Visiting Golisano Children’s Museum of Naples

Photo credit Debi Pittman Wilkey

Located on Livingston Road in Naples, the Golisano Children’s Museum of Naples (CMON) is a great place to enjoy a day of interactive fun. Designed to encourage children and adults to learn through play, this innovative children’s museum is the perfect place to head for when visiting Naples or Marco Island. If you’re lucky enough to call Naples home, it’s the perfect family activity on weekends or school holidays.

The aim of the museum is to “provide an exciting, inspiring environment where children and their families can play, learn and dream together.” The museum educates through natural curiosity and covers many different themes and topics. If you want to see what life in Thailand is like, or try your hand at a new career such as being an engineer or a veterinarian, here’s the place to try it all out.

Photo courtesy Golisano Children’s Museum of Naples

The Golisano Children’s Museum of Naples opened in 2012 and took 10 years and $25 million dollars to complete. The 30,000 square-foot attraction is housed in an imaginative ship-shaped building in a park environment with both indoor and outdoor activities. It was largely funded by private donations including $5 million from Tom Golisano, after whom the museum was named.

What to See and Do at Golisano Children’s Museum of Naples

Inside this fun palace there are many different galleries along with classrooms, a resource library, meeting rooms, party room, gift shop and a restaurant. Each fun exhibit introduces visitors to the natural world and different communities worldwide. The high-tech experience was designed by experts in child psychology to develop self-esteem, curiosity, creativity, social and motor skills. The challenges also help develop problem-solving techniques and sharpen the mind.

Photo credit Nita Ettinger

Learn how to be a weather forecaster, a farmer or a fisherman. Experience what’s it’s like to live in an igloo, listen to the sound of the sea and learn how colorful rainbows are created.

Photo credit Nita Ettinger

Kids are encouraged to climb a realistic banyan tree or step into a virtual pond and watch the fish and plants react.

Photo credit Nita Ettinger

Topical activities include a “Journey through the Everglades” boardwalk, complete with light and sound effects. It’s truly amazing! You can also go “beach fishing” with magnetic poles and then identify the fish you have caught.

Photo credit Debi Pittman Wilkey

Naples visitors and residents looking for children’s gifts should pop into the Museum Store which is located in the CMON lobby and has free admission. It’s the perfect place to find worthwhile and unusual toys and books for children that will have an educational bias including a range of crafts, puzzles, and games based on science, construction, and other skills.

Open Tuesday through Sunday, but closed on Mondays for a well-earned rest, this fun attraction helps bridge the age gap between generations. Everyone will learn something new during the visit.

Admission is $12 for visitors over the age of one, but there is a catch – adults must be accompanied by at least one child!

There is also a variety of family memberships available. Some of the benefits of membership include FREE admission, special members-only events, Museum Store and CMON Café discounts and reduced admission to other children’s museum around the country.

With a full calendar of special events, this is one place families will never get tired of visiting!