The Children's Museum of Denver is all about kid-powered learning, aka interactive fun and exploration. Among the most popular exhibits is Kinetics!, a space dedicated to physical science where kids build ramps and tracks to send bright orange balls soaring all over the room. Among the other engaging spaces are a 3.5-story climber, a water lab, an energy exhibit, a teaching kitchen and a giant outdoor adventure experience called Joy Park�—the name says it all. Meanwhile, perennial faves such as Bubbles, where the shimmery, popping science of bubbles is explored, and The Center for the Young Child, especially for little ones nine months to two years, continue to expand kids' minds and horizons.
Recommended for Museums because: This is Denver's premier interactive museum aimed squarely at young children and their families.
Christine's expert tip: Visit on a Wednesday evening when the museum often offers creative, hands-on workshops for little ones, and check the website for the full list of family and children's programs.
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Located in Golden, Colorado, the museum building resembles an 1880-era small-town rail depot. It's painted yellow and brown, the colors of the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad. The museum tells the stories of those who rode and worked on the railroad, highlighting the significant contributions the railroad made throughout Colorado's history. A hit with all ages, displays include locomotives, passenger cars, freight cars, cabooses, model trains, a roundhouse, a turntable, a water tank and other artifacts and paraphernalia collected from 125 years of trains in Colorado. The museum runs a variety of popular special programs and events, including Day Out With Thomas, which brings the beloved children's character Thomas the Tank Engine to town, and Ride the Rails Saturdays. There are also free days throughout the year, and the best way to keep up with what's offered is to sign up on the museum's website to receive news via email.
Recommended for Museums because: Colorado Railroad Museum is one of the nation's top 10 railroad museums and has the largest collection of narrow-gauge equipment in the country.
Christine's expert tip: After visiting the museum, take a ride on one of Colorado's working historic trains, including the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad, Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad, Georgetown Loop Railroad, Pikes Peak Cog Railway or Royal Gorge Route Railroad.
Wings Over the Rockies is an air and space museum in an historic World War II-era hangar built in 1939. The museum and hangar are located on the former Lowry Air Force Base. Exhibits cover the years from World War I up through the space age, and include such items as an Apollo Command Module replica used by NASA to train astronauts for the Apollo moon missions. Allow two to three hours to see everything. Check for upcoming Cockpit Demo Days, when kids of all ages can climb inside select aircraft to get a pilot's view of instruments and controls. There's no café at the museum but there are several casual restaurants in the neighborhood.
Recommended for Museums because: Wings Over the Rockies was designated by the Colorado legislature as the state's official air and space museum.
Christine's expert tip: Learn in advance about special events and discounts by signing up for email updates on the museum's website.
The Clyfford Still Museum, which opened in 2011, gives visitors insight into the legacy of Abstract Expressionist artist Clyfford Still, whose contemporaries included Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning and Mark Rothko. Prior to the Museum's opening, the vast majority of Still's work was hidden from public view for more than 30 years. Still never lived in Denver; however, his will stipulated that his entire collection of works go to an American city willing to permanently house the collection and display only Still's work. Denver agreed and the museum was built. In addition to paintings, the collection includes Still's correspondence, personal library, record collection, photographs, 8mm films, art supplies and more. Standing in front of the massive canvases, some 15 feet tall, it's possible to understand why Still was a legend in New York's post-World War II artistic boom and why his legacy endures. Two tranquil terraces invite reflection.
Recommended for Museums because: The Clyfford Still Museum holds 95 percent of the artist's entire creative output, the most intact collection of any major artist in the United States.
Christine's expert tip: The small online shop of the museum (shop.clyffordstillmuseum.org) has unique and hard-to-find items for art lovers and collectors, including out-of-print Clyfford Still catalogues.
Replacing the Colorado History Museum, History Colorado Center opened in 2012 in a new LEED-certified building in the Golden Triangle Museum District. The new space gave the state's historical society the opportunity to start from scratch, creating new ways to interpret Colorado history. Exhibits highlight the courage, persistence, triumphs, tragedies and character of Colorado's first residents, including Native Americans, white and African American settlers, men, women, children, the famous and the infamous. Exhibits offer interactive and digital experiences, including a virtual look at sailing off Steamboat's 1915 ski jump, life in a Japanese relocation center during World War II and life in a 1920s farming town. Living West tells the stories of Mesa Verde, the Dust Bowl and today's mountains. For those mesmerized by the Denver 1860 Diorama exhibited in the old museum for nearly 75 years, good news: it's here, too.
Recommended for Museums because: Evocative stories of people and remarkable places are complemented by special events that bring history alive for children and adults, whether residents or visitors.
Christine's expert tip: Sign up online to receive a free monthly e-newsletter, History Colorado NOW.
The Museum was founded in 2010 as the permanent home for The Anschutz Collection, a formerly private collection of paintings that surveys the art of the American West from the early 19th century to the present. The collection, housed in the historic Navarre Building, includes examples of early American expeditionary painting, the Hudson River School, all the way through American Modernism and Abstract Expressionism. The paintings are exhibited salon style, floor to ceiling, a nod to the 1880 building and in keeping with the way paintings were often exhibited in the 19th century. This means that the majority of the collection can be kept on view permanently. Docent-led tours last 1.5 to two hours. Self-guided audio tours last about 1.5 hours depending on a visitor's own pace.
Recommended for Museums because: The American Museum of Western Art provides access to one of the world's premier collections of Western art in a wonderfully appropriate and unusual setting.
Christine's expert tip: The museum is open to the public Mondays and Wednesdays; Tuesdays and Thursdays are for private tours and school groups. Tickets to visit during specific time slots can be purchased online at www.AnschutzCollection.org.
The Museum of Contemporary Art Denver opened in 1996 in a renovated fish market, then moved to its present spacious facility on Delgany Street in 2007. In keeping with the theme of creative experimentation with art and ideas, the building was designed to minimize boundaries between the city outside and the galleries inside. Hidden skylights fill exhibit spaces with natural light and a multitude of windows bring Denver's streetscape in. A range of regional, national and international artists and exhibitions rotate in and out of the museum, typically staying for two to four months. There is no permanent collection. There are, however, special events throughout the year, including a summer rooftop concert series on Thursday evenings. Visitors can grab a bite to eat or enjoy a glass of wine at the museum's cafe and bar, and shop for quirky items from around the world in the compact museum shop.
Recommended for Museums because: MCA Denver treats visitors to an ever-changing selection of creative and experimental contemporary art in an engaging, dynamic space.
Christine's expert tip: The first Saturday of each month is Penny Saturday when admission to the museum is just one cent.
Four Mile Historic Park tells the story of Denver's oldest standing structure and the 12 acres around it. Four Mile House (now Four Mile House Museum) was built in 1859. In 1860, a widow and her two teenage children opened it as a stage stop for weary travelers who could wash up and have a home-cooked meal or spend the night before traveling the last four miles into Denver. In 1864, Levi and Millie Booth bought it, and the Booth family remained there until the 1940s. Today, visitors can see historic and reproduction buildings; take a guided tour; pan for gold; visit the farm's horses, goats and chickens; attend special events related to farms and Western history; and learn about long-ago Denver and the Cherokee Trail. Four Mile Historic Park is a rural gem within the urban city limits of Denver, a worthy visit for all ages.
Recommended for Museums because: This National Historic Park engages visitors with insight into Western expansion and life in the Denver area in the 1800s and early 1900s.
Christine's expert tip: If you're visiting with children, ask about Family Activity Packs before touring the farm (available on a first-come basis). No food, drink, gum, candy or smoking is allowed in the park, so give kids snacks and drinks before arriving.
This excellent museum makes learning about science, health, nature and human history fun. With a focus on interactive exhibits, DMNS is very much a hands-on experience and utterly engaging for all ages. It's possible to spend an entire day here and not discover everything. But for families with young children, it can also be experienced one cool exhibit at a time. Don't miss the Discovery Zone on level 2 where dinosaurs, construction, science and more await young explorers. Egyptian Mummies never fails to fascinate, but there's also the intriguing Gems & Minerals exhibit, and, of course, Prehistoric Journey, which takes visitors back 3.5 billion years. The stellar planetarium and Phipps IMAX Theater are just icing on the cake. When it's time to take a break there's the convenient T-Rex Café, and don't miss the sweeping city and mountain views from the third-floor sky terrace.
Recommended for Museums because: DMNS easily lives up to its mission and vision to be a catalyst to ignite passion for nature and science.
Christine's expert tip: Have fun searching for eight tiny elves hidden throughout the museum in the painted dioramas. If you need help, pick up a "seek and find" of museum secrets at the front desk.
Denver Art Museum is highly regarded for its collection of Native American art, which includes over 16,000 pieces from more than 100 tribes across the US. The seven-story North building also houses impressive displays of Pre-Columbian and Spanish Colonial art and textiles, a fascinating Asian collection, and a fine assortment of modern American and European paintings. The Architecture, Design and Graphics galleries are notable as well. In 2006, the Frederic C. Hamilton Building, a soaring structure of steel and glass designed by renowned architect Daniel Libeskind, opened its doors across 13th Street from the original building. Libeskind's masterpiece, a work of art in itself, dramatically increased the museum's gallery and education space and redefined the Denver skyline.
Recommended for Museums because: It's the largest art museum between Chicago and the West Coast and offers incredible family programs and art collections.
Christine's expert tip: Ask about Create-N-Takes, facilitated drop-in activities offered weekdays during school breaks and weekends during the school year. Kids create a variety of themed projects and take them home.