Minnesota Children's Museum

The Minnesota Children's Museum is a non-profit community organization located in Saint Paul, Minnesota, US. The Museum mission statement is "providing children with a fun, hands-on and stimulating environment to explore and discover".[1] The Museum, in operation since 1981, embraces these core concepts: Early learning is the foundation for lifelong learning. Families are our children's first teachers. All children deserve a time and place to be children. Diverse perspectives enrich children's lives. Play is learning.[1]

Minnesota Children's Museum
The Minnesota Children's Museum
Former name
Minnesota's AwareHouse
Established12 December 1981 (1981-12-12)
Location10 West 7th Street, Saint Paul, Minnesota, US
Coordinates44°56′52″N 93°5′49″W
TypeChildren's museum
Websitewww.mcm.org

History

On December 12, 1981, the first children entered the original Children's Museum, known as "Minnesota's AwareHouse", in downtown Minneapolis. Attendance grew to 80,000, and the museum quickly outgrew the original space in downtown Minneapolis. In 1985, the Children's Museum moved to an old blacksmith's shop in Bandana Square, transforming dirt walls into 18,000 square feet (1,700 m2) of galleries. By the early 1990s, the museum's visitors and exhibits again outgrew the space in Bandana Square. Plans to build an even bigger museum began. The doors to the Minnesota Children's Museum in downtown Saint Paul opened with 65,000 square feet (6,000 m2) of gallery and program space in September 1995. Three of the most popular exhibits moved from Bandana Square to the Minnesota Children's Museum in downtown St. Paul: Habitot®; the Crane (which moved to the World Works gallery), and the Maze (which moved to Earth World and became the giant anthill). Today, more than 6 million children and their families have visited the Museum.[1] In September 2012, The Museum planned a $26 million expansion [2] and began renovations in late 2016.

On December 5, 2016, the Children's Museum closed until its $30 million renovation was expected to be completed in mid-April 2017. It would reveal a different layout and 10 new exhibits, along with a cafe and coffee bar, more bathrooms and elevators.[3] On June 7, 2017, the Museum reopened to the public.[4][5]

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[6]
  • 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. "History & Mission of the Minnesota Children's Museum". Minnesota Children's Museum. Archived from the original on 2010-12-08.
  2. "Children's Museum chooses design architect". Star Tribune. September 8, 2012. Retrieved April 8, 2015.
  3. "Minnesota Children's Museum closing Dec. 5 for renovations – Twin Cities". Retrieved 2017-01-03.
  4. Ingrassia, Bob (2017-05-16). "Minnesota Children's Museum Celebrates Expansion and Renovation with "Sneak Peek Days" and Grand Opening Events". Minnesota Children's Museum. Retrieved 2019-02-15.
  5. Cox, Peter (2017-06-07). "Renovated Children's Museum reopens today, and the kids already love it". www.mprnews.org. Retrieved 2019-02-15.
  6. "Permanent Exhibits of the Minnesota Children's Museum". Minnesota Children's Museum. Archived from the original on 2010-12-08.
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