Minnesota Children’s Museum

The Minnesota Children’s Museum encourages exploration and discovery to inspire young minds. The museum has family-friendly play areas where kids may take the lead and adults can relax. The museum encourages the development of important life skills such as confidence, critical thinking, and communication by providing open-ended, self-directed experiences through its interactive exhibits and events.

St. Paul’s children’s museum has ten different permanent exhibitions for kids of all ages to enjoy, such as a four-story climber and spiral slide, a laser labyrinth, a car wash, ball launchers, a maker space, a pretend village, and a gallery just for preschoolers. In addition, there is a gallery housing temporary exhibitions that changes its offerings every few months.

The hands-on exhibits created by the Minnesota Children’s Museum are in high demand at other children’s museums and discovery centers. Play is effective and shared by all. It’s a natural tendency that aids a child’s development and sets the stage for a lifetime of health and happiness. However, the amount of time youngsters spend playing is steadily declining due to pressures such as screen time, adult-led academic activities, safety fears, and busy family schedules.

Young children gain the foundational abilities for academic achievement, social development, and adult success through play. Kids enjoy fun and develop a positive outlook on life when they play. Play is not a waste of time; rather, it is crucial. That’s why they’re trying to get more people playing and provide parents tools to encourage their kids to learn via play.

The Minnesota Children’s Museum holds the firm idea that play is transformative and can bridge cultural, social, and religious divides. The museum encourages all families to visit and witness the transformative nature of play. Through its All-Play initiative, families from low-income backgrounds have access to reduced-price admission and museum membership.

The AwareHouse, the first museum dedicated to children, debuted in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota, in the winter of 1981. With 80,000 annual visitors, the Minneapolis Museum of Art swiftly outgrown its first home in the city’s central business district. After renovating a former blacksmith shop in Bandana Square from dirt walls into 18,000 square feet of galleries, the museum relocated there in 1985. The museum’s popularity and collection once again caused it to outgrow its Bandana Square location in the early 1990s.

The Minnesota Children’s Museum opened in September 1995 in downtown St. Paul area, boasting 65,000 square feet of exhibition and activity space. The Maze, which is now the gigantic anthill in Earth World, the Habitot, and the Crane, which is now in the World Works gallery, are three of the most popular exhibits from Bandana Square that were relocated to the new museum.

The Museum has now been visited by over 6 million kids and their families. The Museum announced a $26 million expansion proposal in September 2012  and work began in late 2015. The Children’s Museum shut down in December 2016 to undergo a $30 million makeover. It would reveal a new design, 10 additional exhibitions, a cafe/coffee shop, expanded restrooms, and additional elevators. A public reopening of the Museum took place in June of 2017.

The Minnesota Children’s Museum is a 501 (c) (3) community nonprofit that relies on the generosity of individuals, businesses, and foundations to continue providing exceptional educational opportunities and enriching experiences for children.

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