The Arizona Museum for Youth encourages hand-on activities to encourage children into appreciating art

The Arizona Museum for Youth is an art activity center and museum for the whole family. Adults are more than welcome to participate in activities at the center, with special programs created where they are able to create art with their children or grandchildren; they are able to participate in classes and workshops, volunteer in the galleries, shop or other departments. Kids and Teens are also able to participate in Artzone hands-on activities, exhibitions and volunteer.

Artville is an aesthetic, engaging environment that is designed for children under the age of five. This area will keep young children busy in a town that was built to bring awareness to color, line, shape and texture. Artville is full of oversized crayons, paintbrushes and glitter glue in every corner; this emphasizes the philosophy of artistic exploration. Visitors will need to abide by some guidelines when they enter Artville, as there is a limited space, strollers are not permitted, they are allowing in the rest of the museum though. A socks-only area - Tot Square, is designed for children under two, socks or shoes area required for the rest of the museum. Snacks are only to be consumed in the lobby, infant care area or in the specialty family zone.

Areas within Artville are the Art's Living Room, which is a theme-based reading area designed to encourage children to read and provides a quiet comfortable space to relax. Art's Kitchen is a full - child sized - kitchen with modern appliances allowing children the opportunity to cook, eat, clean and recycle. This encourages language development, environmental awareness and social interaction. Art's Garden is where children are able to harvest Velcro fruits from a felt tree, plant carrots or harvest corn, this allows children to play cooperatively, sort fruit and vegetables and develop language skills.

In Art's Studio a new and stimulating art activity is held each day to encourage expression and develop a sense of self along with developing fine motor skills and become exposed to new and interesting art materials. Art's Gallery is where children and their parents will experience a fine arts museum, hands-on and hands-off activities are provided to teach children how to behave in a museum.

A Performing Arts Center theme-based room allows children to role-play in a creative art environment. This can be done through playing instruments, developing rhythm and coordination through music, dressing up in costume and acting out stories in the puppet theater. The theme in this area changes regularly.

For children aged over five they are able to visit ArtZone, this is an area that allows children to explore the fundamental of art, the activities are open-ended including drawing, reading and building.

Many different exhibitions are presented at the Arizona Museum for Youth throughout the year. These include exhibits that are visually stimulating that relate to themes to engage visitors and to provide art in many different media's and will be educational and interactive.