The Best Museums in St. Petersburg, Florida, for Families
Explore the best museums in St. Petersburg, Florida, for a day packed with art and education for the entire family!
From the otherworldly glass creations at the Chihuly Collection to the interactive exhibits at Great Explorations Children’s Museums, these museums all offer something unique to the St. Pete art and culture scene.
They are also all inclusive and inviting to all audiences: no art degrees necessary here! We loved that the following recommendations have consciously worked to include every visitor as a way to make the art, culture, and other exhibits attainable to every age and stage.
Many of these museums are within walking distance of one another, which makes for an even more fun day out. For those not in walking distance, they’re an easy car ride away from the downtown St. Pete area.
Below, you’ll find everything you need to know to plan a day full of art and education for your family in St. Petersburg, Florida, from exhibit overviews to tips on how to make the most of each museum. I’ve also included any specifically kid-centric offerings available at each stop.
The Cosmos Mariners kids on the steps of the Fine Arts Museum in downtown St. Petersburg, Florida
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Best St. Petersburg, Florida, Museums for Families
The Dalí Museum
Location: One Dali Boulevard, St. Petersburg, Florida
Hours: 10 AM-6 PM (extended hours to 8 PM on Thursdays)
Cost: Adults $29, Seniors $27, Teens $20, Children 6-12 $12, Kids 5 and under are free
The author in the Avant-Garden outside of the Dalí Museum
If you love all things modernist and postmodernist as much as I do, you’ll be delighted to know that St. Petersburg has one of the largest collections of Salvadore Dali's works outside of Spain.
On our first trip to St. Petersburg, back before we had kids, my husband and I had the Dalí Museum at the top of our must-do list.
I was delighted to find out that the museum would be great for kids, too, and we’ve since brought our little ones back to this incredible property.
The visual interest begins as soon as you spot the building, which combines elements of nature, concrete, glass, and geometry into a unique, Dalí-esque structure.
When you’re traveling here with kids, it’s a great way to start conversations about architecture, form, and function.
The striking exterior of the Dalí Museum’s main building
Inside, the whimsical nature of Dalí’s life and works continues. You’ll notice an intricate spiral staircase, walls of curved glass, and a creative use of concrete throughout.
Ask at the information desk about the family programs that are available. The museum offers up a Little Surrealist series of kid-friendly tours each month as well as a sensory friendly tour on Sundays.
Kids will find the galleries fascinating as the artwork from throughout Dalí’s career is weird, eye-catching, and unlike anything they’ve likely seen up to this point.
Download this Dalí themed activity booklet before your visit and have kids complete it as they walk through the museum.
There are benches throughout the galleries that lend themselves well to introspection. For artsy kids, you can use this space to allow them to sketch a favorite piece of artwork or two in the museum.
When you’ve completed the galleries, head outside for 2 more parts of the museum. The first the Avant-Garden, where you can pose with a massive mustache, wander the beautiful waterfront gardens, or simply spend a moment out in the Florida sunshine.
The other element of the museum that’s in this area is the newer Dalí Alive 360 building, where many of the artist’s most famous works come to life on a massive scale. The interactive domed screen at the heart of this building is dazzle every member of your party!
There is a separate charge for the Dalí Alive 360 experience ($15 for visitors 6 and up), but I think it’s well worth it, especially if you have kids in tow.
The Chihuly Collection
Location: 720 Central Avenue, St. Petersburg, Florida
Hours: Monday-Saturday 10 AM-5 PM, Sunday 12 PM-5 PM
Cost: Adults $20, Seniors and Military $18, Children 6-18 $14, Children 5 and under are free.
Brilliantly colored glass in imaginative shapes fill stark spaces in each room of the Chihuly Collection.
Featuring the work of renowned glass sculptor Dale Chihuly, this museum highlights some of the artist’s most famous globes, spires, chandeliers, and more.
My kids have been here multiple times, and they’ve been entranced by the incredible shapes and colors of each exhibit every time. You might avoid taking kids to a glass museum, but as long as they’re not going to active work to dismantle the pieces, you’ll be fine!
Many of the pieces hang from the ceiling, are on stages, in plexi-glass boxes, and the like, so there aren’t a bunch of opportunities for visitors to be handling the glass anyway.
Chihuly sculptures can be found around the world, including in the Venetian in Las Vegas, the Indianapolis Children’s Museum in Indiana, and even in the gardens at Houmas House, one of the best plantations in Louisiana!
Learn more about the process behind the glass sculptures by watching the movie that plays continuously near the gift shop. You’ll see Chihuly and his team in action as they plan, blow, and assemble otherworldly, delicate art pieces.
NOTE: An adult ticket to the Chihuly Museum also includes a free glass blowing demonstration over at the Morean Glass Studio (see below for more information).
Headed to St. Petersburg and don’t know where to start? Check out my first time visitors guide to St. Pete Beach and Clearwater, Florida!
The Morean Arts Center
Location: 719 Central Avenue, St. Petersburg, Florida
Hours: Monday-Saturday 10 AM-5 PM, closed Sunday
Cost: Free
The Morean Arts Center, which runs the Chihuly collection (above), also runs a museum and a hot shop.
The museum is free, making it an excellent and cost-effective addition to your St. Petersburg visit.
The exhibits inside the museum rotate, but they are all inventive and thought-provoking.
There’s a heavy emphasis on contemporary and postmodern art here, so you’ll likely get a mixture of sculpture, paintings, photography, and interactive pieces.
On Saturdays, the museum hosts a limited number of children in a free art class, where kids will get to try their hand at a new medium or technique. To ensure a seat, you’ll need to pre-register here.
Morean Glass Studio
One of the artists at the Morean Glass Studio hot shop
Location: 714 1st Avenue North, St. Petersburg, Florida
Hours: 12 PM-5 PM with glass demonstrations at the top of the hour
Cost: $10 per person, or free with Chihuly Collection admission
After visiting the Chihuly Collection (above), the perfect follow-up is a stop by the hot shop at the Morean Glass Studio.
Over the course of 30-45 minutes, you’ll learn about each step of the glass blowing process, from heating the glass to adding color to shaping it into the final vase, bowl, or cup.
There will be 2-3 glassblowers working during each demonstration, with one taking the lead on the process side of things, and another narrating the experience as he or she helps out.
Watching the molten ball of hot soda, limestone, and sand slowly turn into a delicate piece of glasswork is something that everyone in your family will find fascinating.
There’s a Q&A at the end of each demonstration if you’d like to learn more about the artists’ backgrounds, education, process, or projects.
Afterwards, visit the attached gallery to purchase some of the works of these talented artists.
NOTE: The hot shop is not air conditioned, which can make for a warm experience during the summer. The hot shop does keep the air moving as much as possible by keeping the large, garage-style doors open and multiple fans going.
That being said, you’ll want to bring plenty of water and attend an earlier demonstration if you’re sensitive to the heat. These cooling towels are also a great way to beat the heat to better enjoy the demonstration.
Museum of Fine Arts St. Petersburg
Location: 255 Beach Drive NE, St. Petersburg, Florida
Hours: Closed Monday, Tuesday-Saturday 10 AM-5 PM, Sunday 12 PM-5 PM
Cost: Adults $22, Seniors, Military, Teachers, and Students $17, Children 7-17 $12
You can’t miss the exterior of this museum with its massive columns. It’s on the corner of Beach Drive and 2nd Street NE, making it within easy walking distance of the St. Petersburg Pier.
(If you’re coming from the Pier, jump on the free trolley that runs up and down 2nd Street, and take it all the way to the end of the route for a quick way to access the museum.)
While the exterior might look stuffy, the museum itself works hard to be accessible to everyone.
Ask at the information desk in the huge lobby area for their kids’ materials. They have kid-centric pamphlets that encourage younger visitors to find art pieces on a specific topic like fruit, families, or buildings.
My kids completed a couple of these pamphlets during our visit and enjoyed looking through the ones we didn’t have time to finish.
There’s a wide variety of art here from Renaissance paintings (filled with cute baby angels that my kids adored!) to modern sculpture to postmodern video-based exhibits.
St. Petersburg Mural Bike Tour
Colorful mural by Derek Donnelly in downtown St. Pete | source
Sometimes, a museum is more than just a building!
St. Petersburg has worked to bring art to literally everyone walking and driving the streets thanks to the hundreds of murals the city has commissioned.
The murals are found across the city from Central Avenue to the Waterfront to the Edge District and feature themes like underwater creatures, local visionaries, pop art, vintage Florida, colorful abstraction, and (my favorite) a fishing T-Rex.
While anyone can view the murals, the best way to see them is with a guide who can fully explains each mural’s significance and more about the artist’s background.
Taking a guided bike tour of the St. Pete murals is fun and informative. It’s great for families with kids who want to learn and be outside all at the same time.
If kids want to ride their own bike, they’ll need to be 4’9”, but the company also has an adjustable passenger seat that allows younger kids to join the fun, too.
You’ll even get to see my favorite dino-themed mural on this tour!
Grab tickets here:
Imagine Museum
Location: 1901 Central Avenue, St. Petersburg, Florida
Hours: Closed Monday, Tuesday and Thursday 10 AM-8 PM, Wednesday and Friday-Sunday 10 AM-5 PM
Cost: Adults $15, Seniors and Military $13, Teachers, College students and Children 7-17 $10.
Build on the experiences you had at the Chihuly Collection and the Morean Glass Studio with a visit to the Imagine Museum.
This glass-centric museum explores all of the possibilities of the medium within contemporary art. You’ll find huge sculptures adorning the ceilings, intricate tabletop pieces, and some that infuse glass with light and technology.
There are pieces from artists across the world, which is a great way to talk with your kids about both art and geography.
Take your kids to the Talk Back Wall, where they’re encouraged to add to the museum with their own sketches, doodles, self-portraits, and favorite quotes. You’ll find all of the materials needed for this project in the museum daily. Just bring your creativity!
On Saturdays, the museum hosts a kid-friendly docent-led museum tour that culminates with a related craft project. These tours are free with admission.
Check availability and grab your tickets here:
Sunken Gardens
Location: 1825 4th North Street, St. Petersburg, Florida
Hours: Monday-Saturday 10 AM-4:30 PM, Sunday Noon-4:30 PM
Cost: Adults $15, Seniors $12, Children 2-12 $6
Part decorative garden, part historical site, the Sunken Gardens are a true piece of Old Florida.
The botanical gardens that you see today started as a small backyard project of a plumber who lived on this property in 1911. That project grew into an obsession as he added hundreds of plants, built ponds, and bought up additional land.
In the late 1990s, the property was deeded to the city after it was designated a National Historic Site, and today, it is a popular choice for picnics and leisurely afternoon walks.
You’ll be able to wander the gardens amidst its more than 50,000 tropical and subtropical plants, visit with the local birds, and see the fish swimming in the koi ponds.
The property is beautiful and has retained much of its historic charm. The original visitors center from the 1940s now serves as the gift shop!
There are several stone picnic tables throughout the property, so pack a lunch and relax for a while.
Great Explorations Children’s Museum
Location: 1925 4th North Street, St. Petersburg, Florida
Hours: Monday-Saturday 10:30 AM-4 PM, Sunday 12 PM-4 PM
Cost: $12 adults, $15 Children 1-17, infants free
Located next to the historic Sunken Gardens, the Great Explorations Children’s Museum is the perfect place to let your kids learn while they run around.
We visited on the same day as we explored Sunken Gardens, and it was the perfect way to spend a rainy day in the St. Pete area.
Kids can choose from multiple interactive exhibits scattered throughout the large warehouse-style building.
They can try their hand at different musical instruments, climb a 2-story rope tower, listen at one of the scheduled story times, take care of their favorite stuffy at the vet, and practice their best news anchor voice.
Fairgrounds St. Pete
Location: 2606 Fairfield Avenue South, St. Petersburg, Florida
Hours: Monday 5 PM-10:30 PM, Tuesday and Wednesday closed, Thursday 12 PM-7:30 PM, Friday 12 PM-10:30 PM, Saturday 10 AM-12:30 PM, Sunday 10 AM-7:30 PM
Cost: Adults $27, Seniors and Florida residents $25, College students $25, Children 4-12 $22
One of the areas in Fairgrounds St. Pete that recalls an Old Florida motel | source
The art comes alive at Fairgrounds St. Pete as you’re invited to explore, touch, and wonder at the incredible, dream-like, and contemporary displays here.
You’ll walk through larger than life shrimp cocktail statues, immerse yourself in quirky themed home decor, and wander the mural-lined hallways of this inventive museum.
It reminds me a lot of the playfulness and slightly psychedelic feeling of Meow Wolf Santa Fe’s House of Eternal Return: you don’t always understand what you’re looking at, but it’s still really, really fun.
It’s a bit like Meow Wolf in that there are hidden clues within the larger exhibit, but you also don’t have to complete that aspect to otherwise enjoy the museum.
Kids will love the dreamy, weird feeling of this place that’s anything but a traditional art museum.
Grab your tickets here:
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