November 13, 2008 | Read Time: 1 minute
Inside Memorial Hall – a 132-year-old building in Philadelphia’s Fairmount Park – children run freely through the 156,000 square feet of space that houses the Please Touch Museum.
On the first floor, young visitors are pilots, pedaling machines that simulate flight. In the River Adventures room, they float boats down a gigantic man-made stream or leap among lily pads. In the Centennial Exploration, children see parts of the city as it existed in the late 1800s.
The museum, which has operated since 1976, opened in the new space last month.
According to the Association of Children’s Museums, in Washington, the number of such museums has grown rapidly in recent years.
The association has about 340 members around the world, almost 20 percent of which are undertaking capital campaigns to build new facilities or expand.
An estimated 78 children’s museums are now in the planning stages, the association says.
The Please Touch Museum has raised $72.2-million toward the $88-million needed to cover its expansion and relocation to Memorial Hall. About $20-million of that has come from individuals and corporate donations, $14-million from foundation grants, and the rest from government sources and the sale of the group’s previous headquarters.
Nancy Kolb, the museum’s chief executive, says several naming opportunities, including one for $25,000 for a plaque next to one of the animals on the museum’s historic Dentzel carousel, have spurred individuals to give. She estimates that, as part of the museum’s fund raising, she gave more than 1,000 tours of the building over the past five years as it was restored.
Here, children play with wheels, tools, and vehicles in the Roadside Attractions exhibit.
