3D rendering of the new Outdoor Steam Park, with multiple play areas in a courtyard surrounded by trees and flowers.
 

Coming Soon: The Outdoor STEAM Park

Where Science, Nature & Play Come Together

3D rendering of the new Outdoor Steam Park, with multiple play areas in a courtyard surrounded by trees and flowers.

A whole new world of outdoor discovery is taking shape at the Mid-Hudson Discovery Museum! Our new 5,000-square-foot Outdoor STEAM Park will bring Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics beyond the museum walls through hands-on play, nature, and adventure. Children and families will have the opportunity to climb, splash, experiment, build, explore, and discover the science of the world around them.

What happens when you combine science with the freedom to play? Discovery!
The Outdoor STEAM Park is designed to give children something even more valuable than the answer: the opportunity to figure things out for themselves. Through open-ended play and hands-on exploration, children can ask questions, test ideas, solve problems, and make discoveries of their own.

Construction is underway on the south side of the museum, with the park anticipated to open in summer 2027.

Experience Four Zones of Discovery

Native Hudson Valley plants in brick planters will be part of the MHDM sensory garden.

Sensory Garden: See, Hear, Smell, Touch & Discover

  • Located in our outdoor environmental classroom.
  • A planted labyrinth to explore the living environment through sight, sound, smell, and touch.
  • Native plants, including trees, herbs, and edible plants.
  • Interactive features that use light, sound, magnification, and more.
  • A telescope offering views toward the Hudson River and the surrounding landscape.

A boy laughs as he slides down a large metal slide at the Mid-Hudson Discovery Museum.

Highland Adventure: Climb Higher. Slide Faster. Explore Further.

  • Climb, scramble, balance, and explore in an area designed for movement and adventure.
  • A natural stone scramble leading to side-by-side embankment slides, where children can move up, down, and around.
  • Develop balance, coordination, and pathfinding skills.

Rendering of the centerpiece play area with interactive water features.

Centerpiece Experience: Explore Water Flow, Gravity, & Motion

  • At the heart of the park, interactive elements bring children and families together for cooperative discovery.
  • Water pumps, channels, and troughs allow children to move, redirect, and control water.
  • Hands-on opportunities to explore water flow, gravity, motion, and simple machines.

A child adds a metal dam to a water channel made from rocks and sand.

Water Shed: Play With the Power of Water

  • Climb, balance, imaginative play, and hands-on water experimentation.
  • Pumps, water wheels, dams, flooders, and an Archimedes screw.
  • Manipulate water and discover concepts such as gravity, water flow, pressure, energy, and simple machines.

A new place to play. A new place to explore. A new way to discover.
Play Today. Discover for a Lifetime.

The new Outdoor STEAM Park was developed with generous funding from:
Dyson Foundation
Empire State Development
Marshall and Sterling
James J McCann Charitable Trust
NY State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation
Scenic Hudson

Three kids observe a magnifying glass in a playground on a bright summer day.

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