Mister Rogers Free Day

Fred Rogers is a beloved icon for Pittsburgh and we believe it’s important to continue to memorialize his wonderful and meaningful work, as well as help today’s children and families better relate to his many invaluable messages.

We celebrate the life and work of Fred Rogers on his birthday with Free Admission to the Children’s Museum.

You can find these iconic items from Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood in the Children’s Museum and MuseumLab:

Please note, MuseumLab is not open on March 20.

Original Puppets from Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood
Located in the Nursery
King Friday XIII, Queen Sara Saturday, Henrietta Pussycat, X the Owl, Lady Elaine Fairchilde, Daniel Striped Tiger and Gran Pere greet you as you enter the Nursery space.

Mister Rogers’ Sweater
Located in The Kindness Gallery
Did you know that Fred Rogers’ mother knitted him the iconic sweater that he changed into each episode? See one of Fred’s sweaters on display above a record player where you can play Daniel Tiger’s Strategy Songs

Mister Rogers’ Sneakers, Sweaters and Songbooks
Located in MuseumLab, Open Saturdays & Sundays, Noon – 5:00 pm
Fred’s iconic blue canvas sneakers and bench where he changed into them can be found in MuseumLab’s Grable Gallery, along with a collection of red sweaters you can try on, and a piano you can play that features Fred Rogers Songbooks.

Photographs of Fred Rogers by Lynn Johnson
Located in the Big Red Room Cafe

Fred Rogers & Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh

Fred Rogers has been very important for Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh – as an advisor, a mentor and a friend. Here’s a chronology of the work we’ve done with him and his team through years:

In 1998, the Children’s Museum, along with Fred Rogers and his company Family Communications, Inc. (FCI), created Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood: A Hands-on Exhibit. The exhibit welcomed hundreds of thousands of visitors for almost 10 years – both children who loved the imaginative set pieces and adults who recalled their love of the television show as children.  A sister exhibit traveled to other museums across the country for more than eight years, making friends and good neighbors for Pittsburgh wherever it went.  At the end of its tour, in the spirit of Mister Rogers, the traveling exhibit was given to the Louisiana Children’s Museum, whose facility had been devastated by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

In 2007, we created the How People Make Things exhibit in collaboration with FCI to tell the story of how everyday items are manufactured, inspired by the factory tour segments from the “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” television series.  This exhibit continues to tour to museums across the country.

In October 2011, the Museum refurbished many of the exhibit components from the Neighborhood and integrated them throughout all three floors of the Children’s Museum.

In August 2015, King Friday’s Castle and Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood Trolley, both of which were showing wear from the attention of many children over the years, were taken down.

In June 2016, we opened a new exhibit on Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood: A Grr-ific Exhibit in partnership with The Fred Rogers Company, based on Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood, the first TV series inspired by the original Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood series.  By bringing the world and characters of this award-winning animated series to life in an interactive exhibit, the important messages of Fred Rogers continue to be expressed to children and families in fun, imaginative ways.

In 2019, the Museum worked with our partners at Fred Rogers Productions (FRP, formerly Family Communications, Inc.) to create a mini version of the exhibition Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood : A Grr-ffic Exhibit at Kidsport at the Pittsburgh International Airport.

In 2021, we partnered with FRP again to develop a pop-up exhibit about the television series Donkey Hodie, an imaginative puppet series that debuted in 2021. The series features the granddaughter of the Donkey Hodie character from the original Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood show, now reimagined as “Grampy Hodie”.