Des Moines Children's Museum

10/26/2026

We are CLOSED this week because we are moving!

Our time at Valley West has come to a close and our new home isn’t quite ready yet, so we are moving to a temporary space at: 4093 NW Urbandale Dr.

We want to send all the thanks to the Denny Elwell Company and the City of Urbandale for making this happen so quickly for us! This gift builds on the a long history of support from the Denny and Candy Elwell Foundation, who, along with so many friends in our community, have helped make this museum a place where kids can play, imagine, and discover. The City of Urbandale worked with us to prepare the space and secure city approval in record time.

We definitely would not be making this quick move happen without our wonderful community supporters!

Being able to continue serving the community has always been our number one priority and that is happening because of the continuous support of our community. We are so lucky to be here with you!

Thank you everyone for all of your calls, inquiries, and help these last few weeks.
We will spend next week clearing out our Valley West location and setting up our temp space.

Stay tuned to our socials for an inside look on the move, announcements, and an opening date for our Urbandale location.

10/24/2026

Our last few hours being open to the public! Stop in to play and enjoy Halloween activities. Wear your costume at 4 p.m. and take part in our costume walk to fill your treat bag with prizes!

We’re ready to make our last open day at our Valley West location special with one final Halloween celebration!

Join us from Saturday 10/24 to play one last time at Valley West and enjoy Halloween activities throughout the day.

10 a.m. - 4 p.m. - We will have extra Halloween themed activities in one half of the party room and a scavenger hunt throughout the day. Decorate a treat bag to fill with goodies during our costume walk!

4 p.m. - Costume walk. Show off your costume, walk around the south side of the mall, and collect goodies to fill your treat bag!

We'll see you Saturday so we can close our doors with a boo-tastic good time!

10/21/2026

We’re ready to make our last open day at our Valley West location special with one final Halloween celebration!

Join us from Saturday 10/24 to play one last time at Valley West and enjoy Halloween activities throughout the day.

10 a.m. - 4 p.m. - We will have extra Halloween themed activities in one half of the party room and a scavenger hunt throughout the day. Decorate a treat bag to fill with goodies during our costume walk!

4 p.m. - Costume walk. Show off your costume, walk around the south side of the mall, and collect goodies to fill your treat bag!

We'll see you Saturday so we can close our doors with a boo-tastic good time!

10/20/2026

Tomorrow, Thursday, and Friday (if needed) is our Pay What You Can Garage Sales!!

At our Valley West location: everything from toys, costumes, fabrics, art supplies, exhibit pieces that we won't be using and everything in between! Come check it out in the party room.
Wedsday: 9:30 a.m. - 6:30 p.m.
Thursday: 9:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Friday: 9:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.

At our 1200 12th St, West Des Moines location: the last little bit of office furniture, chairs, filing cabinet, cupboards, and more! The building will be open:
Wednesday: 10 a.m. - 3 p.m.
** if you want to come by outside of those hours, please message us and it can be arranged!

Bring your own bags and boxes to put items in. Bring your own moving equipment and lifting buddies for the heavy items. No holds on anyting.
All donations made for the garage sale will help support our move to a temporary location next week (more to come on that on Friday).

10/19/2026

One last week to play at our Valley West location! We'll end our time at VW with a special Halloween themed day, with activities all day long.

Monday: Frog egg sensory bin
Tuesday: Fizzy cauldrons
Wednesday: Paper quilt squares
Thursday: Turmeric hands
Friday: Halloween paper chains
Saturday: Spider web sensory bin

10/16/2026

Crash explored everyone’s favorite liquid tiles at the Iowa Wild Kids Night game! Thank you for inviting us out!

10/14/2026

We had a great time bringing activities for the kids zone at the Walk To End Alzheimer’s. We love being able to support organizations doing great work.

10/13/2026

Goodbye water table - we’ll see you next year in our new home!

Tom Egan Water Table Artist came up to help us move the water table into storage for the next year. Unfortunately, our water table has a lot of requirements and won’t be able to make the move to a temporary space for us. Thank you to Tom and our staff members for spending a your day moving the water table safely!

10/12/2026

Come play in our final two weeks at our Valley West Mall location! We have lots of fun activities planned.

Monday: Spider slime
Tuesday: Frozen hand sensory bin
Wednesday: Pumpkin spice play dough
Thursday: Exploding pumpkin
Friday: Tp tube bubble paint
Saturday: Sticker witch hats

10/05/2026

Tomorrow, Monday October 5th, is the last day to come in and play with our water table. The water table will be headed into storage for the next year because it, ufortunately, can't make the journey to a temporary space with us. Come get your splashes in and enjoy our other activities this week too!

Monday: Slime guts
Tuesday: Eyeball stacking Play Doh
Wednesday: Pumpkin guts
Thursday: Play Doh monsters
Friday: Pool noodle monsters
Saturday: Chalk