I.D.E.A. Museum
The I.D.E.A. (Imagination, Design, Experience, Art) Museum was known as the Arizona Museum for Youth, but “rebranded” last year with this name. They redesigned and came up with a beautiful format. I wasn’t in the area before it rebranded, but I think they did a great job making it visually appealing to all ages. Check out this article from the East Valley Tribune on their transformation.
We parked behind the museum in the parking lot off of Pepper Place .
As we walked in, there were a lot of musical xylophones and drums for the kids (and adults) to play on. Yes, Munchie is wearing his fireman hat from Surprise Safety Day .
Luckily there was more than one mallet per station so giggles could get in on the musical action too.
These were huge pipes that had a very heavy mallet, but Giggles handled it well!
And this fun was all BEFORE we got inside!
So when you enter the I.D.E.A. museum, you can either go left or right. The right side of the museum is completely for children four and under, so that was perfect for all of us (and of course parents too).
We visited “Artville” (the section for children four and under) and the kids had a blast. It was a bit busy there because it was the First Free Sunday, but the kids were able to get to see and experience everything. I did carry Dimples in his Bjorn carrier as strollers are discouraged from this area.
This was a huge, soft building block area for the little kids to build whatever they could imagine. Giggles and Daddy spent most of their time here.
Munchie had a blast playing inside the train. There is a television screen that makes it feel like you are going down a track, with a button to “stop” the train from moving. Unfortunately Giggles did not like the dark so much.
This area of artville was the best for Munchie. It had the huge wall sized light bright (that he is front of) and a lego area along with other hands on items.
There was also a puppet theater and a place to dress up, as well as a little house that you can play house in.
This was the nice “fenced in” area for pre walkers. Unfortunately Dimples didn’t get to try it out since I was chasing Munchie.
There is also three bathrooms behind the Puppet area, as well as a “nursing/family room”. Two of the bathrooms are more kid sized and one is more for the adults and the baby changing.
Then we headed to the “left wing” of the museum, called the “hub”. This area was more for the older kids, but Munchie and Giggles did a little exploring as well.
This was the “Robot” exhibit where the kids could either draw robots or put velcroed pieces onto the robots. Munchie and Giggles had fun “dressing” the robots.
We Walked around a bit and Munchie found the “campout room”. It’s a dark room lit with black lights. Because I didn’t want to ruin the experience for the other museum goers with my flash, this is the only picture I took. You will have to go and experience it for yourself!
On this side of the “hub” there was also another set of restrooms (across from the campout room) and the “snackery” which is an area that you can eat your own brought in food or buy food from the vending machines. They also had huge bean bag chairs to sit on (or throw around!).
The Hub area had a lot of craft type activities for older kids. Well, I’m sure my kids could have done it but there was glue-and glue sometimes just doesn’t go well for anyone, so we skipped that part. But it looked like a lot of older kids were having a blast creating all sorts of things.
We had a really fun time at the museum and hope to go back again soon.
The Basics
150 W. Pepper Place
Mesa, AZ 85201
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[…] I.D.E.A. Museum-Located in Mesa, the I.D.E.A. Museum features a large play area for the five and under crowd. The Museum is open to those under 8 (the other side has a lot of craft areas), but this big play area is for the five and under crowd only. A little bit of a drive from Surprise, but there are huge blocks to play with, a big “Lite Brite” board, gears, dramatic play areas and dress up. […]
[…] Speaking of Museums, The I.D.E.A. Museum in Mesa is also a great place to go, and they offer free first Sunday’s (12pm-5pm) on the First Sunday of each month. The I.D.E.A. Museum has a great area for 5 and under, and also has craft activities for the whole family to enjoy. Discounts can often be found on Living Social and Groupon as well. You can see our review here! […]
Can you please update this we went yesterday expecting for it to free from reading on your site and they said that they no longer do the free first Sunday due to no longer being sponsored by target.
Thank god for the nice cashier she was very considerate that we drove from Buckeye AZ so they let us in free for the last 2 hours.
Thanks for letting us know, Jazzy. That must have just happened recently and sorry for the inconvenience. Glad you got to enjoy the museum anyhow.
[…] kids loved trying out the different music, and it reminded me of the IDEA Museum in Mesa. Unfortunately, we were a bit disappointed that a mallet and one of the drums was already […]
[…] are lucky enough to have a wide variety of museums around the valley. The I.D.E.A. Museum in Mesa, Halle Heart Museum in Tempe the Children’s Museum of Phoenix or the Arizona Science […]
[…] Speaking of Museums, The I.D.E.A. Museum in Mesa is a great place to go on the east Side. (Note, no longer do first Sunday’s as Target is no longer sponsoring the program at the I.D.E.A. Museum). The I.D.E.A. Museum has a great area for 5 and under, and also has craft activities for the whole family to enjoy. Discounts can often be found on Living Social and Groupon as well. You can see our review here! […]
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[…] We really enjoyed visiting Bass Pro Shops as well, (especially my husband!) and walked around for a bit and looked at the other fish and the “stuffed” animals. If you like Cabela’s, you should definitely check out Bass Pro Shops with the kids! And while you are in Mesa, also check out the I.D.E.A. Museum! […]
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[…] Speaking of Museums, The I.D.E.A. Museum in Mesa is a great place to go on the east Side. . The I.D.E.A. Museum has a great area for 5 and under, and also has craft activities for the whole family to enjoy. Discounts can often be found on Living Social and Groupon as well. You can see our review here! […]
[…] I.D.E.A. Museum Mesa– Artville is a fantastic area full of places and spaces for wee ones to explore. A gated area for little ones allows them to build, play with a huge “lite bright” and create. […]