The Louisiana Children's Museum is turning 40, and it's celebrating with free admission, free cake and an '80s-themed birthday bash at its New Orleans City Park campus. The party comes as the museum tries to solve a problem that has nagged at it for years: what happens to kids once they get too old for a children's museum.
According to Axios, children typically age out of children's museums around age 8 or 9, and New Orleans has no dedicated science museum option to catch them afterward. The birthday party itself will run all day with free admission underwritten by the Saints and Pelicans, plus throwback music and retro activities for families of all ages, the outlet reports.
A Teen Takeover With DJ Sets and '80s Games
From 3 to 5 p.m., the celebration shifts into what organizers are calling a teen takeover, featuring a DJ, '80s lawn games and crafts, per the same account. That segment ties directly into the museum's newer mission: keeping older kids engaged rather than losing them once they outgrow toddler-focused exhibits.
The museum is now in the second year of a teen mentoring pilot program designed to help participants build confidence and character while teaching presentation and workforce skills. CEO Tifferney White said the addition has changed the feel of the building. “It's so awesome to have the teens in the building because they just add a different level of energy,” White said, according to the article, written by Carlie Kollath Wells.
A $2.5 Million Grant Behind the Age-Up Push
The teen program is funded by the Lilly Endowment, and organizers plan to work with roughly 500 teens over three years. That funding traces back to a $2.5 million multi-year grant the museum received in April 2025 — the largest non-capital campaign gift in its 40-year history, according to Biz New Orleans. The grant came through the Lilly Endowment's national “Fostering Character Through Children's Museums” initiative, which selected 23 institutions nationwide.
That same funding is supporting an 800-square-foot permanent exhibit called “Character Connects Us,” built specifically to retain and engage kids ages 8 to 14 alongside the paid mentorship program, Biz New Orleans reported in a more recent piece. The museum is also preparing a floating classroom for public opening and an outdoor classroom under the oak trees in its backyard, and it uses its expanded campus to experiment with new events, programming and exhibits, per Axios. Other offerings include a Kindergarten Kickoff that familiarizes children with routines like boarding a bus and carrying a lunch tray, a Mud Fest for kids, and a water feature that lets children learn about the Mississippi River.
From a Flooded Warehouse to an 8.5-Acre Campus
The museum's current City Park campus opened in August 2019 as a $47.5 million facility spanning 8.5 acres — more than double the footprint of its longtime Julia Street location, according to Axios. That original Warehouse District home, at 420 Julia Street, had housed the museum since its 1986 founding before the building was later redeveloped into a mixed-use social club and residential facility, as Engineering News-Record has detailed. Hoodline previously reported on that Warehouse District building's transformation in a story on 420 Julia's rebrand.
Designed by architecture firm Mithun, the 56,000-square-foot City Park building achieved LEED Gold certification through features like radiant slab cooling, rainwater cisterns and passive solar shading, all while preserving the park's centuries-old live oak trees, according to Architectural Record. The relocation itself was driven by Hurricane Katrina, which flooded the museum's original location in 2005 and exposed severe disparities in child educational outcomes across the region, the same outlet reported.
Leadership Pushing a National Profile
White took over as president and CEO of the Louisiana Children's Museum in March 2023, arriving from a role as Chief Learning Officer for Discovery Place in North Carolina. In July 2025, she was elected vice president of the board of directors for the Association of Children's Museums, a group representing hundreds of youth-focused institutions nationally, according to Biz New Orleans.
The museum has also built a track record on accessibility, participating in the national Museums for All initiative that offers $4.95 general admission for up to four people to families presenting a Louisiana SNAP EBT card. In 2015, the museum received the National Medal for Museum and Library Service from the Institute of Museum and Library Services — the nation's highest honor for community service by a museum, and one that makes it the only children's museum in Louisiana to receive the distinction, per Biz New Orleans.
