Courtesy of Children's Museum of Pittsburgh.

Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh
June 26
10 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Now that school’s out for the summer (cue Alice Cooper song) and there are more daylight hours for all sorts of adventures, one of the best places for families to play, make and discover is at Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh.

Photo by Larry Rippel.
Photo by Larry Rippel.

This Sunday, June 26, kids of all ages are invited to a special “Kick Off to Summer Free Day” at the award-winning Northside museum. Running from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., the day is packed with seven hours of free fun taking place throughout the museum and outside in adjacent Buhl Community Park.

Kids will love exploring the art and science of bubbles with a variety of summertime activities. In the innovative MAKESHOP, kids can deconstruct real bubble machines, and in the Art Studio they’ll get inspired by a transparent bubble installation while making their own clear drawings. Outdoors in Buhl Community Park, children can create giant paper mache bubbles as they explore how colors relate to emotions.

Photo by Renee Rosensteel.
Photo by Renee Rosensteel.

While outdoors, kids can also run through a field of beach balls and giant bubbles, draw and spray original chalk art designs on the museum’s sidewalk and participate in human-powered activities led by Zero Fossil.

Need to cool down? Step into the Cloud Arbor, a permanent, public art installation created by artist Ned Kahn that provides a refreshing foggy mist of water that visitors can actually walk through.

Sponsored by the Jack Buncher Foundation, the free day will also feature live multimedia events, including dazzling acts of magic, mishap and manipulation performed by O’Ryan the O’Mazing, and a groovy Kid City Rockers Dance Party led by DJ Kelly Mom.

While there, don’t miss the world premiere of Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood A Grr-ific Exhibit, which is based on the award-winning PBS KIDS television series. Kids can join Daniel Tiger, O the Owl, Katerina Kittycat, Prince Wednesday and Miss Eliana to explore the Neighborhood of Make-Believe, hop onto the Imagination Stage to transform into their favorite neighbors, step in front of the Imagination Mirror to see themselves shine and sparkle, test drive a police car, rocket ship or friendly trolley, and much more.

Looking for more events? Read our NEXTravaganza! 20 can’t-miss Pittsburgh events & concerts in June and our Top 10 things for families to do in June in Pittsburgh features.

Jennifer has worked at the Mattress Factory, Brooklyn Museum of Art and Dahesh Museum of Art and is co-author of Pittsburgh Signs Project: 250 Signs of Western Pennsylvania. She also is co-coordinator of Handmade Arcade. Musically, she is in a band called The Garment District and is a founding member of Brooklyn's The Ladybug Transistor.