Treehouse Children's Museum - Ogden, Utah - Museum

Treehouse Children's Museum is situated at 22nd Street in downtown Ogden, Utah and is approximately 35 miles north of Salt Lake City. It is also just three blocks east and one block north of Ogden's Intermodal Transit Center FrontRunner Station at 23rd Street and Wall Avenue. It opens from 10am to 6pm Tuesday to Thursday and Saturday, 10am to 4pm on Mondays and 10am to 8.30pm on Fridays, whilst it remains closed every Sunday as well as January 1st, July 4th and 24th, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day.

The museum is a non-profit educational organization featuring interactive and fun exhibits based on literacy, literature and the arts for children and families to enjoy. As a private non-profit organization the Treehouse Museum relies on funding through admission fees, memberships, program fees, donations and grants. It has been open since 1992 and has received awards for its exhibits and programs.

Exhibits include the Treehouse where children can climb a spiral staircase, take part in various activities and dress up, whilst the Baby Place enables the kids to pretend to be a doctor caring for babies in a mini hospital. Other imaginative play exhibits include story telling in Grandma's Kitchen, pretending to be a medieval knight and the Music Room offers the chance for kids to bang drums, shake rattles and hopefully make some rhythmical sounds. There is also a pretend village, where children can hear stories and join in with activities from different countries from around the globe such as China, England, Germany and Mexico.

Hands on literacy exhibits here include the Great American Map, which helps visitors to learn more about each of the states, whilst the Oval Office replicates the President's desk and tests people's knowledge of past Presidents. Children are taken much further back in time with the dinosaur and fossil exhibit, or they can go back to school and do a reading or practice their arithmetic. There is also an exhibit specifically to test visitors' knowledge of Utah as well as story telling from around the world.

Children can also try out their artistic prowess in the art garden and try different techniques through various projects, whilst the Castle Theater provides schedules performances of stories. The museum welcomes school groups of between 10 and 100 people, and provides tours n Mondays between 12.30 and 3pm, and Tuesdays through Fridays between 9.30 and 3pm. As well as school children and pre-school classes, the museum also welcomes family groups, scout groups, home-school groups, church groups and others with at least ten children for a special Storybook Tour.

Visitors looking to grab a bite to eat before or after their visit to the Treehouse Museum need not go far as there are several food vendors and eateries in and around Ogden. Less than one quarter of a mile away there is Farr Better Ice Cream, which is a popular parlor selling homemade ice creams and shakes. Equally as close by is The Sonora Grill, this serves Mexican fare or Stagecoach Family Restaurant.