State Museum of Pennsylvania offers fun for families

When the weather is too hot or too cold to enjoy playing outside one of our favorite places to go is the State Museum of Pennsylvania in Harrisburg. A lot of us have been there on field trips when visiting the Capitol next door, but going with your kids is just as fun!

Located downstairs, right beside the admission desk is Curiosity Connection is always our first stops and one of our very favorite places to play. It's geared for kids ages 1-5 and their family and has decor & activity changes seasonally so it's always fun to guess what will be waiting for us when we arrive. Curiosity Connection is split up into a variety of fun learning centers, including a play bedroom & kitchen, forest area, bus, red truck, manufacturing line, garden, blocks & more!

The forest area is always a favorite with my kids. They love climbing through the tunnels from the bedroom/kitchen area and popping up beside a small indoor skating rink. The animal noises & decorations make it an especially fun spot to cozy up with a book, enjoy a snowball fight or find small creatures hidden throughout.

If your kids like building things, they'll love the blocks table! There are both wooden blocks as well as large plastic LEGO style blocks in the table, which easily can hold a handful of kids thanks to it's curvy design. The garden area features plastic veggies the kids will have a blast collecting & taking to the market in the red truck, as well as sheep & chicks to sit on. My kids love collecting the cabbage and carrots and "selling" them to us!

After we've played in Curiosity Connection for a while, we hop on the escalators, wave a quick 'hello' to William Penn and take a whirl around the third floor. We've walked all three floors multiple times, but my kids always beg for the third floor where you'll find fossils, dinosaurs & cool animal displays. 

The Nature Lab on the third floor hosts fun programs for kids on animals native to PA and Curiosity Connection hosts story times, so be sure to check here for full schedule of events!

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