Mid-Hudson Children's Museum

Attn: There’s a place in Poughkeepsie where you and your kid(s) can have fun, get fresh food, and even learn something too

Children’s museum reopens after COVID, adding a floor of new exhibits with plans to expand and change its name

story + photos by niki@hvny.info

Every morning between 4 and 5 a.m., it is inevitable that I get woken up: They are hungry, they can’t sleep, they’re fighting, they want to play … they are my pets, in particular, my still very spunky-yet-deaf 19-year-old cat. (Hi Cuda, if you’re reading this!)

But, despite this daily connection to tiny beings, I had never been to the Mid-Hudson’s Children’s Museum, the region’s first and only hands-on science center. That is until Jeffrey Sasson, the new executive director at the museum, invited me for a visit (sans cat) a few weeks ago.

The Mid-Hudson Children's Museum recently reopened after being closed for two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the staff has been busy in those off-seasons: adding more than a dozen new interactive exhibits, hand sanitizer stations, an extension on the building to accommodate an elevator, plans for an expanded outdoor market space, and coming this September, a new name: The Discovery Museum.

“It’s quite busy here,” Sasson said as we mazed our way through families on the second floor of the museum that is now dedicated to Science Revealed, 16 new hands-on exhibitions focusing on core science principles.

“The nice thing about a children’s museum since it’s so hands-on, is that it makes the parents engage with their children. They’re not on their phones, they’re learning with them, ya know?”

The new floor of interactive exhibitions focus on STEAM – the educational approach that converges science, technology, engineering, the arts, and mathematics – in hopes of attracting an older pre-teen audience.

“If they taught people how to play guitar how they teach people to do math, no one would play guitar,” Sasson noted. “Kids have a hard enough time in school today, the more parents and caregivers can bring their children to this kid of environment, it will help them take more of an interest in their studies, and make it more fun.”

In addition to providing an engaging outlet away from digital tablets and phone screens, the Mid-Hudson Children’s Museum is currently the only children’s museum in the United States that operates a farmers’ market.

The Poughkeepsie Waterfront Market takes place under the museum’s pavilion, situated idyllically on the banks of the Hudson River, on Mondays from May through October, from 3 to 6:30pm. As part of a USDA grant, plans are also in place to enclose the pavilion for the market to run year round and expand programming, Sasson added. New vendors are also welcome to join the market year-round.

SNAP benefits are accepted at the farmers’ market, and through Museums for All, those receiving food assistance can also gain reduced admission to the museum.

The museum is located on North Water Street in the City of Poughkeepsie, an area where the poverty rate is around 32-percent, said Sasson, with the high school graduation rate well below the state median at 57-percent. “If you say there’s a need for this, this is the epicenter.”

Regular admission is $12, free for members and children under 1. Annual memberships are also available. Family Free Nights take place on the Third Saturday of each month. During Family Free Nights, the museum is open until 8pm, and admission from 5pm to 8pm is free. (Note: The event is intended for families with children ages 0-12. Parent supervision is required at all times.)

And for my fellow cat ladies and pet parents, our time in the science museum sun may be coming soon – When asked if they would open the museum to adults only one night, Sasson responded: “That’s a cool idea, actually, yes.”

For more information, visit mhcm.org

Regular admission is $12, free for children under 1 and members. Annual memberships are available. Or, if your family took a day-visit and really liked it, you can put the cost of that ticket price towards an annual membership. During inclement weather, call the museum at (845) 471-0589 before arriving.

This story originally appeared in the HVNY weekly newsletter, “This week in the Hudson Valley.” Sign-up to get the newsletter delivered every Monday, for free.