Marbles Kids Museum is a nonprofit children's

museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make thes ...

located in downtown

Raleigh, North Carolina Raleigh (; ) is the capital city of the state of North Carolina and the seat of Wake County in the United States. It is the second-most populous city in North Carolina, after Charlotte. Raleigh is the tenth-most populous city in the Southe ...

in the

Moore Square Historic District The Moore Square Historic District is a registered historic district located in downtown Raleigh, North Carolina. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983, the district is centered on Moore Square, one of two surviving four-acre ...

. Marbles was founded in 2007 as a result of the merger between Exploris, an interactive global learning center, and Playspace, a children's museum aimed at preschool through early elementary age children. Marbles mission is to "..spark imagination, discovery and learning through play."

Exhibits

Marbles has several permanent, play-based exhibits that align with five core initiatives - Ready Set Learn, Be Healthy Be Active, Create Innovate, Explore Experiment and Connect.

IMAX

Marbles has an IMAX theater on its campus that plays first-run Hollywood features and 45-minute documentary movies.

History

Marbles predecessor Exploris opened in 1999 as a $39.5 million state-of-the-art interactive global learning center. Playspace was an interactive children's museum aimed at preschool through early elementary age children. The move to the former Exploris space is the third move to a larger location in the museum's history. Playspace was originally located two blocks south of Marbles in City Market. It remained there until the late 1990s, moving to 410 Glenwood Avenue in a former dairy building. The non-profit museum received some funding from

Wake County Wake County is located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. In the 2020 census, its population was 1,129,410, making it North Carolina's most-populous county. From July 2005 to July 2006, Wake County was the 9th-fastest growing county in the U ...

but was largely funded by corporate sponsorships of individual exhibits as well as the $5 per person admission price and memberships. In the summer of 2007, the two museums closed. Playspace moved into Exploris' building, and a new name for the combined museums was chosen. Marbles were selected to reflect the museum's unique two-story stainless steel wall grid inset with over 1.2 million

marbles A marble is a small spherical object often made from glass, clay, steel, plastic, or agate. They vary in size, and most commonly are about in diameter. These toys can be used for a variety of games called ''marbles'', as well being placed in mar ...

. The name was released to the public on September 29, 2007, the same day the new museum opened to the public.

External links

Marbles Kids Museum

References

{{Coord, 35.7784427, -78.6362095, display=title Children's museums in North Carolina IMAX venues Museums in Raleigh, North Carolina