For over 25 years, Minnesota Children’s Museum has been providing a play experience infused with learning for over 6 million visitors. Experimentation, creative self-expression, investigation and role-playing help children discover themselves and the world around them. This is the aim of the exhibits and programs at the museum.
At Minnesota Children’s Museum, kids will have a blast discovering an exciting, immersive world that arouses their curiosity, increases their understanding, and ignites an appreciation for learning. There are seven galleries uniquely designed to provide a hands-on, stimulating environment for children from six months to 10 years old. The museum provides people roving around that engage kids in fun, interactive play like blowing bubbles, tossing balls, playing with finger puppets, and other activities depending upon the age of the child. Those who provide stimulating play experiences for kids are called “funstigators.”
Right now the Museum is in gearing up for their expansion project:
“Thinking Small” in a Big Way
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. “When we were opening the Museum in Minneapolis years ago, we had very limited financial resources and were behind schedule,” says Harwood. “The night before the grand opening I remember painting the exhibits with Board members late into the night, trying desperately to finish before the doors opened the next day.” During the first year, 65,000 visitors embraced “thinking small” in a big way.Sparking Children’s Learning Through Play
Minnesota Children’s Museum is dedicated to providing children with a fun, hands-on and stimulating environment to explore and discover. The Museum helps to instill a life-long love of learning by nurturing the real-world skills children need to become engaged citizens in the future.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.
CURRENT EXHIBITS:
Sid the Science Kid:The Super-Duper Exhibit!
Creativity Jam Imagine & Creativity Jam Make
Earth World (Permanent Exhibit)
Habitot (Permanent Exhibit)
Our World (Permanent Exhibit)
Rooftop ArtPark (Permanent Exhibit)
World Works (Permanent Exhibit)
Check the calendar for other events. The current hours of the museum are as follows:
Monday: Closed
Tuesday – Thursday: 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Friday & Saturday: 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Sunday: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m
Minnesota Children’s Museum
10 West Seventh Street, St. Paul, MN 55102
Phone: 651-225-6000
Facebook: Minnesota Children’s Museum
