St. George Children's Museum

Hands-on, imaginative play

The St. George Children's Museum fills roughly 10,000 square feet across two levels with themed, hands-on exhibits built around role-play. Children step into scaled versions of everyday places and jobs — a grocery store, a bank, an auto shop, a dairy farm, an airport, a theater — rather than reading about them.

Where the idea came from

The children's museum is a specific and fairly recent invention. The first anywhere opened in Brooklyn in 1899, on the then-radical premise that a museum for children should let them handle things instead of keeping them behind glass. Almost every convention in the building follows from that: exhibits at child height, objects built to be operated, and rooms organized by activity rather than by subject.

Role-play in particular is doing more than it appears to. Pretending to run a shop or fly an aircraft requires a child to hold a scenario in mind, take a role within it and negotiate it with other children — which is why museums of this kind are built around imitation of adult work rather than around toys.

The exhibits

The main floor is arranged along a Main Street-themed hallway lined with role-play rooms. The lower level holds discovery and creativity spaces, including prehistoric and desert-reserve exhibits alongside science, music, art, sports and castle rooms. There is an elevator and an accessible entrance.

Visiting

The museum is at 86 South Main Street in downtown St. George. Hours and admission vary by season, so confirm current details before visiting.

Related on the site: St. George with kids and indoor things to do.