Hands-On House
2721 Landis Valley Road
Lancaster, PA 17601
(717) 569-5437 (KIDS)
www.handsonhouse.org

I've said it before and I'll say it again: kids get the best museums. It's unfair. Once I went to a museum and touched some crusty old thing. Alarms went off, lights flashed, and I got into big trouble.

The Children's Museum of Lancaster, also known as Hands-On House, has lots of neat things that kids can touch. In fact that's the whole point! Featuring interactive exhibits for children ages 2 to 10, this great museum encourages kids to learn by playing. And they'll learn things they can really use in the future.

For instance they can go shopping in the Grocery Corner, weighing potatoes, building healthy meals, and going through the checkout. Or work on an assembly line or in the mail room at the Watcha-Ma-Giggle Company. How about designing their own town in Under Construction? Or exploring art with light in Switch on Art?

All of these activities and others are geared toward teaching children about things they will need to know as they grow up. They are things that they see adults do and that they want to do, too. It's a great concept.

The Museum visit is entirely Self-Guided, meaning that you and your children can spend as much time as you want doing whatever strikes your fancy. But that's not all.

The Hands-On House presents a hefty calendar of events, classes, and field trips that individual children and their families are sure to enjoy. Look in the Museum's Newsletter for "The Seldom Scene," a column introducing local field trips to places like fire houses and radio stations. Classes cover a wide range of topics: art, music, tooth care, Mother Goose, snow, groundhogs, icebergs, foreign lands, and a host of other topics. Each class features interesting activities that get kids involved with their subjects. Naturally, this is the place to have a birthday party!

School Groups and others are welcome, also, to enjoy the same great exhibits and activities. One chaperone for every four children is required and the Museum can accommodate up to 100 children per group. Minimum group size is 15. Outreach Programs bring the exhibits to any school or organization through south-central Pennsylvania. The hour-long programs focus on science, dinosaur fossils, the senses, or trees, and each program is geared to the age of the class (up to 10 years old). Call for more details.