Children in Stanislaus County have a new place to explore, play, learn and stretch their imagination with the opening of the Modesto Children’s Museum just minutes from Ceres.
The Modesto Children’s Museum is a project that was years in the making and finally saw all the effort come to fruition with the grand opening in September.
The museum, colloquially referred to as MoChiMu, has the motto of “Be Curious, Be Creative, Be You” and it certainly has plenty of interactive attractions and exhibits to open up a child’s curiosity and creativity.
The Color Story Train greets visitors on the first floor. Powered by imagination, children select a color on a bubble-powered engine, follow the matching story-line through the train to read visual stories as they overlap and connect. They can also mix colors on collaborative color wheels and paint with light on a digital board, play with reflection in a merge mirror and leave their imprint on a touch-based, tactile wall.
The first floor is also the base of the Adventure Climber, a two-story tower of attractions for children to climb on, swing over, crawl through and slide down.
The Light Lab on the first floor is a prismatic playground where children can explore the properties of light, color, and shadow. In this darkened space, reflective walls create the illusion of an infinity mirror. There is a digital kaleidoscope that fills the ground and a wall of prisms refracts white light into a stunning spectrum.
MoChiMu’s first floor also has a Tall Tales Stage for some pretend time; a Changing Color exhibit; and the Water Lab, a hands-on liquid laboratory that follows water’s journey from the mountains to our valley and onward to the ocean.
MoChiMu’s second floor is where to find the Air Lab, where children get to experiment with the invisible force by sending propellers spinning, balls rolling, and scarves soaring. Experiment with flight in a wind column; navigate a wall of intertwined tubes to follow air’s flow, and balance balls on columns of air as you race through obstacle courses of their own design.
Upstairs is the Valley Proud, a mock grocery store that delights a child’s imagination. Children can sort and group to stock shelves; fill a cart by following a shopping list; or share their family’s culinary traditions and food stories in a perfectly-sized play café.
The second floor also features the Little Rainbows play area for those 3 years and younger and the MSR Maker Lab, where children can experiment with new tools and processes ranging from robotics to art; engineering to ecology.
MoChiMu, at 928 11th Street in downtown Modesto, is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily, except Tuesdays when it is open from 1 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tickets are $15 for every age except those 11 months and younger, which have free admission.
For more information or for tickets, visit https://www.modestochildrensmuseum.org.
