Stay Healthy, Play Healthy

Stay Healthy, Play Healthy

*3/18 UPDATE:  Gilbert House Children’s Museum will be closed March 14th-April 28th.
Following recent developments and the closure announcement impacting Salem-Keizer schools, the Museum will follow suit as a precautionary measure for the health of our community. 

At Gilbert House Children’s Museum, the health and safety of our visitors is a vital priority year-round.  We have daily cleaning and sanitation schedules in place to provide a safe and healthy environment for families to enjoy.

It is natural to have concerns and questions regarding the coronavirus (COVID-19) in Oregon.  It is our goal to provide you the information you need to make the right decisions for your family, and to provide assurance of the protocols we currently have in place.  Our Facilities and Visitor Services team have actively reviewed these procedures and increased the intervals of routine sanitation:

  • Highly accessed surfaces, including doorknobs, banisters, and handles are disinfected every hour.
  • Exhibit and bathroom surfaces are disinfected twice daily.
  • Soft props (e.g., dress-up clothes, puppets, etc.) are laundered every day.
  • Hard props (e.g., play food, sand toys, etc.) are disinfected every day.
  • Items that require immediate attention (i.e., objects placed in a tiny mouth) are placed in cleaning bins throughout exhibits and disinfected before returning to the play area.
  • Classroom spaces are sanitized before each class/workshop.
  • We’ve pared down the quantity of props, removing items of particular concern.

The Museum remains open for play Tuesday-Sunday, 10 a.m.- 5 p.m.  We are following best practice regarding our operations in accordance with guidelines provided by Association of Children’s Museums and Center for Disease Control (CDC).  Any vital updates pertaining to the museum will be posted on our homepage, and Facebook page.  Current programming announcements include the following:

  • Field trips scheduled within the next 30 days will be postponed, or cancelled.
  • The Museum will be limiting our daily visitor count to 250.  You may call before your visit, if you’d like to check on our daily count: (503) 371-3631.
  • Our Members Only Night, scheduled for March 13th, has been cancelled.
  • The Creative Space and The Gilbert Engineering Studio activities will cease for 30 days.

We ask that our visitors do their part in keeping the museum and our community a healthy place.  We encourage visitors to practice hygiene protocols of frequent handwashing (scrubbing for 20 seconds) or use of hand sanitizer.  We request that if you or your child are feeling unwell, that you refrain from visiting the museum for the benefit of others, until symptoms subside.  Thank you for helping Gilbert House Children’s Museum maintain a worry-free play environment.

There is no need for healthy individuals to refrain from play at the museum.  Talk with your children about fighting germs and illness by handwashing, eating healthy foods, and getting good rest.  Choose a favorite song to sing together for 20 seconds while washing hands, and model good hygiene.  To learn more about prevention, the World Health Organization (WHO) is a trusted resource we recommend.