Children's Museum of Denver, Children's museum in Denver, United States.

The Children's Museum of Denver is a multi-floor children's museum located near the South Platte River in Denver, Colorado, with hands-on exhibit areas covering art, science, and everyday community life. The spaces are arranged so that young visitors can move freely between zones and interact directly with what they find there.

The museum was founded in June 1973 in a traveling bus. In 1975 it moved into a renovated building on Bannock Street, and in 1984 it settled along the South Platte River. A $16.1 million expansion broke ground in spring 2014, doubling the building's size and adding eight exhibits; it reopened on November 20, 2015, as the Children's Museum of Denver at Marsico Campus.

The museum's role-play areas include Ready Vet Go, My Market and Fire Station No. 1, where children take on the work of a veterinarian, shopkeeper or firefighter. The exhibits follow constructivist ideas from Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky, who held that children build knowledge through firsthand play, so spaces are designed for adults to join in rather than watch.

The museum works best for children up to around 8 years old, and adults are expected to stay with them throughout the visit since the areas are open and easy to move between. Weekends and school holidays tend to draw more visitors, so arriving early in the day helps.

The museum has an outdoor area with water play features that sits right along the South Platte River, making it a popular stop on warm days. This outdoor space is often just as busy as the indoor exhibits.