The Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh

With 80,000 square feet of space, the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh welcomes nearly 250,000 visitors annually.

The Outdoor Classroom continues to provide schools and families with a space to play, connect with nature, and learn about our relationship with plants. The space is full of native fruit and flower plantings, including plum trees, peach trees, apple trees, milkweed, butterfly weed and more. Each season produces more delicious fruit and flowers, and the raised beds are filled with culinary herbs and vegetables annually.

The Outdoor Classroom serves as a recess space for Pittsburgh Public School’s Head Start Pre-K as well as a weekly space for “Tot Hikes”, a public program where toddlers can dance, play music, build with blocks and read stories. The diverse play areas and tools and toys make for a great sensory experience for toddlers. This past year, two local Kindergarten classes planted, maintained, and harvested in two of the raised beds. They loved it!

The Outdoor Classroom at the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh is also used for elementary aged focus field trips related to gardening, bugs and insects, plant needs, composting and more. It allows for hands-on, science-based exploration in an outdoor setting. The food and culinary herbs that we grow in the garden beds are often used for public programs demonstrating nutrition, youth cooking classes, seed to table workshops, and are even used by our chef at the Museum Café!

The Outdoor Classroom is an essential outdoor space here at the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh, and we look forward to watching it grow and evolve!