Exhibits & Programming
In Land, we root.
Through Sky, we rise.
Together, we grow.
The Grand Forks Children’s Museum is being designed as a hands-on STEAM learning destination where children explore, create, imagine, and discover through play. Inspired by the landscapes, industries, communities, and wide-open skies of the Red River Valley, each gallery invites children and caregivers to learn together through movement, storytelling, problem-solving, experimentation, and wonder.
Designed for Play-Based Learning
Every exhibit is designed to put play first. Children will test ideas, make choices, build confidence, move their bodies, use their senses, and discover STEAM concepts in ways that feel joyful and natural. From quiet toddler moments to high-energy climbing, building, water play, role play, light, sound, weather, and space exploration, the museum will offer something for every kind of learner.
Land Level
Rooted in the landscapes and communities of Grand Forks and the Red River Valley, the Land Level invites children to explore the world close to home through agriculture, water, community life, movement, sensory play, and storytelling.
Big Backyard
Toddler Gallery
Big Backyard is a cozy, sensory-rich retreat designed especially for the museum’s youngest visitors and their caregivers. Soft climbing areas, tactile surfaces, a baby corral, music, a sprout garden, a tree trunk tunnel, and a small beehive climber invite toddlers to crawl, climb, touch, listen, pretend, and explore at their own pace.
Learning through play:
Early movement, sensory exploration, caregiver connection, curiosity, agency, early nature concepts, and developmentally appropriate social play.
Harvest Hustle
Farm-to-Table Gallery
Harvest Hustle turns the journey of food into a lively, whole-body adventure. Children plant, harvest, sort, scrub, send, transport, and process crops from the Red River Valley through ball-driven interactives, crop sorting, grain cars, a combine harvester, ball walls, and the Silly Silo. The gallery helps children see how local agriculture moves from field to table and beyond.
Learning through play:
Agriculture, food systems, sequencing, gravity, motion, sorting, cause and effect, transportation, collaboration, gross motor development, and systems thinking.
Friendly Forks
Community Imaginative Play Gallery
Friendly Forks is a playful town environment inspired by Grand Forks and East Grand Forks. Children can shop in the grocery store, prepare and serve food in the café, create performances in the theatre, care for patients in the clinic, build structures in Build-It, and move trains through a miniature regional landscape. As they play, children discover how people, places, jobs, food, transportation, buildings, art, and community systems all connect.
Learning through play:
Imaginative role play, empathy, storytelling, collaboration, communication, systems thinking, healthy choices, local agriculture, design, building, sound, movement, and creative expression.
River Run
Red River Water Play Gallery
River Run brings the energy and importance of the Red River into a hands-on water experience. Children can explore how water moves, changes direction, carries objects, and shapes communities through interactive water play inspired by the region’s river systems.
Learning through play:
Flow, force, cause and effect, engineering, observation, problem-solving, water systems, stewardship, and the role of the river in regional life.
Grow
Grow is the museum’s iconic two-story climber, connecting the Land Level below with the Sky Level above. Children will climb, balance, choose pathways, move through vertical space, and build confidence as they travel from the grounded rhythms of Land into the lightness of Sky.
Learning through play:
Gross motor development, balance, coordination, confidence, spatial awareness, perseverance, risk assessment, independence, and connection between the museum’s two exhibit worlds.
Conceptual View of "Grow" from east-facing building facade (facing 42nd St.)
Back-side, or Exhibit-side, of Grow Climber, showing both 1st and 2nd floor activities
Conceptual drawing of Grow Climber & activities
Conceptual View of "Grow" from east-facing building facade (facing 42nd St.)
Sky Level
The Sky Level lifts visitors into the wide horizons above the Red River Valley. Through hands-on experiences with weather, flight, airflow, energy, space, light, sound, patterns, and atmosphere, children explore big ideas in imaginative, approachable ways.
Sky Lab
Flight, Airflow & Energy Lab
Sky Lab invites children to experiment with the forces that move through the sky. Visitors can launch aircraft, explore hovering objects, visualize airflow, test wind, design at a hands-on table, look from above, and build a turbine. It is a place for testing, tinkering, adjusting, and trying again.
Learning through play:
Flight, air movement, wind, lift, drag, energy, engineering, design thinking, prediction, experimentation, and iteration.
Space Time
Solar System, Secret Codes & Infinity
Space Time expands the museum journey beyond Earth. Through solar system exploration, secret codes, and an infinity mirror experience, children can investigate space, scale, patterns, communication, and the mysteries of time and distance.
Learning through play:
Astronomy, planets, scale, sequencing, codes, pattern recognition, logic, perspective, and wonder about the universe.
Wonder
Patterns, Senses & Sky Phenomena
Wonder invites children to slow down and notice the hidden patterns, sounds, smells, textures, and phenomena of the sky. Experiences such as Touch the Sky, Speed of Sound, Smells of the Sky, See the Sky, Cloud Designer, Storm Center, Sky Mosaic, and Patterns in Nature encourage close observation and sensory discovery.
Learning through play:
Weather, clouds, storms, sound, senses, pattern recognition, observation, natural phenomena, creativity, and scientific curiosity.
Glow
Light, Color & Shadow
Glow is a multi-sensory exploration of light, color, reflection, and shadow. Children can experiment with RGB light, reflections, a soft sky retreat, and a sky portal, discovering how light changes what we see and how spaces feel.
Learning through play:
Color mixing, reflection, light and shadow, sensory exploration, visual perception, cause and effect, creativity, and calm discovery.
Programs That Bring the Museum to Life
The exhibits create the space. Programming brings it to life. The Grand Forks Children’s Museum will support year-round learning through hands-on STEAM programs, school and early childhood partnerships, family experiences, rotating activities, maker opportunities, and community events.
Programs will invite children to ask questions, test ideas, create, move, collaborate, and discover in ways that feel playful, welcoming, and accessible. From early childhood exploration to school visits, family workshops, and creative learning experiences, programming will help every visit feel active, meaningful, and new.
Family STEAM Programs
Hands-on activities that invite children and caregivers to explore science, technology, engineering, art, and math together.
Maker, Art & Creative Learning
Open-ended projects that encourage design, experimentation, storytelling, building, and creative confidence.
School & Group Experiences
Field trips, classroom connections, and guided learning opportunities that support educators and bring learning to life through play.
Community Events & Seasonal Learning
Programs, pop-ups, and special events that keep the museum active, fresh, and connected to the community year-round.
Early Childhood Experiences
Developmentally thoughtful programs for young children and caregivers, rooted in sensory play, movement, language, and connection.
Outreach & Traveling Programs
Hands-on museum programs that travel to schools, daycares, rural communities, and events, making playful STEAM learning more accessible across the region.
Help Bring the Museum to Life
The exhibits are designed. The building is taking shape. Now, your support helps bring the full museum experience to life through hands-on programming, outreach, creative learning, and playful discovery for children across our region.
Together, we are creating a place where children can root themselves in the world around them, rise into imagination and possibility, and grow through the power of play.