Children's Museum, Seattle, The
Our Mission: The Children's Museum, Seattle (TCM) brings to life the joy of discovery for children and their families through fun, creative, hands-on explorations of the world around them.
Our Vision: TCM connects children from birth to age 10 and their families to the creativity within themselves and others, stimulates their appreciation for the richness of other cultures, and prepares them to live as citizens in a world of limitless possibilities. We do this by creating an environment where nothing is off-limits for children and everything is designed to speak their language. Through our interactive programming, we ignite children's curiosity and encourage them to take the lead, helping them become active, life-long learners.
Description:
The Museum's educational programs include daily hands-on activities, arts and cultural demonstrations and interactive exhibits. We provide an ideal setting for the exploration, practice and mastery of critical thinking and problem-solving skills in mathematics, science and the creative arts. Informal education is crucial during the developmental period from birth to age 10. A baby's brain grows every day, tripling in size during the first three years of life and 90 percent of the brain's wiring is completed by age five. From this age forward, coinciding with the beginning of formal education, children learn best through first-hand experiences that can engage them in a variety of ways, capitalizing on learning strengths and bolstering others. For both very young children and those ages 5 to 10, the Museum's child-centered environment allows learning to be constructed by doing, in ways applicable to the young learner's individual experiences, in the form of purposeful play.
Play is an essential and integral part of every child's healthy growth, development and learning across all ages, domains and cultures. Play is the scaffold for learning development that has a powerful influence on later development. For young children, play is learning.
History:
For 30 years, TCM has been a treasured institution for three generations of families to discover, create, and learn through hands-on play in 22,000 square feet of interactive exhibits & programs. We were founded as a single exhibit in the Wing Luke Museum, then moved to an 8,500 square foot space at the Center House at Seattle Center in the early 1980s. In 1995, a capital campaign expanded the Museum to occupy most of the Center House's lower level. TCM now serves more than 240,000 visitors annually, up from 150,000 visitors in 2003. TCM serves more than 2,000 low-income families with children families annually through free admissions. TCM has grown its membership by 154% and its contributed revenues by 69% since 2003.
Contact person: Kirk Laughlin, Director Of Development, (phone), (email)
Main office number:
(206) 441-1765Office fax number: (206) 448-0910
Address:
Web Site: http://www.thechildrensmuseum.org
Directions:
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Directions from North or Southbound I-5:
Take the Mercer Street exit and follow the signs to the Seattle Center. Watch the Space Needle, we are located near its base! The Museum is located in the lower floor of the. . . (more) |
Miscellaneous Information
| Liability |
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No
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| Does your organization welcome court-ordered community service volunteers? |
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No
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| Does your organization have volunteer positions for youth 12-18? |
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No
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| Last updated on October 26, 2009 |
