Curiosity Place is open for sneak peeks and play!

The Great Lakes Children’s Museum is on the Move! Our museum is moving to the Grand Traverse Mall to make way for the Freshwater Research and Innovation Center. After 18 amazing years of growth, it’s time for us to move out. And with  23 years experience delivering brain-building facilitated programs AND brain-body connecting gallery play spaces, it’s time for us to build what our community needs.

Join us at our new location: Curiosity Place powered by GLCM at the Grand Traverse Mall!

Curiosity Place is currently open to the public for play in the galleries and to shop in the Power of Play Store! We still need to have our front door installed and inspected before we can be fully open and take reservations. We ordered a new one over the summer and it has twice been delayed due to the big hurricanes this fall. This has caused delays in getting fully open, but under a temporary occupancy permit allows us to be open while we wait. The galleries are 90% complete – there are a few exhibits we’re still putting together behind a curtain.
The best way to come visit is to call us (the ‘office’ number below) or check social media before coming in. If we’re closed for construction we’ll post it online. We recently made the decision to close Mondays while we still have construction going on, but we plan to be open 7 days per week once the inspector has signed off on the entryway.

This update was written on 11/13/2024. Sign up for our newsletter below for the most up-to-date information!

Sign up for email updates on the move, surveys, and donor opportunities! Donate to the Museum Transition Fund

While the Museum works through the process of zoning, developing, and funding our new permanent home, we are preparing to move into a temporary location. A space like the Grand Traverse Mall would allow us to expand our visitor base and have much-needed room for additional programming and events. Because only a few of our current exhibits can be moved, new exhibits are in development. Exhibit themes that are highly interactive and visitor favorites have been carefully selected. These include a birth-to-age-3 zone, a physics exhibit with balls and ramps, a Northern Michigan forest maze, and a large train table with a rotating engineering challenge.

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Research suggests play is crucial for a child’s cognitive and psychological development. According to multiple American Academy of Pediatrics studies, playful learning plays a significant role in improving a child’s ability to concentrate, filter out distractions, and develop self-regulation and self-control. In other words, play helps children learn better. Moreover, research has shown that museum-based learning can provide direct learning experiences and enhance valuable educational processes to improve children’s learning outcomes. (Braund & Reiss, 2006; Holmes, 2011).

 

Join us in creating a new Great Lakes Children’s Museum for Traverse City and her visitors!

 

Sign up for email updates on the move, surveys, and donor opportunities! Donate to the Museum Transition Fund