Portland

Family-friendly Oregon activities including water parks, ski slopes, historical adventures and more.

  • Portland Children's Museum
    Portland

    Portland Pick: Portland Children’s Museum

    We’ve been to dozens of children’s museums around the country, but few are as innovative as the Portland Children’s Museum. The staff cleverly imported a creative educational philosophy from Italy — Reggio Emilia — to create a museum that subtly integrates texture and touch, light and learning. The Reggio Emilia philosophy believes that the environment is the “third teacher” for children; a child’s playspaces should be aesthetically attractive and interactive. Children experiment with color and light along the Twilight Trail, using clear Lego-type building blocks, puppets and light pens. Kids splash (themselves, the wall, their parents) in the large Water Works room, create in the Clay Studio, and scramble up a…