The Children’s Museum of Southern Minnesota and all children’s museums across the world have one thing in common: a team of people making the magic happen. People who make the exhibits, people who raise the money to create the spaces, people who manage members and funds, and many more. When you visit the Museum, however,
Last week the calendar turned from summer to fall officially, and this week it turns from September to October. October means cooler days, longer nights, falling leaves, and the end of harvest. At the Museum, that means it’s time for Autumn Adventures! All month long, guests can look forward to an immersive fall experience. Musical
If you come into the Museum on any given day, there will be a sandwich board in the lobby explaining what’s happening. Could be special events, could be pop-up activities and programming, or it could be one of our regularly scheduled weekly programs. The Children’s Museum of Southern Minnesota offers weekly programming designed to provide
The bounty from gardens is overflowing. Sweatshirts need to be worn after sundown. The local pools have been drained. The faintest yellowing of leaves on trees hints at what the calendar proves true: summer is almost over. The school-aged kids and their teachers are back in classrooms and the parks are just a little bit quieter.
On Tuesday, July 19, members of the Museum’s Ignite Society joined together to celebrate a year of change and growth. The private appreciation event is held each year at the Museum after hours to highlight the new exhibits, share food and drink, and catch up on everything the CMSM has done over the past year.
A mixed seed packet. Really strong winds. The bottom of someone’s shoe. A bird passing overhead at just the right moment. These are the ways a rogue seed might make its way into a garden patch where it wasn’t intentionally planted. The circumstances might be all wrong for the seed, but it gets plopped down
Our spaces at the Museum are designed with ages 0-9 at the forefront, but that doesn’t mean they’re not fun for everyone! We recently shared the valuable ways play is good for people of any age, and we want to follow up with ways families can play together both in our spaces and in your
The Children’s Museum of Southern Minnesota is targeted for children ages 0-10, which means parents or caregivers are always present. We are not a drop-off facility. One of the fun things Museum playworkers and other families get to observe is how those parents and caregivers interact with the exhibits as well. We have found there
You may have heard about the Museum’s big expansion news or more recently have seen the preliminary plans for the space in the newspaper. While there are lots of exciting things going on in the plans for the new space, one thing is clear: we will be increasing our outdoor nature play adventuring opportunities. Exploration
While we are all super excited for the big changes we have coming at the Museum, we also continue to experience smaller growth and development all the time! Right now we’re excited for the upcoming installation of the first outdoor musical instrument in our music garden. When the grassy area was added to our Mayo
The excitement hasn’t stopped on the Dotson Back 40 since we opened the Mud Kitchen (and even celebrated International Mud Day!) and encouraged kids of all ages to get messy. Parents can feel at ease when we let our kids explore and get mucky and grubby at the Museum instead of at home. Don’t worry,
Most people have a memory of a favorite pet from childhood. If they didn’t have one of their own, they might conjure up thoughts of a grandparent’s, neighbor’s, or friend’s pet they loved at some point in their lives. We think of how cute they are when we look at them, how soft they might