Expanded Children’s Museum of Denver at Marsico Campus to open this November

~ Grand Reopening brings expanded facility and multiple new kid-powered learning exhibits ~

Denver, CO – It’s the moment Colorado children have been waiting for. After five years of planning and a year and a half of construction, the date is set for the Grand Reopening of the expanded Children’s Museum of Denver at Marsico Campus: November 20, 2015.

On this date, the Children’s Museum will debut a greatly expanded facility featuring six new exhibits and plenty of extra amenities, including a new admission area and a dedicated school group entrance, an expanded gift shop, new café and additional parking.

Altitude, The Art Studio, Community Tree, Energy, The Teaching Kitchen and Water will join the Museum’s popular collection of existing exhibits to make the Museum bigger and better than ever before. Here’s a look at what visitors can experience in each new space:

• Altitude – Scramble up a towering 3½ story climber filled with Colorado icons and a 360° glass peak.
• The Art Studio – Find your inner Rembrandt in this 2,300 sq ft gallery featuring clay, multiple painting experiences and an artist-in-residence program.
• Community Tree – Start your Museum visit at the wildly imaginative entry experience which uses photography to celebrate play, creative expression and our diverse community.
• Energy – Find, collect and use resources like wind, solar and fossil fuel to power amazing things.
• The Teaching Kitchen – Children will be the chefs in this hands-on, fully-equipped kitchen.
• Water – Investigate, test and make predictions about H2O in this splish-splashing urban water experience.

Over the past year, the Museum has completed several expansion milestones, including the debut of Joy Park: An Outdoor Adventure, in June 2015. This 30,000 sq ft year-round outdoor experience evokes Colorado’s varied natural landscape and features sand dunes, rivers, forts and ruins, and a dual zip line. Other notable additions include the installation of “Cloudscape,” a sculpture by Christopher Lavery, which was formerly located at Denver International Airport, the opening of Village of Healthy Smiles, a dental-health inspired exhibit for children newborn through age 3, and 80 additional parking spaces. With a new name and an entirely new look and feel, the Museum will be transformed into a completely different space – in the most exciting ways possible.

The $16.1 million expansion has been the brain-child of dedicated Museum staff, board members, donors and community advisors, and is finally coming to life after years of hard work and grit.

“It has taken a momentous effort from far too many people to name to turn this powerful dream into a reality,” said Mike Yankovich, President and CEO of the Children’s Museum of Denver at Marsico Campus. “The expanded Museum is a compilation of our hopes and wishes to create a world-class experience for all of Colorado’s young children to discover and learn more, on their own terms. I couldn’t be more thrilled with the results.”

Save the date for Friday, November 20, 2015 to experience the new exhibits firsthand. In the meantime, visit mychildsmuseum.org for a complete listing of current and upcoming experiences.

About the Children’s Museum of Denver
The mission of the Children’s Museum of Denver is to create extraordinary experiences that champion the wonder and joy of childhood. We believe in kid-powered learning and every day, our expertly designed exhibits and programs open doors for Colorado’s curious young minds to express what they know and to discover, create and explore more – on their own terms.
Since 1973, the Children’s Museum of Denver has served the metro-Denver community as a learning institute dedicated to the education and growth of young children and their caregivers. The Museum provides rich play experiences and a dynamic learning environment for children to joyously learn through innovative and interactive hands-on exhibits, engaging daily programming and year-round special events. Last year, they served more than 359,000 children and their grown-ups.
The Children’s Museum of Denver is a 501(c)(3), private non-profit organization, and a Tier II SCFD member.