Seattle Children's Museum
This organization has already been registered
Someone in your organization has already registered and setup an account. would you like to join their team?Profile owner : d*******s@s********************m.o*g
Mission Statement
Our mission is to engage children, and the people who care for them, in playful, creative, hands-on exploration and discovery. Our purpose is to encourage kids and adults alike to embrace active, lifelong learning. We create and maintain museum spaces, events, and programs that are inclusive, engaging, playful, and fun for ALL of the region's kids and families. We envision a region where children, families, students, and educators have a wide network of facilities to support them in learning, engagement, play, and quality time together. We strive to be an essential part of that network.
About This Cause
The Seattle Children’s Museum was founded in 1980 to engage children and families in playful learning. Our 18,000 square foot location, right in the middle of the beautiful Seattle Center campus, offers our visitors endless opportunities for imagination, curiosity and adventure. Our fantastic staff, all-day admission, and the many activities, experiences and food venues on campus ensure that visitors enjoy their time at Seattle Children’s Museum. In April 2022, the Museum reopened after a two-year pandemic closure and has been strategically and incrementally rebuilding its operations. GOALS: - Set the stage for young children to build competency through engagement, interactions, physical challenges and hands-on experiences - Renew a deep commitment to fostering literacy, art, language, numeracy and communication skills for kids from birth to 10 years old - Connect to Seattle’s varied and diverse neighborhoods - Create and renew exhibits that have justice, equity, inclusion, diversity, visibility, access and anti-racism built in. - Build relationships with the early learning community in and around the region With exhibits stretching all over 14,000 square feet of space, visitors find imaginative adventure around every corner. All of our exhibits are open for exploratory play, where children take the lead in how they experience the Museum. Throughout the day, our educators provide additional drop-in programs and activities. EXHIBITS: - Amazing Airways: Explore the power of air by testing items flying through clear tubes - Corner Workshop: Get creative making changing art, science, or engineering activities -- or design your own project! - The Mountain: Adventure through recreated Pacific Northwest habitats, including a forest, cave, and snowy mountaintop - The Neighborhood: Explore what makes a community through a variety of common neighborhood establishments in our largest and most popular exhibit, with mini-exhibits including a post office, community clinic, veterinary office, theater, construction zone, grocery store, and fire station - Orca Cove: Designed for visitors aged 0-3 years, play using Puget Sound-themed activities that engage gross-motor and fine-motor skills, creative play, and sensory development of our littlest learners - Raindrop Reading Room: Unwind in the cozy story space with rotating books curated by Museum educators - Sound Transit: Delve into things that go in our community, with a play lightrail train and bus, gigantic foam building blocks, and Puget Sound train/transit tables - Tribal Tales: Explore storytelling through the voices and tales of Coast Salish traditions, including puppets, puzzles, and books - Twists & Turns: Test physics and engineering using cars, Seattle-themed tracks, and other interactive building sets - Short-term exhibits: Experience something new as we explore new ideas with regularly-changing exhibits, including our seasonal Winter Market (open December - February) EDUCATION & PROGRAMMING: Museum admission includes daily drop-in programs, rotating drop-in activities, and play facilitated by our trained museum education staff. Community partners and organizations frequently showcase their art, science, culture, and expertise as special program guests, their interactive programming included with admission. Visitors can also participate in other playful learning programs, including field trips, classes, and seasonal break camps, which provide opportunities for children to explore ideas through play with guided, in-depth programming led by Museum staff. ACCESS: SCM prioritizes access to all of its offerings for our region's children and their adults. Our largest current access program is our participation in the national program, Museums for All. Under this program, visitors with EBT, CHIP, Provider One, WIC, and Apple Health receive heavily reduced admission and membership, as well as discounts on all other museum programs and events. Additional access programs include Passport To Play (partnering with community organizations to provide free/reduced admission or field trips to their audiences); seasonal community discounts (Blue Star Museum program for free admission to active/retired military families, Memorial Day - Labor Day); and Seattle Public Library Museum pass program (free passes for check-out with an SPL card). CURRENT SUCCESSES & NEEDS: SCM reopened in April 2022 and we continue to rebuild and reshape the organization for our community. One of our current initiatives is to refresh all of our exhibits over the next few years to better serve the needs and interests of our community. In collaboration with community partners, we are currently working our way through our exhibits to revamp them in ways that strengthen the learning goals, expand the types of playful learning to increase access and learning outcomes, and spotlight local connections in each exhibit so that the entire museum is rooted in our greater Seattle region. Additional upcoming initiatives include strategic planning; expanding community outreach and engagement; and expanding access and inclusion projects to ensure all visitors can thrive when visiting SCM. Our greatest limitation is our capacity to meet the current demand since we are still rebuilding our staff size and community of financial supporters.