The Lincoln Children’s Museum
If you are planning on heading out to Lincoln Nebraska with your family, make sure to come and visit the Lincoln Children’s Museum. This Lincoln museum caters to children of all age brackets and is both fun and educational. The interactive programs available at the Lincoln Children’s Museum allows for your kids to have an unforgettable experience as well as an educational and enriching trip.
The Lincoln Children’s Museum was incorporated in 1987 and was created by a group of caring and committed educators and parents. This dynamic group of people envisioned a project that would lead to Lincoln Nebraska children exploring and discovering new and fun ways of learning. This Lincoln museum’s incorporation also led to their introduction of the concept of a hands-on learning museum. This was created in August of 1988, where they had the “Sights and Sounds” exhibit at the state fairgrounds. This exhibit lasted for ten days and was able to attract approximately 10,000 children and their parents.
A permanent museum was then opened up on December 2 of 1989 with the generosity of three local foundations that gave them start-up grants. That atrium in downtown Lincoln attracted 15,000 visitors on its first year despite just being in a simple leased area of 7,500 square feet. 1991 saw the Lincoln Children’s Museum move to its next location in a former department store building. This area was double the space of what they occupied the last time and spiked their attendance to 80,000 annually. Then in 1998, the City of Lincoln agreed to a partnership with the Museum contingent with the help of a successful fund drive and a city bond issue. The new site was renovated with the help of the approved $1.9 million city bond issue and the $4.1 million that was raised by the Lincoln Children’s Museum itself from a public capital campaign. The efforts totaled to $6 million and thus creating this Lincoln Nebraska museum as one of Lincoln’s landmark city sites. The new Lincoln Children’s Museum’s grand opening was held on October 21 of 2000. The doors were opened at 1420 P Street and allowed access to their Grand Opening Festivities
Today the Lincoln Children’s Museum attracts school field trips and families because of all the interactive programs that they offer. They offer sessions for toddlers where both children and parents bond and take part in interactive and educational activities. There is also a set of programs for preschoolers where the activities are geared towards encouraging the children to participate in more engaging and social games.