A Peek Inside the Grand Forks Children’s Museum

If you’ve driven past the future home of the Grand Forks Children’s Museum lately, you’ve seen it: steel beams reaching upward, the foundation poured, the first outlines of a place built for curiosity and joy. The building is still raw and exposed, but that’s part of the magic as you can finally see the museum beginning to stand.

While construction crews shape the building, our team has been shaping the experiences that will bring it to life. Every exhibit has been designed to reflect our region, celebrate hands‑on learning, and to give children a place where imagination feels limitless. Even at this early stage, you can almost picture the energy that will fill these walls: toddlers discovering textures and sounds, kids building stories in a child‑sized town, trains winding through landscapes, crops moving through a playful harvest system. Above it all, the SKY exhibit is rising as a signature experience, shaped by wind, weather, light, and sound that invite children to look up, listen, and wonder.

The Exhibits Are Coming to Life

The museum will open with a collection of experiences that celebrate exploration in all its forms.

• Our youngest visitors will have a cozy, nature‑inspired space designed just for them, a gentle place to crawl, climb, listen, and discover.

• Older children will step into a miniature community where they can cook, perform, care for patients, run shops, and build their own version of Grand Forks and East Grand Forks through imaginative play. A bustling train system will invite kids to design routes and move goods, learning how transportation connects people and places. A lively agricultural adventure will honor our region’s farming heritage, letting children plant, harvest, sort, and send crops through a fast‑paced processing system.

• Above it all is SKY: a floor dedicated to the phenomena that shape our world.

  Children will explore wind, weather, light, sound, and movement through hands‑on stations like the wind chamber, Eye in the Sky, and the wonder table. It’s a place where noticing becomes investigating, and investigating becomes imagination.

• Connecting the floors, the Grow Climber will offer a soaring, hands‑on adventure where children can test their courage, choose their own pathways, and discover the thrill of reaching new heights. Designed to feel both bold and welcoming, it’s a place where independence grows, confidence builds, and every ascent becomes a story of “I did it.”

• Suspended pieces and art hung throughout the museum will add layers of color, motion, and texture, transforming the building into a place where creativity is felt in every direction. These works will frame spaces, float overhead, and create moments of surprise that enrich the experience of play and discovery.

Sky Exhibit

Each of these experiences has its own story, its own purpose, inspiration, and

spark. In the weeks ahead, we’ll share more insights into these areas and each exhibits, one by one. Think of this as your first look at the museum’s heartbeat. Over time, we’ll take you deeper into every corner: how the ideas are formed, what children will learn, and the moments of joy we hope each space will create.

The beams are up. The foundation is set. And the experiences that will fill this space are ready to be shared.

A new chapter of play and discovery is on its way.

Katie Mayer, Executive Director, Grand Forks Children's Museum