• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

JillBJarvis.com

Things to do in Houston!

  • Home
  • Events Calendar
    • Houston Events for Today
  • What to do in Houston Any Day
    • Free Things to Do
    • Houston Mural Map
    • Houston Field Trips
    • Farms and Safaris
    • Houston Parks
  • Houston Restaurants
  • Family Travel
    • Family Travel from Houston
  • Resources
    • Summer Camps
    • Party Venues
    • Applying to HoustonISD Magnet Schools
    • Find a Preschool
    • Find a Doctor
    • Moving to Houston
  • Connect with Us
    • About Jill
    • Sign Up for the Newsletter
    • Contact Jill at JillBJarvis.com
    • Work with Us

Houston Printing Museum – Kids Help with Hands-On Printing… Just Like Ben Franklin Did It!

by Jill Jarvis Leave a Comment

Houston Printing Museum Equipment
Address:  1324 W Clay St, Houston, TX 77019
Hours: 10:00am-5:00pm, Tuesday-Saturday
Admission: $8 (of $10 with a tour), 12 and under are free. Parking is free.

Encouraged by our no-crowds, very educational visit to the Maritime Museum, we set off to explore all of Houston’s small museums. Next in line was the Printing Museum.

Now what I’m going to tell you next will make sense if your kids have seen Liberty’s Kids approximately 5,000 times. This is an AWESOME series about the revolutionary war and my kids know more US history at age 5 and 7 than I do right now. In this story, the kids work at Ben Franklin’s print shop on the “Pennsylvania Gazette”. We love the story so much, that my son was Ben Franklin for the last school project and the last 2 Halloweens.

Well, at the Printing Museum, there is a room with a bust of Ben Fran, framed copies of the “Pennsylvania Gazette” and big, old and working printing presses. When we saw this, we almost fell over. No joke. It made our day.

Houston Printing Museum Pennsylvania Gazette
I know this picture doesn’t look like much… but it’s the  “Pennsylvania Gazette”. THE “Pennsylvania Gazette”!

Are we a little goofy? Absolutely. Do my kids want to print a paper the same exact way that Ben Franklin did? You better believe it.

Houston Printing Museum Print Press
So, let me tell you what we learned about the Printing Museum…. Their mission is to “promote, preserve, and share the knowledge of printed communication and art as the greatest contributors to the development of the civilized world and the continuing advancement of freedom and literacy”.

Houston Printing Museum Scavenger Hunt
Visitors can take self-guided tours (and pick-up a scavenger hunt list if available), or come for a guided tour. The guided tour is the way to go, because you get to help with the hands-on printing of a copy of the Declaration of Independence (and more). These are available on Wednesdays at 10:00am, Saturdays at 2:00pm or can be scheduled for your group. (Get the latest information HERE.)

So even if you don’t fall over at the sight of the “Pennsylvania Gazette”, your kids might just fall over at the chance to help print using giant equipment and messy ink.

Houston Printing Museum Entry
The museum has lots of little rooms that weave you through the small building. Each one is full of old equipment… and the walls are lined with prints. Scavenger hunt sheets were available on our visit, and we searched for each item as we made our way.

Houston Printing Museum Outside
We learned a lot… and we got even more excited about learning more. I’d say this easy, no-big-crowd outing was a success.

Filed Under: All, Museums, Things to do March 22, 2015

About Jill Jarvis

Jill Jarvis is the owner of JillBJarvis.com, a BigKidSmallCity.com and Things to Do in Houston, with Kids, blog!

She is the mom of 4 and started the website years ago... when she was tired of constantly cleaning up the same mess in the family room.

Another mom showed her that you could just go do fun things in Houston, without hours of planning.

This inspired the blog and changed everything about how she enjoyed life in Houston, with kids!

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

jill-jarvis-bigkidsmallcity-circle-300 Welcome!  JillBJarvis.com is the go-to blog for things to do in Houston with kids!  It is upbeat and dedicated to making our big city feel small.   START HERE!    

On this website you will find a full list of Houston weekly events, things to do around the city, travel ideas and resources for parents.

I know just what it’s like to be overwhelmed by work, life and family. I spent a lot of years traveling for work, missing big milestones for my kids and feeling bad about everything.

I started this website to make a list of all the events happening around Houston and then pick one to enjoy with my kids. And instead of thinking of all the things I was missing, I started to enjoy the things we were doing together.

If you are a parent that is feeling overwhelmed by all the things you could be doing in Houston… please just use our weekly lists and daily posts as suggestions. Pick one thing to do with your family and intentionally ignore the rest!

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter

As Seen On:


Go HERE for more media appearances!

  • Privacy Policy
  • Disclosure Policy
  • About BigKidSmallCity

Copyright © 2021 · News Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in