Greensboro Children's Museum - Greensboro, North Carolina - Interactive and Educational Play Center

Greensboro Children's Museum is an educational play center for children up to the age of ten. It is located in North Church Street in downtown Greensboro, North Carolina and has free parking facilities on site. The standard admission fee is $6 except for seniors, who are charged $5, and there is no admission fee for tots under 1 year old and teachers with their school id.

The museum facilitates hands-on, interactive learning in a fun way for children. It is a not for profit organization funded by admissions, memberships, programs and facility rentals in addition to voluntary contributions from foundations, businesses and individuals. There are over 20 permanent exhibits for the children to play and learn on in the museum, which can also be hired for school field trips or children's birthday parties.

The idea of the exhibits is to almost mirror the daily life of the kids' parents. "Our Town'' offers the children to act out make believe situations with their parents or carers in a main street simulating life out in the community. Here they can take pretend employment as a shop assistant, a dentist or a member of the emergency services.

The Market closely resembles a grocery store where kids can shop for real healthy food, which has been donated by a local market. Meanwhile there is the opportunity to help bake pizza at the Pizza Pan restaurant, and deliver the produce to houses and shops in the town. There is even a theater for the children to dress up in costume and play.

If the theater is not their thing, then the children could try out another form of entertainment in the Media Room. Here they can pretend to be a newscaster or weather presenter, whilst learning how a TV studio really works. Other kids may prefer the outdoor life, and the museum has a garden for them to learn how to grow vegetables and herbs.

Other professions reenacted in the museum include dentistry and medicine, with exhibits showing how the body works and a chance to clean a giant set of teeth. For the kids that enjoy the fast life they can also test a fire truck or police car in the Transportation Gallery. There are several other exhibits, which include more traditional play items such as sand pits, bubbles, climbing areas and building toys, although they all more or less have some relevance to the everyday life of the adults.

Since opening in May 1999 the museum has welcomed over 1 million visitors. It was the brainchild of Jerry Hyman after he had visited other children's museums in the United States. Now people are visiting from all over the United States and from other countries too.

The general consensus of opinion from people who have visited in the past is that it is a great attraction for the children. Everyone seemed to have a lot of fun including the parents. It has also been rated one of the top 50 children's museums in Child Magazine.