The Children’s Museum of Southern Minnesota is all about hands-on play and unique programs and events. Read below to learn more about what is happening in the Museum galleries. If you would like the Museum’s upcoming events delivered to your email address, click here to sign up for our mailing list!
The Children’s Museum of Southern Minnesota reserves the right to change the programming plans. Please watch this website and Facebook page for updates.
Now open 7 days a week, Monday through Sunday! (June 3 – August 26)
Thursday, August 29, 9 am – 12 pm
Come see alpacas visiting from Lazy Day Farm out of North Mankato!
The alpacas will be in the Museum’s Alltech Farm Animal Experience. This alpaca visit is included with Museum membership or daily admission.
Sunday, September 8, 9 am – 4 pm
Mark your calendars and plan to bring your family to the Children’s Museum for a fun, FREE day of activities sponsored by Scheels!
Friday, 10:00 am – 12:00 pm
June 7 – August 23
Join Museum Educators and Family Medicine Residents from Mayo Clinic Health System for a summer of healthy snacks and beverages! Every Friday, Museum visitors will have an opportunity to taste some healthy snacks and try infused water.
This program is developed in partnership with Mayo Clinic Health System.
Saturday, September 14, 9 am – 4 pm
Corner of County Roads 12 & 17, East of Mankato
Join us for our second annual earth-moving event that puts YOU in the driver’s seat! Come move, haul, lift, and explore construction equipment, with the help of expert operators.
This family fun day will showcase mobile and stationary heavy construction equipment, demonstrations, and a variety of hands-on activities for all ages. Come see our dozers, excavators, drones, a Trade Alley, Kids Zone, and more!
All proceeds from this fundraiser go to the Children’s Museum of Southern Minnesota.
Learn more about the event here.
Monarch Metamorphosis
The month of August
Learn how a tiny egg on a milkweed plant turns into a beautiful monarch butterfly. Come explore hands-on activities about monarch metamorphosis and help us release monarchs after they hatch.
Museum Pigs
The white pig is a Yorkshire gilt, and the red pig is a Duroc gilt. Gilts are young female pigs. They arrived at the end of May, weighing between 55 and 60 pounds at two months old. They will be raised at the Museum and will go to market in the fall. The local ECHO food shelf will receive the meat.
Thank you to Compart Family Farms for donating the pigs, Minnesota Pork Board for sponsoring our pig program, and Alltech for donating the feed.
Museum Chickens
The chickens in the Farmyard hatched in the incubator at the Museum the first week in May. These chickens will be raised as egg-layers and the hens will start laying eggs this fall. Breeds that we have in the coop are: Barred Rock, Rhode Island Reds, White Chochin, Easter Egger, and a Blue Andalusian. Do you think we’ll have any roosters in this bunch? Keep watching to see how they grow and develop!
Thank you to Compeer for a grant that allowed us to build the chicken coop and update the pen for this exhibit, and to Alltech for providing feed for the chickens.
Wednesdays, 9:30, 10:00, 10:30 am
Toddler Wednesday is a weekly program geared towards the Museum’s youngest visitors. Children are naturally curious, and in these sessions, that curiosity is embraced and nourished. Toddler Wednesday enhances Museum experience by encouraging children to move around and take a closer look at things that are going on. There is no worry about making it through the whole session, or showing up at the very beginning. Your child will sometimes get into it and enjoy the program, and sometimes they won’t, which is perfectly okay!
As you arrive and check in, pick up your “ticket” at the front desk, then take it to the Rotary Education Center at the beginning of your session. Toddler Wednesday program is included with Museum membership or daily admission.
August 7
Stories under the Tree – Join us for silly stories under the tree in the Courtyard.
August 14
Eating Out with Children – Let’s talk about dining out and share ideas on making these family experiences more enjoyable. This program is created in partnership with Mayo Clinic Health System.
August 21
Everything Blocks – We’ll explore blocks of different sizes and materials. Let’s see what we can build!
August 28
Parachute Popcorn – It’s time for parachute play!
Summer STEAM Hours
Monday – Saturday: 10 am – 12 pm & 1 – 3 pm
Sunday: 1 – 3 pm
Climb into Cecil’s Imagineering Loft and enjoy STEAM programming seven days a week throughout the summer months! These programs are designed with children age 6 and beyond in mind, but everyone is welcome to play and learn in the Loft! Included with Museum membership or daily admission.
August 5 – 11
Fire Science – Explore fire. What is fire? What does it do? Why does that happen? How can we stay safe around it?
August 12 – 18
Outdoor Ecology – What is outside? How can we be ecologists? What can we find outdoors?
August 19 – 25
A Healthy Me – Let’s do a deep dive into how the body works! What are some amazing things about our bodies? How do we maximize what our bodies can do? We’ll meet in the Loft to learn more about these awesome machines!
August 26 – September 1
The Seasons upon Us – Join us in the Loft to learn about seasons. Why do they happen, and how do they affect our planet and the life that inhabits it?
Available daily, Monday through Sunday, in the Kato Engineering Explorers’ Lab
August 5 – 18
Balancing: Balance your body on a beam and balance blocks on a fulcrum.
August 19 – 25
Garden Cuttings: Practice using scissors by cutting plants into pieces. Can you recognize any of the smells?
Wednesdays, 2:00 – 3:00 pm
The North Mankato Taylor Library Bookmobile will stop at the Museum every Wednesday from 2:00 – 3:00 pm. Check out some new materials, or return any area library books. During the Bookmobile’s visit, Amy will come into the Museum for a storytime in one of the galleries.
Thursdays, 12:30 – 2:30 pm
New mothers and mothers-to-be interested in breastfeeding are encouraged to visit the Mankato Area Baby Café. Baby Café is a national network of breastfeeding drop-ins, combining breastfeeding information with a relaxed, informal environment where mothers can chat and learn about breastfeeding from skilled practitioners and each other. Mankato Area Baby Café is made possible by Mayo Clinic Health System.
For more information, call 507.594.2967.