Interactive Museums for Kids
Looking for a fun and educational experience for your kids? Virginia has some of the best interactive experiences for children to learn in a fun and hands-on environment. From discovery museums, to science and nature centers, and even historic sites preserved to showcase Virginia's rich history — all the museums listed below have exciting programs to keep your kids entertained while actively learning.
Discover many of Virginia's interactive museums for kids below or skip to a category that interests you:
Discovery Museums
Children's Museum of Virginia — Portsmouth
The Children's Museum of Virginia is the largest children's museum in the state with interactive exhibits for ages 1-11. Popular hands-on exhibits include the Portsmouth port, bubbles station, musical instruments, farm to foodmart, and the antique toy and model train collection – one of the largest on the East Coast!
Children's Museum of Richmond — Richmond
The Children's Museum of Richmond is for ages 2-8 and was voted 11th Best Children's Museum in America by Child magazine! Kids can explore interactive exhibits including a living tree house, garden, cave, and can climb to an eagle's nest, tinker in an inventor's lab or art studio, and so much more. The museum also has satellite locations in Short Pump, Chesterfield, and Fredericksburg.
Amazement Square — Lynchburg
Amazement Square is a hands-on children’s museum offering four floors of interactive exhibits designed to make learning fun. Guests of all ages can paint on the walls, explore life on the farm, create a rainstorm, float a boat down the James River, and even rock out on stage in a band of your own!
Shenandoah Valley Discovery Museum — Winchester
The Shenandoah Valley Discovery Museum, located in Winchester, offers hands on experiences for exploring natural history, paleontology, simple math, and the arts. Pay a visit to the Artist in Residence, experience Native American culture in at The Moccasin Trail, pretend to be a medical professional in the Health Works Hospital, and learn the laws of motion while racing balls down ramps and through loops in Roller Coaster Alley.
Science & Nature Museums
Science Museum of Virginia — RichmondScience Museum of Western Virginia — Roanoke
The Science Museum of Western Virginia offers active learning and play for adults and children in Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains. Explore the wonders of science through the healthy bodies and Earth galleries, living river exhibit, touch tank, the makers lab, and the bubble – a multisensory space for preschoolers. Learning about pollinators in the hidden garden is also a favorite exhibit for families.
Virginia Museum of Natural History — Martinsville
At the Virginia Museum of Natural History, exhibits connect visitors to the stories of Virginia’s natural past, present, and future. Meet the Triceratops, learn about the Ice Age, fossils, biodiversity, and more. Check the museum calendar for upcoming events and educational programs.
More to LOVE
History Museums
Colonial Williamsburg — WilliamsburgGeorge Washington’s Estate & Gardens — Mount Vernon
Take the grand tour of Mount Vernon, George Washington's Estate and Gardens by way of the Kids' Adventure Map, a sleuth's tool to solve nine puzzles. Younger grade schoolers (up to age 8) will enjoy Hands-on History, a room dedicated to creative play with 18th century clothing and more. Older kids will enjoy the Be Washington permanent experience, where participants choose their own leadership decisions that George Washington was faced with as commander in chief or president.
Frontier Culture Museum — Staunton
The Frontier Culture Museum in Staunton is a living history museum and immersive experience for children and adults to see how diverse cultures blended together in the New World. Interpreters work in original and reconstructed buildings alongside rare and minor breed animals. Walk through gardens, help harvest period crops, watch a blacksmith at work, and see so much more during your visit.