Madison Children's Museum

Early Explorers Playgroup
2024-10-30 10:00 - 11:00, 2024-10-23 10:00 - 11:00 (America/Chicago) | Madison Children’s Museum, 100 N. Hamilton Street, Madison, WI, 53704, United States
Social time for babies and their grown-ups!

This playgroup is thoughtfully designed for our earliest visitors. We will provide a space for infants and toddlers (2 years and under) and their caregivers to explore and play together, and engage in activities that support various aspects of child development. Parents and caregivers will have the opportunity to connect with one another over a variety of topics. Come meet other families and make new friends!

This event will be held in the Celebrations Room and is free with general museum admission.

Baby's First Halloween
2024-10-29 09:00 - 12:00
Join us for the cutest autumn event in town: Baby’s First Halloween! The museum will be open for special hours on Tuesday, October 29, for this boppin’ baby party (ages 0-3) and their caregivers. Older siblings welcome!

All activities are included in the cost of general admission. Make sure to sign up for our FREE First-Time Parent Membership in-person or online if you’re a first-time parent with a child under 18 months old.

This event is free for MCM members; $5 for nonmembers; free for infants under 12 months

Get Tickets

Halloween Fun with Edgewood Smile Club
2024-10-27 12:00 - 15:00
Join students from Edgewood High School’s Smile Club for piano performances and craft activities.

Exploration Station: Wind Tunnel Ghosties
2024-10-27 10:30 - 12:00 | Madison Children’s Museum, 100 N. Hamilton Street, Madison, WI, 53704, United States
Create your own tissue paper ghostie and learn about air currents as you watch it float in our mini wind tunnel!

This event is free with general museum admission.

Saturday Art Adventures: Tiny Terror-iums
2024-10-26 13:00 - 15:00 | Madison Children’s Museum, 100 N. Hamilton Street, Madison, WI, 53704, United States
Dive into an exciting drop-in art experience each week with Laurie and our Art Studio team. Embark on projects with a wide variety of art media and processes for all ages and abilities. Materials are included—and the best part? We take care of cleanup.Today, we’ll craft our own creepy mini ecosystems in a jar, also known as “terror-iums”!

This event is free with general museum admission.

MCM Roadshow: Ice Age Trail Tyke Hike (Lodi Segment)
2024-10-26 09:30 - 11:30 | Lodi High School Parking Lot, 1100 Sauk St, Lodi, WI 53555
Join MCM Roadshow at the Lodi Valley Segment of the Ice Age Trail for a slow-paced, nature-focused “hike” designed especially for young children, beginning at 10 am. Enjoy a scavenger hunt along the way, and get creative with hands-on activities after the little ones return from their nature walk! Be sure to meet in the Lodi High School parking lot, where the Tyke Hike will begin.

Madison Children’s Museum Roadshow brings mobile exhibits, maker activities, and more to community events in Madison and the surrounding area.

Adult Swim: Scream Queens
2024-10-25 17:30 - 21:00 | Madison Children’s Museum, 100 N. Hamilton Street, Madison, WI, 53704, United States
Get ready for a screamin’ good time at Adult Swim

Celebrate the season of the witch with a campy, sequined twist! We’re working with Outreach LGBT Resource Center and Ravyn Entertainment to bring you a night of ghoulish glamor, uncanny crafts, and dreadfully good drag.

Tickets (21+ only)

$20 advance

$25 day of event

Bring 10 or more friends and get 10% off your ticket order.

Get Tickets

Featured Activities

Scream Queens Drag Review: 7–7:30 and 8–8:30 pm

Premiere Team Trivia: Sessions at 6, 7, and 8 pm

Bewitching Bling: Get your drag on in the Art Studio with ghastly, glamorous craft accessories

Glow Ghouls: Enjoy a scavenger hunt in the Wonderground with glow-in-the-dark cotton candy served after dusk

Frightful Foley Flick: Create spine-tingling sound effects to accompany a silent horror flick on the Rooftop, 7–8:30 pm

What is Adult Swim?

Adult Swim at Madison Children’s Museum borrows the age-old tradition of kicking out the kids before things get delightfully spooky. Adult Swim makes space to play like a grown-up—crafting, drinking, and screaming your way through the museum.

Read our ticket cancellation/exchange policy.

Adult Swim is presented by

Sensory Worlds with Junko
2024-10-25 13:30 - 14:30, 2024-10-18 13:30 - 14:30 | Madison Children’s Museum, 100 N. Hamilton Street, Madison, WI, 53704, United States
Join Junko in the Celebrations Room as we explore different sensory materials every week!Please note, this program location may vary. Check at the admissions desk for the most up-to-date information.

This event is free with general museum admission.

Clay Day!
2024-10-25 13:00 - 15:00, 2024-10-18 13:00 - 15:00 | Madison Children’s Museum, 100 N. Hamilton Street, Madison, WI, 53704, United States
Explore the squishy, smudgy, sculptable world of clay!

Each Friday, join us for a different drop-in clay experience in the Art Studio. We’ll work with a variety of media–ceramic clay, dough, paper clay, polymer clay, and more. This event is free with general museum admission.

Music with Junebug
2024-10-25 10:30 - 11:00, 2024-10-18 10:30 - 11:00 | Madison Children’s Museum, 100 N. Hamilton Street, Madison, WI, 53704, United States
Join us for Music with Junebug led by Junko Yamauchi.

This program gives toddlers and preschoolers the opportunity to sing, dance, explore instruments, and play! Music and movement activities promote brain development and connect us to our family and community.

For today’s Music with Junebug location, please ask at the desk! This event is free with general museum admission.

Lexie's Idea Lab: Spine-Tingling Tales
2024-10-24 17:00 - 19:00 | Madison Children’s Museum, 100 N. Hamilton Street, Madison, WI, 53704, United States
Get your creativity flowing with Lexie in the Idea Lab! Practice different methods for generating new art projects and storytelling concepts with guidance from the Idea Machine. Today, we’ll channel the thrill of eerie accounts and supernatural stories.

This event is part of our free admission Thursday evenings, 4 pm-8 pm every week.

Wild Wonders: Pressed Flower Bookmarks
2024-10-24 17:00 - 19:00 | Madison Children’s Museum, 100 N. Hamilton Street, Madison, WI, 53704, United States
Get creative with colorful botanicals from the Rooftop Ramble gardens and create your very own pressed flower bookmarks.

This event is part of our Free Thursday Evenings, 4 pm–8 pm.

Free Thursday Evenings
2024-10-24 16:00 - 20:00, 2024-10-17 16:00 - 20:00
Visit MCM for free every Thursday evening, 4–8 pm!

Enjoy extended hours each Thursday, completely free of charge. Please check in at the admissions desk when you visit during free hours.

Looking for more affordable ways to visit? During the rest of the week, MCM also offers heavily discounted admission and memberships to families who qualify through our Access for Everyone initiative.

Messy Art with Laurie
2024-10-24 11:00 - 12:00 | Madison Children’s Museum, 100 N. Hamilton Street, Madison, WI, 53704, United States
Join Ms. Laurie and our Art Studio staff for a weekly drop-in art experience designed for MCM’s youngest visitors and their caregivers. Through open-ended & process-based projects, empower your little artist to freely explore materials and art-making with their senses. And the best part? We take care of cleanup!

This event is free with general museum admission.

MCM Roadshow: Meadowood Health Partnership Community Supper
2024-10-23 17:00 - 19:00 | Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, 5701 Raymond Road, Madison, Wisconsin, 53711, United States
Meet up with MCM Roadshow at Meadowood Health Partnership’s Community Supper. Join your neighbors and friends for a bite to eat and enjoy hands-on arts activities when the kids have finished their meals!

Madison Children’s Museum Roadshow brings mobile exhibits and maker activities to community events in Madison and the surrounding area.

Music Time with Tim: Halloween Songs
2024-10-23 11:00 - 11:30
Explore the world of music and rhythm! Join Tim each week to enjoy play-based songs, games, and stories. Today we’ll bop along to seasonal, spine-tingly Halloween songs!

This event is free with general museum admission.

Let's Move! in the Wonderground
2024-10-23 10:00 - 11:30 | Madison Children’s Museum, 100 N. Hamilton Street, Madison, WI, 53704, United States
Join us for movement games in the Wonderground! From obstacle courses to dances, group games, balance activities, and yoga, we’ll enjoy different opportunities to move our bodies every day.

This event is free with general museum admission.

Let's Make! with Lexie: Scientific Fabric Art
2024-10-20 13:00 - 15:00
Explore new materials and creative techniques through facilitated art activities and bring home hand-made treasures. Projects vary each week and may include sculpture, painting, comics, printmaking, and more! This week, we’ll try exciting experiments with fabric to celebrate the Wisconsin Science Festival.

This event is free with general museum admission.

Exploration Station: Creepy Crafty Catapults
2024-10-20 10:30 - 12:00 | Madison Children’s Museum, 100 N. Hamilton Street, Madison, WI, 53704, United States
3… 2… 1… Launch! Make your own mini catapult and see how far a your pom pom (aka mini pumpkin, with a sprinkle of imagination!) and other projectiles can fly. Learn about the physics of force and motion while launching objects of different weights and sizes.

This event is free with general museum admission.

Saturday Art Adventures: Alebrijes Sculptures
2024-10-19 13:00 - 15:00 | Madison Children’s Museum, 100 N. Hamilton Street, Madison, WI, 53704, United States
Dive into an exciting drop-in art experience each week with Laurie and our Art Studio team. Embark on projects with a wide variety of art media and processes for all ages and abilities. Materials are included—and the best part? We take care of cleanup! Today, we’ll create our own colorful creature sculptures, inspired by Mexican artist Pedro Linares’ folk works, called alebrijes.

This event is free with general museum admission.

Member Party: Monster Mash
2024-10-18 17:00 - 19:30 | Madison Children’s Museum, 100 N. Hamilton Street, Madison, WI, 53704, United States
Little monsters take over the museum at our members-only Halloween bash!

Step into your silliest costume and celebrate the spirit of the season with frightfully fun activities and (free!) light refreshments, courtesy of MCM.

This event is for current museum members only. Registration is $10 per family (after MCM member discount.)

Register Now

Add to calendar

Google Calendar

iCalendar

Outlook 365

Outlook Live

Related Events

Member Morning: February

Saturday, February 7 @ 8:00 am – 9:00 am

Exploration Station: Milkweed Babies

Saturday, February 7 @ 10:30 am – 12:00 pm

Scratch Programming Class

Sunday, February 8 @ 2:30 pm – 3:30 pm

Lexie's Idea Lab
2024-10-17 17:00 - 19:00 | Madison Children’s Museum, 100 N. Hamilton Street, Madison, WI, 53704, United States
Get your creativity flowing with Lexie in the Idea Lab! Practice different methods for generating new art projects and storytelling concepts with guidance from the Idea Machine.

This event is part of our free admission Thursday evenings, 4 pm-8 pm every week.

Free Night: Science on the Square
2024-10-17 16:00 - 20:00 | Madison Children’s Museum, 100 N. Hamilton Street, Madison, WI, 53704, United States
Enjoy FREE admission 4-8 pm as part of Science on the Square, an event for all ages that kicks off the Wisconsin Science Festival. Join us for hands-on STEM activities, including:

UW Neuroscience Outreach, 5-7:45 pm: Join our friends from UW Neuroscience for brain-building activities and interact with REAL neurological specimens.

MCM Wild Wonders: Squishy Circuits. 5-7 pm: Making circuits using play dough and LED lights.

MCM Idea Lab, 5-7 pm: Create art and storytelling projects with the Idea Machine

Sound Science: Enjoy an eerie, unusual theremin and plastic bag percussion demo, 5-6 pm

Sound Science: Makey-Makey synthesizer demos, 6-8 pm

Sound Science: UW Speech & Hearing Clinic: How do we hear?

Story Time with Alice in Dairyland, 5-5:15 pm and 6-6:15 pm

Women in Chemistry: How does the sun power chemical reactions?

Wisconsin Agriculture in the Classroom: Right this very minute on a Wisconsin farm…

UW IBio Go: Get to know our aquatic invertebrate friends

UW-Madison Hite Lab: How does a tiny parasite travel from the lake to the sky?

UW-Madison Freedman and Whitman Lab: What can you see in the soil?

UW-Madison Picasso Lab: Why are perennial plants and soil best friends?

UW-Madison Research in Developmental Disabilities and Language Lab

Music Time with Tim
2024-10-16 11:00 - 11:30
Explore the world of music and rhythm! Join Tim each week to enjoy play-based songs, games, and stories.

This event is free with general museum admission.

Nice Age Tales
2024-10-16 10:30 - 11:00 | Madison Children’s Museum, 100 N. Hamilton Street, Madison, WI, 53704, United States
Join us for a story and circle time that connects children to kindness and nature. Sing songs, interact with puppets, listen to a story, and move your body in this interactive weekly program.

This event will be held in the Nice Age Trail exhibit and is free with general museum admission.
