When the Brooklyn Children’s Museum opened in 1899, it was the only museum for the young in the world, debuting with a collection of natural history specimens—minerals, birds, insects, shells, and models of plants and animals. In 1900, the museum opened a library of nearly 1,000 books. And shortly after WWII it began utilizing new and innovative exhibits to explore and explain science and technology to kids.

In the next decade or so several museums for kids sprang up, but it wasn’t until the mid-1970s that we began to see the array of children’s museums that allow young people to do the kinds of hands-on learning that we see in imagination centers like the Brooklyn Children’s Museum, the Strong Museum, the Please Touch Museum, the Minnesota Children’s Museum, and the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis.

The rising popularity of these types of facilities resulted in the development of the Association of Children’s Museums, which was created in the early ’60s to further the vision of these exploratoriums for kids. According to Christine Tompkins, manager of member services of the ACM, there was a significant explosion of growth among the number of children’s museums coming online in the 1980s and 1990s. Their numbers show that in 1975 there were approximately 38 children’s museums in the U.S. Between 1976 and 1990, 80 new facilities opened, and from 1991 until 2001, an additional 100 children’s museums sprang on the scene.

These existing museums continue to expand (all the museums mentioned have ambitious plans for future growth), and new museums surface in communities around the world at a rate that suggests children’s museums have become an essential aspect of learning for kids worldwide.

A Museum Grows in Brooklyn
The Brooklyn Children’s Museum, the oldest children’s museum in the U.S., currently draws approximately 250,000 visitors annually. According to Allison Devers, public relations manager, they are now considering doubling their space, which stands at 50,000 square feet. She feels there will be no problem serving 400,000 the first year after completion of the expansion, set for 2006. “We have just run out of room,” Devers says.

Although the Brooklyn Children’s Museum was established first, Devers says they have worked very hard to keep up with and even lead such trends as exploring social issues in their exhibits and using up-to-date teaching techniques like inquiry-based learning. “I guess our feeling is that even though we are the oldest, we are a contemporary leader as well. We modernized 25 years ago and do all the modern things that other children’s museums do,” Devers says. “The one big difference between our museum and other museums is that most don’t have collections, and because ours was founded based on cultural objects, every exhibit we create has collections objects.”

Beyond the 10 different galleries that explore world culture and natural science and the exhibits that change frequently, BCM has another focus—the community. On December 2, 2002 the museum was recognized for its work with underserved youth through the “Coming Up Taller Awards” at a ceremony on Capitol Hill. The award turned the spotlight on BCM programs like “Museum Team,” a free, year-round after-school program that serves more than 700 neighborhood youth, ages seven to 18. The program provides learning opportunities at the museum and in the community.

Members begin in “Kids Crew” with educational programs and clubs, and then move on to volunteer positions, community service, paid internships, and career exploration, Devers says. The museum also runs a summer program in which it offers free community entertainment on its rooftop every Friday. “It’s great, people come and dance and clap to the music. We have community partnerships on so many levels, it’s important to our livelihood and our neighborhood. We get strength from them and they get strength from us.”

Carol Enseki, president of the Brooklyn Children’s Museum, says the current trend is toward parents involving their children in cultural aspects of the community at an earlier age, and BCM is trying to cater to that trend. She believes children’s museums give families a sense of ownership; that they are integrated in the community life. But Enseki knows that educating young people and providing the services starts with getting kids through the door. “Our expansion concerns lie in addressing how we can offer more educational programs while balancing the education with fun,” Enseki says.

BCM planners are making the museum more accessible through public transportation and are increasing its visibility through signage and additional marketing. To this end, Devers says, “We are also learning from the entertainment industry by offering amenities so people can spend a longer amount of time here.”

A Strong Museum
The Strong Museum in Rochester, N.Y., has plenty of interactive programs for kids that are intended to complement what they learn in the classroom. On the museum’s classes du jour are topics like communication, growing up in 19th-century America, monetary concepts, food and nutrition, patriotism, immigration, industrialization, and more. The museum recently introduced an interactive, bilingual exhibit for children ages seven through 12 called “Name that Stereotype” in which kids can experience how prejudice and discrimination feel at the “Kid’s Bridge” or the “School Bus Showdown.”

Confronting social issues and staying relevant to the community are two of the Strong Museum’s best characteristics, but its stunning growth in the past few years and beyond is the story of the hour. From 1997 to 1998 the museum exceeded its seven-year goal of increasing annual attendance from 130,000 to 280,000. The 1998 attendance showed that 300,000 people had passed through the doors. This spring, builders will break ground to add 140,000 square feet to the existing 168,000-square-foot museum, a $26 million project. Expected completion is sometime in 2005.

One of the reasons for the popularity is the interactive exhibits that, in addition to the collections, make the Strong Museum a well-rounded and engaging experience for young people. The museum has more than 500,000 objects of Americana in its collections, including a 1918 working Allen Herschell carousel and an antique train replica that still offers rides.

One of the most exciting exhibits at the Strong Museum is a television studio where children can create and participate in a commercial or a cooking show. In the communications gallery, children sit in a helicopter and talk on walkie-talkies or study Braille and sign language. There are even kiosks in the “Time Lab” where children may view film clips of different periods in history. G. Rollie Adams, president and CEO of the Strong Museum, says their goal is to try to educate as well as entertain. “Learning should be fun, but we have to get them in the door first,” he says.

During some of the more difficult years in the ’80s, the Strong Museum staff had to rethink many aspects of their everyday operations. One of the things they did was remove some of the ticket takers and security guards and replace them with hosts and hostesses. The director of human resources and the head of the host and hostess staff went through a Disney training session. Today they have developed their own training workshops, which teach customer service, how to smile, and how to be unintimidating.

Touchy Subject
Growth has been a contentious issue at the Please Touch Museum in Philadelphia, Pa. Please Touch is designed for children seven years old and younger, and draws about 190,000 visitors annually. The museum is looking to expand from 40,000 square feet to 135,000, but its expansion plans suffered a setback recently when the developer planning the project pulled out in August. Staff still plans to expand and will hopefully have another site lined up by spring 2003. “We have just grown out of space,” says Kathleen Miller, PR and marketing coordinator of the museum.

Open since 1976, the museum began as a pilot project using space donated by the Academy of Natural Sciences. In the past few years, as the museum experienced a great deal of success, planners intended to move the museum to Penn’s Landing on the Philadelphia waterfront, a part of the city that was the focus of a major remodeling and cleanup effort by the city’s then-mayor, Ed Rendell. However, “for a variety of reasons, the developer of the Family Entertainment Center [that was planned to be next to the PTM] has withdrawn from the project, causing the museum to rethink its options,” the web site states. Although the future is now uncertain, museum planners still want to go ahead with their plan to develop the redesigned 45,000 square feet of new exhibits. Until they decide on a plan, they are investing in the current museum to keep visitors coming.

Beyond renovations and expansion, the Please Touch Museum has an entire department devoted to community programs. One program is called the “Aces Program,” which includes between 20 to 25 high school students who are considered at risk. They come in one day a week and are taught certain skills geared toward helping them get jobs. “They come in and help with the mailing, they use the fax machines, and we have them writing certain things as well as showing them how to write their own resumes and such,” Miller says. “We also have been focusing a lot on our theater program. We have two theater employees who hold a new show here every month. It is usually based on children’s books, sometimes from our own creations.”

Miller says the museum also sponsors forums that have a local concern tied to them. In December 2001, the Please Touch Museum conducted a forum on young people and how to help them cope with disaster. These types of programs have continued throughout the period of expansion ambiguity.

And inside the museum, kids are still in their own world of make-believe. Kids can actually punch in on a time clock and bake tasty treats in The Supermarket! exhibit, one of the museum’s most popular. They can also become news anchors and producers in the television studio. Kids can even have a tea party with the Mad Hatter and March Hare in the Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland exhibit.

Hands-On
A common theme in every children’s museum, even ones designed for very young children, is interactivity. The most popular exhibits among children are the ones that involve them, that promote learning through participation, says Devers. Daredevils visiting the Minnesota Children’s Museum during the traditional run of the Snow Ball! Slide into Winter Fun exhibit can swoosh down a spiral slide 45 feet from the third floor balcony onto the second floor atrium, landing right outside the gallery entrance. Or, elsewhere in the museum, they can crawl through a large anthill maze, interact with live animals, or stimulate a little weather activity. “They can actually manipulate the clouds and create a storm,” says director of marketing Jackie Northeart.

The 60,000-square-foot Minnesota Children’s Museum has been open for 20 years and annually draws approximately 350,000 visitors. Northeart says they are constantly trying to add new touches to the museum. One recent project that brought success was the “Spark Cart,” which offers an activity to the children in the museum and changes frequently. One day it may offer face painting, and the next day it may offer small arts projects.

At the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis, youngsters can get dirty in an archaeological dig, sit in a driver’s seat of an Indianapolis race car, and delve into the world of science through interactive experiments. Or, they may climb a limestone wall, ride on an antique carousel under a starry night, climb into a tree house, or view some of the museum’s 110,000 artifacts. Jennifer Tate, public relations coordinator, says there’s no better way to learn than through play.

This museum also includes a 130-seat SpaceQuest Planetarium and a 350-seat performing arts venue. Children can learn how people around the world celebrate, communicate, and imagine in the Passport to the World gallery, or they can relax and eat at the Reflections Restaurant, which is designed as a marketplace.

Gaining Ground
Beyond the attendance and additions that this industry has experienced, new children’s museums will be popping up around the world in the upcoming months and years. The Wonder Works museum in Oak Park, Ill., which will open with 6,400 square feet of exhibits, educational programming, and a children’s party room, is just one of a dozen museums that are currently being built. Also opening in 2003 is the Waterloo Regional Children’s Museum, which will be located in a historic building in downtown Kitchener, Ontario. The museum will focus on teaching children about the place where art and technology meet interactivity and creation.

Devers says that in a time when children around the world have an array of toys and video games at their disposal, museums are a wonderful asset to communities, which is one reason for their popularity. “We find kids to be completely active and engaged when they’re here. We have educators who reach out to them and they’re doing inquiry-based learning,” Devers says. “Their attention span is not really a factor. That may be one of the reasons that children’s museums are successful—they are capturing children’s imaginations. We’ve recognized that as children’s museums become more of a focal point in people’s lives they will continue to grow.”