Minnesota Children's Museum Off Site Exhibits
Early literacy environments will be installed in non-museum locations throughout Greater Minnesota. Storyland: A Trip Through Childhood Favorites, a small exhibit based on a larger national touring exhibit, will also tour sites throughout Greater Minnesota.
Smart Play Spots
The Museum's goal was to develop, fabricate and install at least six interactive, three dimensional early literacy learning environments in libraries across the state. The Legacy funding has since allowed the Museum to make a greater impact and is now being used to leverage additional community support at each Spot location increasing the number of installations to upwards of nine sites. The first of the Legacy supported sites at the Grand Rapids Library in northern Minnesota is slated to open August 8th. We are already in various stages of development, fabrication and installation on six of the sites with the next opening slated for later this fall. Current sites include Willmar Public Library (Willmar), Ramsey County Library (Maplewood), Great River Regional Library (St. Cloud), Owatonna Public Library (Owatonna), Washington County Library (Woodbury), White Earth Childcare Center (White Earth). Supporting the development of the six pre-literacy skills, the Museum believes that Smart Play Spots will strengthen communities, particularly in the area of early childhood education and literacy, which is crucial to education attainment and economic vitality.
Storyland: A Trip Through Childhood Favorites
Funding received from the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund is being is being used to support the launch of a statewide tour in Minnesota. Still traveling on the first leg of its regional tour funded by the Arts and Cultural Legacy fun of 2009, Storyland has not only been delighting children and families, it has been enthusiastically received in each of its communities. To date, the exhibit has traveled to Worthington, Elk River, and Redwood Falls and has recently opened in Chisholm. Additionally, we are happy to report that, based on a professional evaluation conducted by Blue Scarf Consulting; the exhibit has been successful in achieving our goals of increasing the understanding for an interest in reading in children. Also, the evaluation was able to conclude that Storyland helped change adults’ perception of the critical role they play in their child’s early literacy learning.
Support from the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund has provided a solid foundation for our efforts toward activating the Museum’s reach throughout the state with an eye toward providing opportunities for all children to learn through play. We thank the State of Minnesota for its support through the Clean Water, Land and Legacy amendment. Please contact James Lekvin, Grants Manager, at 651-225-6034 if you have questions or need additional information.