Three years feels enormous when you measure it in kids.
The State Museum of Pennsylvania closed for renovations in August and is expected to reopen in early 2029. By then, Raina will be four. Roland will be a teenager.
And when I think about it that way, it's actually a little heartbreaking.
Because I can already measure a pretty substantial chunk of my kids' childhoods in this museum.
When Roland was a toddler, he loved walking through Mammal Hall and assigning the animals roles. "That's Daddy Wolf. That's Mommy Wolf. Make a story!" Then we'd get to another display. "That fox is me and that one is baby Rhysie. Make a story!"
So I did. Over and over and over.
Photo credit: Photo by Rachael Benion
When Rhys went through his outer space stage, the planetarium practically became our second home. We watched balloon drops and celebrated Noon Year's Eve there year after year. At some point, one of my children won a Halloween costume contest there, although I have reached the stage of parenthood where I genuinely cannot remember which child.
More recently, Roland reached the age where he could wander off a little and learn his own thing. When the museum's Native American exhibit closed, he mourned it. But that disappointment led us into a long and fascinating conversation about historical accuracy, whose stories museums tell and why an exhibit we had grown accustomed to seeing was no longer appropriate.
Somewhere along the way, we became friends with the curators.
So yes, three years is a long time.
But The State Museum isn't exactly disappearing for three years.
The museum is leaving the building
While its Harrisburg building undergoes a $79.73 million renovation, State Museum educators are taking some of that hands-on learning out into the community. A new partnership with the Dauphin County Library System brings monthly history and natural science programs to the George & Hettie Love Memorial Library in Harrisburg.
The 45-minute programs are designed primarily for kids in pre-K through second grade, they're free, and they include the sort of touch-it, try-it, make-something learning that has always been one of my favorite parts of the museum.
Photo credit: Photo by Rachael Benion
First up: a 382nd birthday party for William Penn
On Wednesday, Oct. 14 from noon to 12:45 p.m., museum educators will host Party Like It's 1644! Happy Birthday, William Penn! at Love Memorial Library.
Kids will explore what a celebration might have looked like in the 1640s and make a period toy. The museum's partnership announcement also says participants will sample a traditional period cake. If food allergies are a concern, the museum asks families to contact its education outreach team for ingredient information.
The program is free, but space is limited and preregistration is required.
Find details and registration information for the William Penn program here.
And the museum keeps coming back
The State Museum and Dauphin County Library System have announced monthly programs through December.
Wednesday, Nov. 18, noon-12:45 p.m. - The Eastern Wild Turkey
Kids will learn about one of Pennsylvania's most recognizable native birds and get hands-on with a turkey tail, wing, feet and skull. Registration opens at 10 a.m. Monday, Oct. 19.
Wednesday, Dec. 9, noon-12:45 p.m. - Pennsylvania's Tree: The Eastern Hemlock
This one explores Pennsylvania's state tree, forest ecology and tree rings. Registration also opens at 10 a.m. Monday, Oct. 19.
Both programs are free, geared primarily toward pre-K through second grade, and held at George & Hettie Love Memorial Library, 530 S. 29th St. in Harrisburg.
See the State Museum and Dauphin County Library System program series.
There's something for the bigger history and science kids, too
The museum is also continuing free virtual programming during the closure. Its current calendar includes an Oct. 9 program on African Americans in Pennsylvania regiments during the Revolutionary War, Death in the Geologic Record on Nov. 13, and a Dec. 11 program looking at how new research has changed historians' understanding of Washington's crossing of the Delaware.
Those aren't aimed specifically at little kids, but for older homeschoolers, history kids, science kids or grown-ups who happily disappear down the same rabbit holes, they're worth knowing about.
Check The State Museum's current program calendar here.
What's happening inside the museum?
The building itself is in the middle of the largest comprehensive upgrade to the complex since it opened in 1964. The $79.73 million project includes a new welcome experience, new visitor amenities, an event space and roof terrace, an educational observation level in the PHMC tower, improved collections storage and a new changing exhibit gallery.
Photo credit: Photo by Rachael Benion
Whatever the finished museum looks like, the kids walking back through those doors in 2029 won't be quite the same kids who walked out in 2026.
That's the part that gets me.
Raina will be four. Roland will be a teenager. Three years of childhood will have happened while the building was closed.
But I love that The State Museum isn't asking local families to simply wait three years for it to come back. Its educators are still here, still teaching, still putting something strange or fascinating in front of a kid and giving them a reason to ask another question on the ride home.
The building may be gone from their childhoods for a little while.
The museum doesn't have to be.
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