My, how time flies — in a blink of an eye, The Grand Rapids Children’s Museum is all grown up.
The self-styled ‘advocate for the value of play’ celebrates its 19th year with a Birthday Party Celebration on July 31st. Festivities will include carnival games, bubbles, face painting and more as GRCM shows its appreciation to hundreds of faithful supporters.
The event dovetails with GRCM’s newest exhibit, BOXES, which opened May 24.
Paying tribute to the first traveling exhibit the GRCM ever hosted, BOXES lets kids and their adults build anything they can think of out of cardboard. There are boxes of all shapes and sizes — some that can be stuffed and weighted to use as a base for a bigger structure, some that can be cut and ripped, and some remnant cardboard pieces that can be colored, cut, torn and added on to any special creation.
“BOXES embodies the infinite open-ended play style that The Grand Rapids Children’s Museum Mission advocates,” said Jack Woller, Associate Director of the GRCM.
“Guests can build cardboard armor, cities, games and anything that their imagination can come up with.”
As with all exhibits and programs at the museum, this new exhibit is designed to let kids (and their adults) learn through play and stretch their creative muscles.
“Creativity is important to child development, and kids need to be empowered to explore and develop their creativity,” said Woller. “The exploration and experimentation in exhibits like BOXES supports a foundation for learning, invention and scientific discovery throughout life.”
BOXES runs through August, kicking off a year of special events celebrating the Grand Rapids Children’s Museum’s 20th anniversary.
For more information, contact Adrienne Brown at 616.235.4726 ext 204 or visit the website here.
