With hundreds of children’s museums in the US alone and dozens more reportedly in the works, we felt some skepticism over whether the San Diego’s New Children’s Museum would justify its $29 million price tag. Did America really need yet another place for hyperactive, “hands-on” mayhem? If you’re looking for things to do with children in San Diego, aren’t the Zoo and SeaWorld and Legoland and the beaches and the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center and all the rest enough?
Now that it’s open, however, the new museum has turned us into believers. Administrators say that more than 44,000 adults, teens, and children have already visited in the 10 weeks since the May 4th opening. The dazzling facility at Front Street and Island Avenue (directly across from the Convention Center) would be reason enough to go in and look around. Designed by San Diego’s Rob Wellington Quigley and billed as the city’s largest “green” structure, it makes a persuasive case that great buildings don’t have to be energy gluttons. Among the conservationary touches: recycled materials have been used throughout, rooftop photovoltaic cells provide up to 50% of the energy needs, and the elevator acts as a heat ejector (making air conditioning unnecessary).
Kids often appreciate innovative spaces, but architecture alone rarely convinces parents to shell out for admissions ($10 per person, regardless of age, in this case.) Families go for the activities, which at all too many children’s museums are a mishmash of science exhibits, arts and craft projects, and all-purpose playrooms. Not so the new San Diego museum, which embraces art with a single-minded vision. But this is hardly the kind of art museum where grownups stand silently looking at objects hung on walls.
Nineteen artists created works for the new museum’s opening exhibition, called childsplay, and most of their creations are ones children can inhabit — in surprisingly entertaining ways. There’s a tagger-decorated gallery whose vibrant walls 
are literally climbable, for instance. In another huge space, multiple projectors create a sense of swimming with dolphins. A delicately beautiful area entices youngsters to don capes, mount a stage, and give improvisional performances, while the walls and floor of one of the most popular galleries protect participants as they goof around with more than 100 pillows shaped like life-sized tires.
Hands-on studios also let kids sample activities ranging from sculpting clay to painting the frame of a real-life VW body (the color of the paint changes daily), and thoughtful attention has been devoted to creating separate areas to engage toddlers and teens.
The museum currently plans to mount a new exhibition annually. If succeeding shows come anywhere close to matching this inaugural effort, that will be a powerful reason for both local San Diegans and visitors alike — of all ages – to visit this museum at least once a year.
