Thursday-Tuesday: 9:00am-5:00pm
Wednesday: CLOSED
Special Member Hours: 8am-9am (Th-T)
Alternative Hours: CMEC often has alternative schedules around holidays and school break. Follow-us on Facebook to be notified of special hours and weather closures
126 N. Barstow St., Eau Claire, WI 54703
Email:
Hello@ChildrensMuseumEC.com
Phone:
(715) 832-5437
Social:
Facebook
Instagram
While at the Children’s Museum of Eau Claire or museum-sponsored events, visitors may be photographed by museum photographers for business purposes only. These images may be used to publicize the museum in print, online, and display materials, and may also be distributed to the media. If you do not want your photograph to be used by the museum, please speak to our guest services staff.
Give us a call at 715-832-5437 or send an e-mail to Hello@ChildrensMuseumEC.com
Come and experience the many wonders of the Children's Museum of Eau Claire and experience a magical place for children.
If you want to eat lunch during your visit, you are welcome to bring in a cooler and use our Family Lunch Space located in our front lobby. However, we do NOT permit peanut butter or other nut products out of consideration for our guests with severe allergies.
While we certainly understand the need for snacks, we kindly ask that you do NOT bring food onto the exhibit floor. This helps keep the Children's Museum in great shape for future visitors.
You are allowed to bring coffee/water bottles into the museum, but please drink carefully!
The rule at the Children's Museum has always been that every kid must have a grown-up (16+), and every grown-up must have a kid! Although our staff does an amazing job of maintaining a safe, fun environment, we are not a childcare facility and are not staffed adequately to supervise your child while they play in the Museum.
We Get The Appeal, Though
We LOVE places like the YMCA that allow for kid drop-off. We know it helps mom and dad out! However, CMEC serves as a unique community location where kids and their grown-ups can play, grow and learn together. Parent-child connectedness is one of the greatest contributors to a happy, healthy kiddo.
But only if they're paired with shoes! For the safety of our guests, we ask that all visitors keep their shoes ON while playing in the Museum.
We do have light snacks available for $1 each at our front desk. However, We do not currently sell beverages, so please plan ahead. If you'd prefer to pack a lunch, you're welcome to use our Family Lunch Space in the lobby. (no peanut butter or nut products, please).
Local Options
Your Daily Admission Pass is good all day. If you need to leave for lunch or a nap, just hang onto your receipt and come back later in the afternoon!
Although we don't have our own eatery, downtown Eau Claire is home to some great restaurants within a few minutes walk. We'd love for you to check out some of our neighbors! Grab pizza at The Plus, enjoy sushi at Ninja, visit the Menomonie Food Market for a sammy, or bite into a hoagie at the Acoustic Cafe.
Through the Play-for-All Program, we offer a discounted membership for families in financial need, families of kids with special needs, as well as military families.
In partnership with the Pablo Center
The Children’s Museum of Eau Claire currently offers a discounted membership program (Play for All) that allows families in need to purchase a membership for $30 annually. With an All Play Membership, families have access to all of the features of The Local Membership.
The Play-For All program aims to ensure families on WIC or the Free and Reduced Lunch program enjoy expanded access to educational and arts related programming and events. This includes:
For more information or to apply for this membership, stop by the Front Desk or talk to a real person at 715.832.KIDS.
We're all about screen-free play, for kiddos and grown-ups! If you can, try to put your phone away and enjoy some unplugged play with your kids.
Try Making A New Friend
Pretend it's 1999 and talk to some of the other grown-ups! Trust us, they will feel anxious just like you. From experience we can tell you that there is no better place to make a new friend than the play area.
A Daily Admission Pass is $11.00 per person, ages 1-100.
Infants under 1 are admitted free!
It depends!
If your specific membership card has a ASTC (Association of Science and Technologies Centers) you will receive free admission. If your card has an ACM (Association of Children’s Museum) logo on it, you receive a 50% discount. If it does not have either, you will need to pay the daily admission rate.
There's no end to what a child can learn at the Children's Museum. Our exhibits cover topics ranging from nanoscience and nature to building and business ownership. That said, the most important type of learning that happens here very often looks like play!
According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, unstructured, child-driven play and exploration is crucial to healthy development. Playing helps children learn to solve their own problems, handle emotions like anger and fear, socialize with others, grow a love for learning and develop executive function; the very important ability to work independently at setting goals and figuring out how to reach them. However, because play disguises all of this development as "fun," kids don't even realize they're learning stuff!
Unfortunately, kids today spend 8 hours less each week playing than their counterparts did two decades ago. Not only does this loss of imaginative play mean kids are less creative and independent, but it also puts them at greater risk for anxiety, depression, self-control and problems paying attention. In other words, although it may look like kids are "just playing," under the surface they're hard at work...er...play, becoming happy, healthy adults. Or as we like to say, play is very serious business!
Adults often ask us why they are charged admission, especially when the kids are doing most of the playing. We have a few helpful answers for that:
More and more parents are choosing CMEC for their children's birthday parties or special events. Here are some common things we are asked...
We encourage you to bring in your own snacks, cakes, drinks, plates, cups, utensils, etc. Non-alcoholic beverages only.
The Museum can provide tables and chairs.
There is a designated space to eat in the front area as we do not allow food on the exhibit floor.
Please email Hello@ChildrensMuseumEC.com for information and booking availability.
Want to talk to a person? Give us a call at (715)832-5437 during business hours.
Members: $250
Non-Members: $300
Business/Corporate Rentals: $500
*$100 for an additional hour
In downtown Eau Claire, there are plenty of free or inexpensive parking lots and ramps available to you. Here are our top recommendations:
If you're planning to visit for less than 2 hours, there is FREE, 2-hour parking available on surrounding downtown streets. Please note that the 2-hour parking rule is in effect from 6am to 6pm, 7 days a week. If you are parked in one of these spots longer than 2 hours, there is a good chance you will be ticketed, so remember to move your car if you extend your visit.
If you're planning to visit for more than 2 hours, you can park in the downtown municipal parking ramp near our location, on Galloway Street. Download the Passport Parking App which allows parkers in ramps and paid surface lots to pay for parking via the app for an easier, quicker parking experience. Parking ramp users can also pay via coin or card at kiosks located inside both parking ramps.
With four membership plans, we try to cover all the bases while being easily understandable. Still, these questions have been asked before...
Is there a child or family in your life that you have trouble buying gifts for? Not sure what they’d actually like? Drowning in toy aisles of Elsa dolls and light sabers? Why not give them the gift of unlimited play!
A Membership to the Children's Museum of Eau Claire equals 365 days of play, imagination, discovery, science, art, literacy, family connection, time together and learning about the world around them, all disguised as a whole lot of fun. It’s the gift they can open all year long!
Call us at (715) 832-5437 or send us an email at Hello@ChildrensMuseumEC.com to purchase a gift card.
This membership is for those who are considered low to moderate income, those who are on the WIC, Food Share program, or free/reduced school lunch.
Every kid deserves the right to play!
When finances are tight the Play-for-All program works hard to provide CMEC's educational programs, exhibits and events in ways that are accessible for everyone.
In partnership with the Pablo Center, you are also able to gain access to discounted prices to Pablo Access shows!
Do you come to the museum more than 3 times a year? A family of five would pay for their membership in only 3 visits with our Family Local Membership.
The Children's Museum of Eau Claire exists as an interactive environment for children and their grown-ups that inspires imagination, discovery, creativity and the love of learning. One of the ways that CMEC best accomplishes this mission is through annual memberships.
Although there is tremendous value in even just one visit to the Museum, the most significant and lasting impact happens over time, through multiple and consistent visits—in other words, through membership.
The First Time Parent Membership is only for those who have had their very first child ever. You can take advantage of this membership any time up until your newborn is 18 months of age and the membership will be good for one year after you hand in your application.
What is the benefit of bringing your child to the museum at such an early age?
Besides the fact that your kiddo's brain is like a sponge during these early times, and they are learning just by being there, this membership is for you, the parent, too! Come and socialize with other parents at our First Time Parent groups, or simply just to get out of the house for a little bit!
Send us an email at Hello@ChildrensMuseumEC.comto have the application sent to you.
Each membership has different perks!
Whether you stay local and pretty much only visit our children's museum, or travel the world and want to visit as many different children's museums as you can, click on the links in the "Memberships" tab to explore what each membership offers.
Giving to ECMC is a proven way to positively impact our local community's next generation. Here are some things to know...
We have different levels of giving! Simply click on the "Give" tab to learn more and to choose which gift would be right for you.
If you’d like to learn more about how you can get involved and make an impact, please email Hello@ChildrensMuseumEC.com.
All gifts are tax deductible as permitted by law.
To make a contribution, please click here or give us a call! at (715)832-5437.
There are many different ways to give to the museum that don't involve money.
We spark imaginations with our exhibits where children can climb, explore, and play, and we inspire creativity by offering a dedicated art space where one-of-a-kind masterpieces are created. We foster learning through play, by presenting hands-on exhibits and programs for children to learn to explore the world, practice cooperation, and gain confidence as learners.
For kids, the Children’s Museum of Eau Claire is their neighborhood. Kids connect through play. They build bridges across communities. Here, the neighborhood gets bigger and more inclusive. You are an important part of this neighborhood, too! Your gift ensures that the museum continues to be an accessible and affordable place for all children to connect, dream, and grow.
We serve over 3,500 families a year, with almost a 1/3 of those families coming from low to moderate income.
Your gift supports all of them.
As a 501(c)(3) community supported non-profit organization, CMEC relies on the support of individuals, corporations, foundations, volunteers, and community members. And with only 70% of Museum expenses covered by admission fees, we rely on generous support from the community to fulfill our mission of helping children learn through play.
Every dollar donated to the Museum goes directly towards building exhibits, delivering educational programs in local classrooms, and providing low cost admissions to children in need.
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