What to Know
- Let the play resume at Philadelphia's beloved Please Touch Museum.
- More than a year after the children's museum closed amid the coronavirus pandemic.
- The first two weekends back are for members only. A free admission event then welcomes back the general public.
More than a year after Philadelphia's Please Touch Museum -- a place where kids are encouraged to touch everything they see -- closed due to coronavirus concerns, the museum in Fairmount Park plans to reopen.
The museum will open its doors to members only starting Thursday, April 8. It will then be opened only to members for Thursday to Sunday on April 8 to 11 and April 15 to 18. The museum opens to the general public the following Thursday to Sunday (April 22 to 25) with free admission care of the GIANT company.
The future of the Please Touch Museum wasn't clear since it closed last March. As many other Philadelphia museums found socially-distanced ways to reopen, the high-touch children's museum remained closed until now.
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To pull off the reopening, PTM is putting health and safety measures in place: "Hospital-grade disinfecting methodologies," crowd size limits, reserved tickets, masking (anyone 2 and older) in accordance with state and local regulations and reimagined exhibits "to provide a welcoming, clean, and low-touch Museum experience for all."
No matter what the museum does, there is still risk. "By making a reservation, you voluntarily assume all risks related to potential exposure to COVID-19 and agree to follow all Museum protocols during your visit," PTM said on its reservations page.
For members at the time of the museum's closure on March 14, the museum says all memberships were frozen and will be reactivated when the museum opens in April.
More answers about PTM's reopening plan can be found in the FAQ and Playing Together Again sections of the museum's website.
