New museum to teach kids new lessons

In the basement of River Park Square, amid the whirs of drills and the buzzes of saws, a new attraction for families is taking shape.

Wednesday, in the light of bare light bulbs, the stewards of the project stood among unfinished walls and painted an image of a functioning Filipino village standing alongside an enchanted forest full of toddlers; dramas and comedies being written and performed by children who just finished learning about a river’s ecosystem; entertainment, creativity and education acting in perfect harmony.

Mobius Kids, a 16,000-square-foot hands-on discovery museum for toddlers to 10-year-olds is scheduled to open this Labor Day. The group was formed in a January merger of the Children’s Museum of Spokane and Inland Northwest Science and Technology Center.

Mobius board chairwoman Linda Elkin, executive director Gage Stromberg, and director of exhibits and educational programming Mary Brandt teased the small crowd touring the unfinished building with descriptions of exhibits already in construction.

A new installation dubbed Cooper’s Corner will simulate the real world and will teach children safety. A stage area will facilitate dramatic play and provide hands-on experiences of how real theaters work backstage.

A special section of the museum, the Enchanted Forest, designed specially for toddlers will feature a tree house. A mock-up of a Filipino village will allow visitors to explore another culture.

“The focus will still be on pre-kindergarten through third grade, but we will be adding in additional programming for kids ages fourth to eighth grade that will primarily be science space,” Stromberg said.

Geotopia, an installation with stream and erosion tables, will explore the combination of water and weather and its relation to the ecosystem. An insect area will play host to hissing cockroaches, rose hair tarantulas, crickets and ants. Kids and parents can dig for fossils at a special table.

Spokane resident Indgrid Cambell, 42, said she considers herself a huge supporter of the museum and has been working on the marketing for Mobius. The tour was her first chance to see the space.

“I think it’s awesome. I’m really impressed by it, but I especially love the huge openness of it.”

Elkin said some old exhibits from the Children’s Museum’s Post Street location, which closed in August 2003, would return revamped, renovated and integrated in a different way.

Stromberg said he was most looking forward to the first temporary traveling exhibit, dubbed “Take Flight.”

The installation will provide a testing field for young inventors to develop paper airplanes and rockets.

The museum will feature many improvements from the old location Children’s Museum, including an additional 7,000 square feet, and a single floor with mostly unobstructed views.

“The idea is that kids and parents will be able to see each other really well throughout the whole space,” Gage said. “We will be better able to do more programming, more classroom kinds of things, more birthday parties.”

Access to the museum will be available from a special elevator entrance on Main Street between the Pottery Barn and Banana Republic stores and from a stairway from the River Park Square atrium.

Elkin said the organization had raised 75 percent of the $800,000 overall first year operating budget, which includes the costs of construction and maintaining the organization. All of the funding for the primary building has come from private donations and foundations.

Elkin said the completion of the project is critical for establishing credibility with the community and creating visibility for Mobius.

The group is also planning a new science and technology center to be built on the north bank of Riverfront Park in 2007. That project has secured $1.5 million from the state legislature for planning and development of that location.