race through obstacle courses of your own design!
MSR Maker Lab
It’s all about the process. That’s the mindset we use in the MSR Maker Lab, where all are invited to experiment with new tools and processes, and where we aim for practice over perfection. A flexible workshop-style space, the MSR Maker Lab rotates through programmatic activities ranging from robotics to art; engineering to ecology. Just bring your growth mindset and your spirit of discovery and innovation!