Check out Sensory Saturdays at Children’s Museum of Eastern Oregon in Pendleton

Published 8:00 am Monday, May 19, 2025

PENDLETON — If you haven’t taken your child to “Sensory Saturdays” at the Children’s Museum of Eastern Oregon, 400 S. Main St., it’s time to treat them to a fun, sensory learning experience.

Executive Director Maggie McGrew hosts these hands-on learning experiences at the museum on Saturdays with sessions from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 2-5 p.m.

“Every Saturday, I put together a sensory experience of some kind, usually in several sensory bins,” McGrew said. “It’s a fun way for the kids to engage all of their senses, helping them with their problem-solving skills, their fine motor skills, and their emotional regulation.”

One popular sensory experience that McGrew created for the kids involved a bin with three large glasses of water, and she dyed them red, yellow and blue. Around them were smaller cups where the kids could use pipettes and mix the dyed waters together.

“They had a ton of fun doing it,” McGrew said.

Another sensory experience she designed was a bin with pretend dinosaur fossils buried in sand for the kids to “find and match” with a corresponding card that McGrew put out. Two or three kids can engage at a time, but the sensory bins are available all day long for children to rotate and do again, if they want. When not exploring the bins, the children may explore the rest of the museum.

A group package is available for parents or teachers who want to register ahead. To bring a group of kids, visit the museum website at  www.cmeo.org. Admission to the museum, including “Sensory Saturdays,” is $8 per person at the door.

“Sensory Saturdays experiences are ideal for toddlers to late elementary age kids,” McGrew said. “Their hands-on experiences tend to be fun but messy, so those aren’t things they can take home.”

However, the museum also hosts an art room where kids can take home the things they have created. There is also a room where they can build things with blue foam blocks that are fun to play with and wooden slats with plastic nuts and bolts that kids can build with.

“We also have a pirate ship, a fire station and a pizza shop,” McGrew said.

The museum is open Tuesday through Saturday. Children must be accompanied by someone over the age of 16, McGrew said. For more information, call 541-276-1066 or visit www.cmeo.org.

“We would love for children of all ages to explore here using all of their senses,” she said.