The Children's Museum of Southern Oregon — Attraction in Medford

Best Kids Attraction in all of Southern Oregon!!

The Children’s Museum of Southern Oregon ranks at the very top of my list of things for kids to do in all of Southern Oregon.

You can purchase admission for the day or buy one of their membership options. For our family, it breaks down to around $10 monthly for a full price family membership. They also offer scholarships for memberships to those who qualify which make it extremely affordable.

They have special programs throughout the week that are included with the membership.

They’re open every day but Monday. The outdoor area is open year round except in extreme weather/ smoke / heat.

As of Fall 2024, there are currently 3 sections to the museum: inside exhibits, outdoor adventure area, and the annex across the street. I’ll briefly highlight what each section offers.

Inside exhibits include: farm to table, kitchen, doctor and dentist office, ambulance, nursery, climbing wall, animal hospital, construction zone, water table, light exhibit, sound exhibit, makery art studio, dance / theatre exhibit, and a separate enclosed play area for kids under 3. Each exhibit offers many open ended play opportunities and has books on each subject.

Outdoor adventure area: this exhibit opened in fall 2023. It includes: a large sandy beach play area, a working stream meant for children to play in, a race track with bikes and trikes, a camping area, a musical instrument garden, a large climbing hill with built in Amphitheatre seating, lots of climbing areas, and a large acorn shaped play structure.

The annex across the street has a kids culinary studio and a kids pottery studio. You can purchase bisque ware to glaze for an additional fee.

There’s so much to do that often we only explore one of the 3 areas for our visit. You can easily spend the entire day there.

If you’re moving to southern Oregon, I highly recommend getting a membership and going often. And if you’re visiting the area with your kids, be sure to budget at least a few...

This program is a total joke. They are setting kids up for failure. My child ended her year not knowing how to spell her name. She was able to count and do her ABCs strictly because we taught her those ourselves. They have this “yes” learning system where they don’t tell them no, don’t direct them into a learning direction. It’s basically glorified babysitting. The one saving grace is being that we are paying for another year of preschool out of pocket to actually get my child acclimated with how the world actually works and that you have to find ways to work through things you don’t want to do in this world. The best advice I can give you is to stay far away from this program and spend the money to enroll them in Santo or a comparable program. If I could give less stars than one, I would. Just because there are not a lot of quality programs for early learning in this area doesn’t mean you get to be cushioned and told what a great job you’re not doing. You know, like in...

If my son was rating this place, he would give it 5 stars for sure. We used to have a membership at Science Works in Ashland, which I love, but we traded it for a Kid Time membership because my son is young and it is really great for younger kids. I would say if you have kids under 7, this is THE place to go in Southern Oregon. There are a couple of exhibits that haven't been maintained that well, which is why I'm not giving it a full 5 stars. There is room for improvement! But overall, the wear and tear is a testament to the fact that kids will play the HECK out of everything. And it is bigger inside than it looks. Kids will not get bored quickly. I love that it is right in down town Medford and that they've worked with the Historical Society (Right next door!) to add some history to the fun.

Super cool place....