Minnesota Children's Museum

Minnesota Children’s Museum is a non-profit community organization located in Saint Paul, Minnesota. The Museum mission statement is “sparking children’s learning through play”,^[1] providing an environment where kids can touch, climb, splash, crawl, push, pull, and press it all. Children ages six months through 10 years and their adult guests can explore seven galleries filled with hands-on adventures.

Location and Hours

The Museum is on the corner of 7th and Wabasha Streets in downtown St. Paul. Admission for all ages is $8.95. The Museum hours are Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday from 9:00a.m. to 4:00p.m. and Friday 9:00a.m. to 8:00p.m. The Museum is also open Mondays 9:00a.m. to 5:00p.m. Memorial Day through Labor Day.

History

On December 12, 1981, the first children entered the original Children’s Museum in downtown Minneapolis. Known as “Minnesota’s AwareHouse,” the Museum allowed children to experience the innovative idea of hands–on children’s museums. Children who visited the Museum have found creative, colorful, educational, safe environments to explore and have discovered galleries and programs based on principles of learning. The Museum founders, Marialice Harwood, Kate Donaldson and Suzanne Payne, built a museum based on the philosophy that there would be no “Do not touch” signs in this Museum. During the first year, the Museum had 65,000 visitors^[2].

Over the next few years, attendance grew to 80,000 and the Museum quickly outgrew the original space in downtown Minneapolis. In 1985, the Museum moved to an old blacksmith’s shop in Bandana Square. Attendance the first year at this location jumped to 200,000. By the early 1990s, the Museum’s visitors and exhibits again outgrew the space in Bandana Square. The doors to Minnesota Children’s Museum in downtown St. Paul opened with 65,000 square feet (6,000 m²) of gallery and program space in September 1995. Today, more than five million children and their families have discovered the spark of learning through play.

Galleries

•Our World connects children to people and places in their community as they role play “grown–ups” in a child-size environment.
•World Works encourages creativity and problem-solving through investigation and experimentation.
•Earth World immerses children in lifelike Minnesota habitats to nurture an understanding of the natural world.
•Habitot enables infants and toddlers to safely explore four developmentally designed learning landscapes.
•Rooftop ArtPark brings nature and art together in an outdoor gallery on the Museum’s fourth-floor.
•Two special galleries offer traveling exhibits from around the world. Interactive programs, such as Story Time, Big Fun! and live animal programs happen daily.

References

1. ^ Visitor Information - Minnesota Children's Museum
2. ^ Visitor Information - Minnesota Children's Museum

External links

• Official site