i.d.e.a. Museum - Mesa, Arizona

Michelle Marquez

Great way to get away from the heat. I have a toddler and a baby. There so much to play with in the indoor play area for kids 4 and younger. Affordable and entertaining! FYI bring socks to be able to enter the playground area. If you forget, they have some for sale there

Estevao Avillez

I visited the i.d.e.a. Museum with my boys on a Sunday, and they had a blast. We've been there three times. The playground area is designed for younger kids, but the interactive exhibit was genuinely nice and fun. We built so much stuff and had a lot of fun. As a parent, be ready to interact with your kids; it's not a place to drop them and focus on your phone.

My biggest recommendation is to wait for them to change the exhibit and visit again. We went twice with the same exhibit, and the second time, my kids found it a bit boring.

Also, as a tired dad, it would be awesome if they had a place to sell coffee.

Trevor Hyatt

It was better than I expected seeing that it was a little smaller online. I liked the outside music making devices a lot. The inside is mostly mental activities. My daughter wanted to run and play on a playground, but it’s not really made for that. Lots of interesting crafts, artwork and educational interactive activities. The robot exhibit was really cool. My daughter just was too hyped to just look at stuff. The play area is designed for children 4 and younger. But my 5 year old went in there and enjoyed it. The play area is great for toddlers.

The first thing that bummed me was not accepting the employee exchange admission program. We went to the Phoenix Children’s museum the day before and it kind of pales in comparison. Still a cool place to get the children’s brains going.

Kali Malone

Very hands on experience museum nice split area based on aged and cool curated space / gallery for focused visit.
Go early, summer groups make this small creative space too hectic to try and contain your little people or group.
Really great space for art, animation, building, problem solving .
If you home study and need a place to demonstrate or relate lessons consider this a resource

Gregory Butler

My kids (6, 4, & 2) had a blast here! We spent almost three hours playing and exploring. We were in the little kids area to begin with for quite sometime. All three ages had fun the both sides of the museum though. We got there about 1pm on a Wednesday and there were not very many people there so parking was easy and we could enjoy all the activities. My kids love making crafts and there was no lack of crafting materials. Everything was done professionally and with kid safety in mind.
Pricing was a little high if you’re just going once. We are from out of town so a membership didn’t make sense for us, however, if we lived in the area we certainly would have bought one because membership is worth the price of being able to go back repeatedly. I know we would go back many times if we lived there.
There is a dining room that has a couple of vending machines but they do not have a cafe so you’ll want to bring something to eat if you’re going to be there for awhile.

Brea Smith

This is a fantastic place for my 2 and 3 year old children! They are so happy to be able to visit the IDEA museum multiple times a month. So much for them to explore, experience, and learn. We spend at least 2-3 hours and bring lunch. I highly recommend to all of my friends who have toddlers to get a membership!!!

Tricia Hefner

CHECK IT OUT! This museum is on the small side but my kids were still not ready to leave after 3 hours! It's full of active play opportunities, so don't expect to be passively entertained by videos or shows. One side of the building has craft stations (make a paper doll or a cardboard house), giant versions of games like Scrabble and Connect Four, and hands-on activities like building marble mazes (which my 11 year old loved), gears, and wooden book castle building. The craft supplies were well-stocked and staff made the rounds picking up regularly. This side also has clean restrooms and a small cafe area with vending machines. The middle has a small store, then the other side has a large play area that is socks only (so make sure to take some or buy some at their store for $1-$2 a pair) with a soft block building area, pretend store and restaurant, a small stage to put on a performance, a room for painting, a giant light-brite, and a small toddlers-only play area. This area is designed for kids 4 and under, but older kids are allowed. My 7 year old had a lot of fun playing along side the younger kids. Based on other reviews, I expected parking to be a pain, but there's a large free public lot across the street and street parking on the entire block. The staff was excellent! Shout out to Veronica at the front desk for taking the time to explain their reciprocity program (we are members of another science center out of state which earned us 50% off their $9 a person admission) and how becoming a member would save us money at other local museums. We will be back!

Kristin

My kids absolutely loved it here! We spent atleast 2 hours here just in the younger kid side. I have a 1 and 2 year old and there was plenty of stuff to keep them occupied. I recommend taking your kiddos here 🙂