Des Moines Children's Museum

The Des Moines Children’s Museum will provide a fun, safe, and educational environment for young children and their families to explore the arts, nature, and the world around them. We will provide hands-on exhibitions and programs to encourage a love of learning, and be a positive resource for parents, children, and the surrounding community. We received our nonprofit 501 (C)(3) status April 2017.

We started as a "museum without walls" bringing traveling exhibits to family friendly community events starting May 2017. We opened a temporary location at Valley West Mall November 2017 with the traveling exhibits and new exhibits. We quickly outgrew our first temporary location and moved to a much larger spot in the mall on the lower level in 2019. While 2020 was hard on many, we took advantage of the pandemic, keeping our doors closed for much of the year, and spent our time building new exhibits. We are once again in a large growth. We now offer daily programming that includes sensory play, STEAM, crafts, and story times. In 2023, we introduced two free to the community programs, Museum Babies and Sensory Friendly Play Dates. As well as programming, we also offer special events throughout the year that take place outside of our open hours.