My family and I love visiting children’s museums during our travels, so we were excited to have a chance to visit the Bloomsburg Children’s Museum in Columbia County, PA.
The Bloomsburg Children’s Museum was founded in 1984 and has been in their current location on the southeastern side of town since 2002. It has more than 50 activities and learning spaces, making it a perfect spot to spend a few hours.
What I liked most about the Bloomsburg Children’s Museum is that it’s very different from many other children’s museums that I’ve visited. In some ways, it feels a bit dated and designed for slightly older kids than other similar museums because the displays here are a bit more complex and less polished.
Instead of just being basic play spaces, the spaces here are really set up for learning about a variety of topics including science, culture, history, and much more. I felt like the educational components came through really strongly here, and it felt (in a good way) much more like a museum that most children’s museums do.
That being said, the displays definitely had more of a homemade and possibly even slightly outdated look (even though they all worked and were high quality), so families interested in more modern and slick electronic activities might prefer other children’s museums.
The Bloomsburg Children’s Museum consists of two large rooms and one smaller one. This provided enough space to spread out, though, and we spent nearly two hours exploring the many spaces and activities here.
Scattered throughout the space, you’ll find a lot of large areas that function both as educational opportunities and as play areas including a replica coal mine, a one-room schoolhouse, and a general store. My kids really enjoyed playing in these spaces during our visit.
There are also a lot of more interactive areas including spaces on nutrition and health (complete with a giant set of teeth you can brush with a giant toothbrush), a space ship, a maker space, and themed coloring sheets spread throughout the museum.
I also found it really neat how much space was given to Native American history including a longhouse kids can play in, dioramas, signs, and much more.
For those wanting to learn about world cultures, there’s a really neat area about Egyptian history and culture. And, while there aren’t any historic artifacts here, there are some neat interactive elements and even a large replica mummy which really make this a fun space for kids to experience.
As I stated above, the Bloomsburg Children’s Museum is definitely different from all of the other children’s museums I’ve visited in my travels. While all have some educational signs, they seem like an afterthought in most, while here they seem an integral part of the space.
Because of that, it’s not quite as good of a play space for younger kids as some other children’s museums. However, older elementary kids that enjoy learning, especially about history and culture, will definitely love it here, and there are plenty of play areas to keep kids of all ages entertained during your visit.
So, while the Bloomsburg Children’s Museum might not be exactly what you imagine when you think of a children’s museum (check out the nearby Lewisburg Children’s Museum if that’s what you’re after), it’s still a fabulous spot and, depending on your kids’ ages and interests, may very well be much better than spaces of a similar name.
I know my family and I enjoyed our visit, and we’d love to visit again some day.
Looking for more places to visit in the area? Check out the covered bridges of Columbia County, the Montour Preserve Fossil Pit, and the Knoebels Amusement Park.
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